Oxford
Koch, Bodleiar
Z
792
094
K76
Ком
B 1,047,519
КАКО
сан
БАЗИЯ
MALIESALMSTELARTLETT
ARTES
LIBRARY
1837
VERITAS
EAL PLURIOUS
UNUA
ANDUMHIMILI
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
TUEBOR
SCIENTIA
OF THE
QUERIS PENINSULAM-AM CENAM
CIRCUMSPICE
VADUMUMNS).
FATEMATIIKA
P

SA

[Reprinted from THE LIBRARY JOURNAL, October and November, 1914]
THE BODLEIAN LIBRARY AT OXFORD
Jes
BY THEODORE W Koch, Librarian, University of Michigan
"I am plain Elia, no Selden, nor Arch-
bishop Usher, though at present in the
thick of their books, here in the heart of
learning, under the shadow of the mighty
Bodley," wrote Charles Lamb. "Above all
thy rarities, old Oxenford, what do most
arride and solace me, are thy repositories
of mouldering learning, thy shelves. What
a place to be in is an old library! It seems
as though all the souls of all the writers
that have bequeathed their labors to these.
Bodleians, were reposing here as in some
dormitory, or middle state. I do not want
to handle, to profane the leaves, their wind-
ing-sheets. I could as soon dislodge a
shade. I seem to inhale learning, walking
amid their foliage, and the odor of their
old moth-scented coverings is fragrant as
the first bloom of those sciential apples
which grew amid the happy orchard.” It
is in some such sympathetic frame of mind
that the American librarian must visit the
·Bodleian Library. He does not go there
to study the latest labor-saving devices, the
most approved practices in library economy
or the most recent developments in library
architecture. If his visit is to be profitable
he should go in the reverent spirit of the
scholar, the student of literature and the
beginnings of libraries, ready to pay just
tribute to the memory of the founder of one
of the great libraries of the world and
grateful for the generations of friends and
administrators that labored long and fruit-
fully for the well being of this unique insti-
tution. As the annalist of the Bodleian, Dr.
W. D. Macray says, its reading room "is
not, indeed, one fashioned and furnished
after the newest plans, with abundance of
iron and much glass, with easy chairs and
all that appertains to modern ideas of con-
venience and fitness and to modern literary
lounges: but it is in its old-world form the
scholars' precious possession, uniquely
grand, gloriously rich, marvellously sug-
gestive. And not least suggestive in its
very mode of entrance, albeit sometimes
deemed unworthy, sometimes
of as wearisome and tedious.
complained
From the
From the
·
!
quadrangle which tells by the storeyed
buildings which enclose it that there is
much wealth within, you enter, almost
stooping, by a plain low door, and then
begin to ascend a long, long, winding flight
of stairs. You may rest as you go, here
and there, on window-seats and benches,
but still before you lies that winding ascent.
At length you reach a simple green baize
door; you open it-and the panorama
of the world of learning is before you.
Surely it is a very type of the way by
which true knowledge is gained. By no
railway-travelling in easy carriages, speed-
ing swiftly and smoothly on, that requires
little exertion and knows no delay, but by
the real 'royal road' of humility that re-
fuses no lowly beginnings, by the patience.
that is not disheartened by labor, by the
perseverance that overcomes weariness, at
last the door of knowledge is reached and
opened;—and then all the toil is
warded. It is the way which the true
'Mater Scientiarum' teaches."
re-
31050
Z
792
094
K76
So you must not expect to find here a
complete card catalog of the books in the
Bodleian, with a union catalog of the books
in all the other libraries of Oxford, nor a
shelf list made on your own approved plan,
nor any system of classification which you
mastered in your library school days. You
must lay aside that pet phrase which the
American librarian uses when he is de-
scribing his own library and says it con-
tains very little "dead wood," for here the
dead wood of literature has sprung into
new life. Books of long ago are treasured
and made to give up their secrets. The
student of the past finds the greatest
wealth of both manuscript and printed ma-
terial to illuminate almost any period of
English life and thought. What a pioneer
the Bodleian was in English University
life, what a great boon it was and is to
English scholarship, can be seen from a
glance at conditions as they were at various
periods before and since its founding.
One can gain some idea of the cost of
books in the early days of the University
…………………
•
;
t
2
•
·
by reading the old inventories in which
they are classed with plate and jewels. Only
a privileged few were given access to the
first University library. Excepting the sons
of lords who were members of Parliament,
no Oxford student was admitted who had
not spent eight years in the study of philos-
ophy, which was paramount to ruling that
the University books were reserved ex-
clusively for its senior members, in other
words for the masters who had to lecture
to the juniors. As the instruction was en-
tirely oral the undergraduates had little
need of books. In the seventeenth century
University College Library was reserved
for the graduates, and undergraduates were
not admitted to Merton College Library
until 1827, and then only for one hour per
week.
A fifteenth century code of the Augus-
tinian Order of the Canons Regular of the
College of St. Mary, Oxford, ruled that no
student might enter the library at night
with a candle unless for some very im-
portant purpose or to compose a sermon for
which insufficient time had been allowed
him. No student was allowed to spend more
than one hour, or two at the utmost, over
any one book for fear of keeping others
from studying it. A Lincoln College stu-
dent who in 1600 was found "guilty of sun-
dry misdemeanours in the town to the great
scandal of the college" was condemned to
"study in the library four hours certain
days for the space of two months."
The earliest public library for the Uni-
versity was started in 1320 by Thomas Cob-
ham, bishop of Worcester, who built a
convocation house adjoining the Church of
St. Mary the Virgin. The library was to
be housed in an upper room, to be in
charge of two chaplains, the books to be
chained, and no one to be admitted unless
one of the chaplains was present. One chap-
lain was to be on duty before and the other
after lunch and they were to see that no
reader entered in wet clothes, or with pen,
ink or knife. Such notes as were taken were
to be made in pencil.
In 1412 an elaborate code of statutes for
the regulation of the library was prepared.
The librarian, who must be in holy orders,
was required once a year to hand over to
the chancellor and proctors the keys of the
!
library; if after visitation he was found to
be fit in morals, fidelity, and ability, the keys
were returned to him. He was to be paid
£5 6s 8d per year for his services, and
for this sum he not only took charge of the
library but said masses for the souls of
benefactors. His salary was to be paid
semi-annually, because it was rightly ar-
gued that if his salary were in arrears he
might lose interest in his work. He was
allowed a month's holiday in the long vaca-
tion and was expected to give a month's no-
tice if he should wish to resign his office.
In 1439 Humphrey, duke of Gloucester,
began to send books to the library, giving
in this first year 129 volumes, worth, as
was stated in a letter of thanks from Con-
vocation, a thousand pounds and more. Be-
fore the duke's death in 1447 he had given
about 600 volumes and others were received
posthumously. It was evident that some-
thing larger than Cobham's library was
needed to store the University's books, and
so in 1444 the authorities successfully ap-
pealed to the duke for funds with which to
erect a library room over the new Divinity
School. The work of building the new
quarters went on slowly, the books in the
cld library being meanwhile chained in
1454.. Duke Humphrey's library was
opened in 1488 and this was the occasion
for new gifts being received. In December,
1550, the commissioners appointed by
Edward VI to reform the University car-
ried off or destroyed the treasures of the
library, and to-day it contains only three
of the manuscripts which Duke Humphrey
had presented. The library room was so
despoiled that in 1556 the University
authorities ordered that the book cases be
disposed of. The building was so neglected.
that the roof and lead gutters suffered from
lack of repairs. Part of the furniture was
taken away by mechanics, the windows
were broken, and even the lead from the
windows was carried off. Thus denuded
the library had stood for forty years when
there came in 1597 the offer of Sir Thomas
Bodley to refit and replenish it.
From all this it can be seen that up to
the beginning of the seventeenth century
the libraries of Oxford did not figure very
prominently in the educational equipment
of the University, nor were they used very
3
much in connection with the instruction.
When Bodley revisited his alma mater and
found the sad condition to which the Duke
Humphrey library had been reduced, he re-
solved to spend the rest of his days in
Oxford.
SIR THOMAS BODLEY
Sir Thomas Bodley was born at Exeter
March 2, 1545. His father, being a zealous
Protestant, fled to Germany and Switzer-
land after the accession of Queen Mary.
On his return to England he held the patent
for seven years for the exclusive printing
of the Geneva Bible. Young Thomas was
educated at Geneva. On the accession of
Queen Elizabeth the family returned to
England, and Thomas was sent to Mag-
dalen College at Oxford. After taking his
degree, he lectured on Greek and natural
philosophy, was elected university proctor,
and acted as deputy for the university ora-
tor. In order to acquire greater familiarity
with modern languages and politics, he ob-
tained leave of absence to travel on the
Continent and spent nearly four years in
Italy, France, and Germany. Upon his re-
turn to England he was appointed a gentle-
man usher to the Queen, and as his first
diplomatic mission he was despatched to
Denmark. Then followed a confidential
mission to France. In 1587 he married a
rich widow named Ann Ball. Later he was
sent to The Hague on a mission of great
importance. Here he remained for seven
years, until 1596. As early as 1592 he
began to show an ardent desire to return
to England and to be relieved of his diplo-
matic work. On Feb. 23, 1598, Bodley
wrote to the Vice-Chancellor of Oxford
University, offering to restore to its former
use the one room which was all that re-
mained of the old public library. In this
letter he said that he had always intended
to show some token of the affection he had
ever borne to the studies of good learning,
and that since there had been heretofore a
public library in Oxford, he would reduce
it again to its former use and make it fit
and handsome with seats, shelves and desks
and all things needful so as to stir up other
men's benevolence to help equip it with
books. He provided an endowment so that
it might perhaps in time come to prove a
}
notable treasure for the multitude of its
volumes and excellent benefit for the use
and ease of students and a singular orna-
ment to the University. Bodley, when he
had determined to keep himself "out of
the throng of court contentions," and was
pondering as to how he could still "do the
true part of a profitable member of the
state," had decided to set up his staff at
the library door in Oxford, "which then
in every part lay ruined and waste." Ac-
cording to a letter written by Sir Dudley
Carleton the proposal met with great favor
among the people of Bodley's native Dev-
onshire, “and every man bethinks himself
how by some good book or other he may
be written in the scroll of the benefactors."
Bodley lost no time in soliciting help from
his "great store of honorable friends." In
the first year, however, he found that he
had expended much more money on the
library than he had planned "because the
timber works of the house were rotten and
had to be new made." Gifts of books poured
in from all parts of England and the Con-
tinent. A London bookseller, Bill, was
commissioned to make purchases on the
Continent. At the suggestion of the li-
brarian, James, the Stationers' Company
promised to give a copy of every book
which they published.
Sir Thomas looked after details very
carefully. In one of his letters to Thomas
James, the first librarian, he says: “I have
spoken here with Mr. Farmer who hath
promised that whensoever you come after
Thursday next he will be at home. He hath
a cartload of books of which you may make
your choice, which he will cause to be new
bound at Oxon. You shall do well, in my
opinion, to be there some morning very
early, lest he ride abroad and not come in
till night." And again: “Now I must en-
treat you to send me the register-book,
wherein the benefactors' names and gifts
shall be recorded. For I will begin to have
it written. It would be packed up in a
coffin of boards, with paper thick about it,
and hay between it and the boards. I pray
you be careful about it, and let me receive
it the next week, sent by the wagon for fear
of rain."
At another time he writes: "I pray you
salute and intreat Mr. Principal from me,
you
4
to cause such bars to be supplied, as are
wanting: And your self I would request to
write as often as you find a fit messenger,
to the chain-man, to dispatch the rest of the
books, and to make as many chains before
midsummer, as is possible.* For I am like
to bring more books than is imagined. I
do not find in your catalogue Fricius de
Rep. emendanda, and yet I think it is in
the library, whereof I pray you advertise
me: And likewise what works of Sigonius
are wanting."
In 1598 it is recorded that six trees from
Shotover Forest were sold for forty shil-
lings "to Mr. Bodley
for building
of a public library in Oxon." The work
of renovation was carried on quite rapidly.
The oldest or central portion, still named after
the first founder, Duke Humphrey, remains
to-day practically as Sir Thomas left it. It
is entered from the east wing through low
latticed wooden gates, and contains ten al-
coves, each lit with a two-light window.
The low-pitched, open-timber roof, is still
handsomely decorated with the painted
arms of the University and arabesques of
the founder's time.
The library grew so rapidly that it was
soon necessary to add to the simple oblong
building of 1480. In May, 1610, Bodley
made arrangements for the masonry work
on the eastern side, over the Proscholium,
for what is the "cross-aisle" of the library.
On May 3, 1611, a grant of timber was
made by the Crown for the enlargement of
the library, and the roof of the new part
was ready for decorating in the autumn of
that same year. Here the book cases were
provided with a projecting colonnade of
oak, carrying an overhead gallery which
enabled books to be shelved up to the roof.
James I visited the library in August,
1605, read aloud the inscription under
Bodley's bust and suggested that Bodley
might appropriately have been surnamed
Godley. He praised the happy estate of
readers who had leisure to frequent such
fair arbors of study, and commented on
the various divinity books he opened. The
*The last recorded purchase of chains took place in
1751, and the earliest removal in 1757. In the early
days one could hardly see the books for the chains,
but to-day only one volume preserves its ancient ap-
pearance in this respect, and a number of old frag-
ments had to be pieced together to make a complete
chain for this volume.
librarian made a congratulatory speech in
which he said there were then in the library
books in at least thirty languages and that
it was frequented by Italians, Frenchmen,
Germans, Danes, Poles and Swedes. Rob-
ert Burton, in his "Anatomy of melan-
choly," says that King James on his de-
parture remarked: "If I were not a King,
I would be a university man; and if it were
not that I must be a prisoner, if I might
have my wish, I would desire to have no
other prison than that library, and to be
chained together with SO
authors et mortuis magistris.”
many good
He prom-
ised Bodley the pick of the royal libraries.
When Bodley went to Whitehall to carry
away some rich prizes in the way of manu-
scripts, he found that this was not so simple
a procedure as he had been led to think,
and he got none of them.
In his last will and testament Bodley
says that inasmuch as the perpetual preser-
vation, support, and maintenance of the
public library in the University greatly sur-
passes all his other worldly cares, and be-
cause he foresees that in process of time
there must be very great want of "convey-
ance and storage for bookes, by reason of
the endless multitude of those that are pres-
ent there and like hereafter to be continu-
ally bought and brought in," he bequeaths
the residue of his estate to the University
for the enlargement of the library quarters.
He devised that a third story room should
be built over the schools, "framed with
some special comeliness of workmanship."
Sir Thomas died Jan. 28, 1612, and is buried
in Merton College chapel, where his monu-
ment is provided with pilasters carved to
represent piles of books, edges outward,
according to the contemporary method of
shelving books.
The foundation stone of the quadrangle
was laid March 30, 1613, and the quadran-
gle was completed in about six years time.
It consists of three storeys on the north,
east and south, with a vaulted passage run-
ning through the middle of the north and
south sides. The entrances from the quad-
rangle to the various schools have their
names lettered in gilt over the doorways.
The gate tower in the middle of the east
side is open at the ground level; its west
front toward the quadrangle has superim-
•

57415. Oxford, Bodleian Library.
Frith

ME
THE BODLEIAN LIBRARY QUADRANGLE-TWO VIEWS

760
EAZY
GREEK
THE BODLEIAN-DUKE HUMPHREY'S LIBRARY

WHERE THE BODLEIAN LIBRARY HAS OVERFLOWED INTO THE ART GALLERY

5
posed columns of the five classic orders.
On the third floor is a sculptured group rep-
resenting James I enthroned under a canopy
between allegorical figures of Religion and
Fame. The figures were originally gilt, but
in 1614 King James had them painted white
because when the sun shone on them they
dazzled his eyes. In 1634 a beginning was
made in the erection of the new western
side of the quadrangle, ostensibly to corre-
spond with the eastern cross-aisle of 1610.
It was finished in 1640 and its upper floor
constitutes the latest structural addition to
the library, above ground. In 1659 this
part of the library was named in honor of
John Selden because of his valuable be-
quest of books, and is still known as the
Selden end.
THOMAS JAMES, BODLEY'S FIRST LIBRARIAN
Thomas James was appointed librarian
on November 8, 1602, the day that Bodley's
Library was formally opened. Previous to
his appointment as librarian, James had
been a fellow of New College, and he had
become favorably known through his re-
searches among the manuscripts in the col-
lege libraries of both Oxford and Cam-
bridge, as well as by his editing the Philo-
biblon of Richard de Bury. The 1599 Ox-
ford edition of the latter work has a long
dedication to Bodley, giving much praise
to him and his associates for their liberality
in the founding of the new library. There
is no hint of the writer's aspiring to the
librarianship.
When James was first appointed, his sal-
ary was £22 13s 4d per year, but he almost
immediately asked that it be raised to £30
or £40 and at the same time he asked per-
mission to marry.
In his statutes, drawn
up about 1600, Bodley had made celibacy a
requisite for the librarianship, and he re-
monstrated with James on these "unseason-
able and unreasonable motions." Bodley
reluctantly consented to become the first
breaker of his own statutes, which he
intended should thereafter become in-
violable.
No sooner was James appointed librarian
than he gave evidence of his interest in the
new institution by presenting to it various
manuscripts, mostly of the church fathers,
but which Anthony Wood says he had
taken out of several college libraries. In
addition he gave sixty printed volumes. In
1605, James published the first catalog of
the library, a quarto volume of 655 pages in
which the books and manuscripts are
grouped under the four classes of theology.
medicine, law, and the arts, in a roughly
alphabetical order as they stood on the
shelves. There were lists of expositors of
Holy Scripture, commentators on Aristotle,
Hippocrates, and Galen, and also in civil
and canon law. The medical and legal
lists were suggested by Bodley himself.
James was desirous of helping the young-
er students and proposed the formation of
what might be called an undergraduates' li-
brary, but Bodley did not favor the plan.
“Your device for a library for the younger
sort," wrote Sir Thomas, "will have many
great exceptions, and one of special force,
that there must be another keeper ordained
for that place. And where you mention
the younger sort, I know what books should
be bought for them, but the elder, as well
as the younger, may often have occasion
to look upon them: and if there were any
such, they cannot require so great a re-
nown. In effect, to my understanding,
there is much to be said against it, as un-
doubtedly yourself will readily find upon.
further consideration.”
}
Brian Twyne, the historian, expressed a
wish "that Mr. James would frequent his
place more diligently, keepe his houres, re-
move away his superfluous papers lienge
scattered about the desks, and shewe him-
selfe more pliable and facill in directinge
of the students to their bookes and pur-
poses." We have other evidence that his
career as librarian was not what had been
hoped for by either the founder or his
later associates. Yet it is granted that his
learning was extensive, and he was "es-
teemed by some a living library," and he
was also skilled in deciphering manuscripts
and in detecting forged readings. He says
that he resigned the librarianship on ac-
count of his severe bodily suffering.
Shortly after his resignation, James is-
sued a second edition of the catalog in 1620,
a quarto of 575 pages, in which the classi-
fied arrangement of the first edition was
abandoned for the alphabetical author list,
which has been retained ever since. In his.
6
Es
preface, James gives as his reason for the
change the frequent difficulty of deciding to
what class a book should be assigned and
the inconvenience resulting from binding
together the works of the same author. He
dilates on the value of the library to for-
eigners who can there consult 16,000 vol-
umes for six hours each day excepting
Sundays and holidays. As evidence of the
richness of its stores, he says that there
are over one hundred folios and quarto
volumes on military art in Greek, Latin and
other languages, and that there are some
three or four thousand books in French,
Italian and Spanish. He calls attention to
the fact that heretical and schismatical
books are not to be read without leave of
the Vice-Chancellor and Regius Professor
of Divinity.
LATER LIBRARIANS
Humphrey Wanley was given the place
of assistant in the library in 1695-96, at a
salary of £12 per year, but at the end of
the year he received a special stipend of
£10 and later of £15 "for his pains about Dr.
Bernard's books." His task was to select
from Dr. Bernard's books such as were
suitable for purchase by the Bodleian. The
selection brought on a bitter quarrel with
Dr. Thomas Hyde, the head librarian. This
estrangement was of short duration, and in
1698 Hyde suggested Wanley as his suc-
cessor, but, without a degree, he was ineli-
gible. In April of 1701, in introducing
Wanley to Harley, Dr. George Hickes said
that Wanley had "the best skill in ancient
hands and manuscripts of any man not only
of this, but I believe of any former age,
and I wish for the sake of the public that
he might meet with the same public en-
couragement here that he would have met
with in France, Holland, or Sweden, had
he been born in any of these countries."
Wanley lived so much among old manu-
scripts that he seems to have fashioned his
ordinary talk after the formalities of the
old documents. Alexander Pope, who was
an excellent mimic, took pleasure in taking
off Wanley's stilted phraseology.
The salaries paid the librarians during
the eighteenth century were pitiably small,
but then the duties were not particularly
onerous. The staff was expected only to
catalog the few books that were received in
the ordinary course of events and to wait
upon the readers, who were by no means
numerous. During the decade 1730-40 an
average of only one or two books per day
are entered in the registers as loaned to
readers; frequently there are many days
without a single entry. For the arranging
or cataloging of any new collections the
staff expected special pay. Thus in 1722
the librarian asked payment for making
certain new hand-lists, but the request was
denied. Nothing daunted, he repeated his
claim annually until in 1725 it was allowed
to the amount of nearly £6. That it was
clearly understood that such work formed
no part of the librarian's regular duties is
seen from a letter of 1751 from Richard
Rawlinson, the generous donor of the large
collection bearing his name, to Owen, the
librarian, saying, "I think large benefactors
Bodleian, as their books are useless till so
should pay the expenses of entries into the
entered." In this same letter Rawlinson
says that he had heard a complaint that in
the time of the previous librarian, Dr. Fysh-
er, "there was a great neglect in the entry
of books into the Benefactors' Catalogue,
and into the interleaved one of the library;
as to these objections, my answers were as
ready as true, at least I hope so, that Dr.
Fysher's indisposition disabled him much
from the duty of his office, and that I did
not think every small benefaction ought to
load the velom register." In a letter to
Rawlinson, two years previous, Owen had
defended the administration of his prede-
cessor, Dr. Fysher, saying that "no man
could have the faithful discharge of his
office more at heart than he had, as I can
assert from my knowledge of the man's
personal character, and from the minutes I
find in the library as his successor."
REFERENCE VS. CIRCULATION
The Bodleian is primarily devoted to
study and research, and works of fiction are
not in general given out to other than grad-
uates of the University, unless the reader
has some literary purpose in asking for
them and so states it on the call slip. Sir
Thomas was very explicit in his directions
as to the use of the library for reference
purposes only. He confesses to having
connived at first at Sir Henry Savile's hav-
ing a book for a very short space of time,
7

because he was likely
to become a great bene-
factor of the library.
But Bodley declared
that, after making the
statutes, neither he nor
anyone else should be
allowed the same lib-
erty upon any occasion
whatsoever. "The send-
ing of any book out of
the library may be as-
sented to by no means,"
said he in a letter,
"neither is it a matter
that the University or Vice-Chancellor
are to deal in. It cannot stand with
my publick resolution with the University,
and my denial made to the Bishop of
Glocester and the rest of the Interpreters
[i. e. the translators of the authorized ver-
sion of the Bible] in their assembly in
Christ Church, who requested the like at
my hands for one or two books."
The founder's decision was embodied in
the following statute: "And sith the sundry
examples of former ages, as well in this
University, as in other places of the realm,
have taught us over-often, that the fre-
quent loan of books, hath bin a principal
occasion of the ruin and destruction of
many famous libraries; It is therefore or-
dered and decreed to be observed as a statute
of irrevocable force, that for no regard,
pretence, or cause, there shall at any time,
any volume, either of these that are chained,
or of others unchained, be given or lent, to
any person or persons, of whatsoever state
or calling, upon any kind of caution, or
offer of security, for his faithful restitu-
tion;
and that no such book or volume shall
at any time, by any whatsoever, be carried
forth of the library, for any longer space,
or other uses, and purposes, than, if need
so require, to be sold away for altogether,
as being superfluous or unprofitable; or
changed for some other of a better edition;
or being over-worn to be new bound again,
and immediately returned, from whence it
was removed. For the execution whereof
in every particular, there shall no man in-
termeddle, but the keeper himself alone,
who is also to proceed with the knowledge,
liking, and direction of those publick over-
(249
END
DKS.)
SCALE OF
(REF
(REP
SELDEN
BODLEIAN
ww
30
h
www
OLD READING ROOM
FEET
LIBRARY
COLLEGE
END
BRASENOSE
LANE
BRASENOSE
(LIBRARIAN)
ARTS
(CATALOGUE) UPPER READING ROOM
BODLEIAN
QUADRANGLE
PUBLIC
ENTRANCE
PICTURE
DESKS
PASSAGE UNDER
DESKS
GALLERY
ENTRANCE
(UNDERGROUND
BOCKSTORE
BENEATH)
RADCLIFFE
CAMERA
SC30
PUBLIC
ENTRANCE
(CATALOGUE)
(SUPERIPETENDENT)
STAIRS
то
GALLERY:
DESKS
DESKS
DESKS
(CATALOGUE
REVISION)
He
TOWER
PICTURE GALLERY
}
CAIB
seers, whose authority we will notify in oth-
er statutes ensuing."
Thomas Barlow, at one time librarian,
tells how William, Bishop of Lincoln, was
in 1624 denied a certain book which he
wished to borrow. Sir Thomas Roe pre-
sented 29 manuscripts to the Bodleian in
1628 and suggested that his books should
be allowed to circulate for purposes of
printing if proper security were given, and
this suggestion was accepted by convoca-
tion. In the following year the Earl of
Pembroke presented the Barrocci collec-
tion and expressed a willingness to allow
the manuscripts to be loaned if thought
necessary, but one of them suffered irre-
vocable injury shortly after it came into the
•
::
8
library. In 1634 the library acquired by
gift the manuscripts of Sir Kenelm Digby
with the stipulation that their use could not
be strictly confined within the walls of the
library, but afterwards he modified this,
leaving the matter to the discretion of the
university authorities and consequently they
fell into the general Bodleian statutes. The
next five years were signalized by the dona-
tions of Archbishop Laud, who charged
that none of the books should on any ac-
count be taken out of the library, only on
condition that they be printed and so be-
come public property, in which case there
was sufficient security to be demanded and
proof by the Vice-Chancellors and proctors,
and after printing the manuscripts should
be immediately restored to their proper
places in the library. Professor Chandler
claimed that this stipulation of Laud had
not been observed of late years by the cura-
tors. In 1636 Laud himself was refused
when he wished to borrow the manuscript of
Robert Hare's book of University Privi-
leges. King Charles requested the loan of
a book and was refused in 1645, and in 1654
Cromwell, who wanted to borrow a book
for the Portuguese ambassador, was also
refused. Both rulers not only acquiesced
in the decision but expressed their approval
of the Bodleian statutes. In 1654 Selden
was permitted by convocation to borrow
manuscripts from the Barrocci, Roe, and
Digby collections on condition that he did
not have more than three out at a time and
that he gave a bond of £100 for the return
of each manuscript within a year. When
Selden's own books came as a bequest to
the Bodleian his executors stipulated that
no book from his collection should there-
after be loaned to any person on any con-
dition.
At different times it has been proposed to
so modify the statutes as to sanction the
lending of books, a practice which had been
permitted to go on at various periods with-
out authority. The proposal to convert the
Bodleian into a lending library has been
scornfully rejected on several occasions as
a violation of the Founder's expressed will,
and sure to work harm to the institution.
The argument that since foreign libraries
were willing to lend, the Bodleian ought to
be willing to reciprocate, did not appeal to
Professor Chandler, one of the most ac-
tive and outspoken of the curators. He
thought it about as valid as if one should
say: "My friend X has signified his will-
ingness to lend me his banjo, and therefore
I am bound to lend him my Erard's piano, if
he asks for it." "The Bodleian,” said he,
"is equalled and even far surpassed in point
of numbers by other libraries, but for qual-
ity and real value there are not in all the
world a dozen that could, or by any com-
petent person would, be compared with it,
and this fact makes all the difference when
lending is in question. You might lend and
lose half the books at Göttingen, and still
be able without very much trouble or ex-
pense to replace them to the satisfaction of
that University. By losing a single half-
dozen of some of our Bodleian books, you
might seriously maim and cripple a large
department; and as to replacing the half-
dozen, you might just as well try to replace
the coal in our coal pits."
Chandler considered it a degradation of
the Bodleian to look on it as a sort of en-
larged and diversified Mudie. "Our books
may be all over Oxford,-nay, all over
Europe; they may be in Germany, in France,
in India, in London, at Cambridge, and
Heaven only knows where! What is all
this but the first step toward turning the
Bodleian into a vast and vulgar circulating
library? I must say again, as I have said
elsewhere, that the Bodleian Library is ab-
solutely peerless and unique; it was founded
and augmented by learned men for learned
men; it was never meant for the motley
crowd which in the present day crams the
Camera and the library itself. It is sad
to one who remembers what the Bodleian
was even thirty years ago to see such rapid
decline, such manifest token of disregard
for all that once rendered the place a sacred
spot." If the University "would but re-
member what a unique and priceless treas-
ure it possesses in this noble library, if it
only knew how easy it is for rashness and
ignorance to damage and to ruin it, how
difficult it is even for knowledge to preserve
it, ability and willingness to serve it would
be the indispensable and the only qualifica-
tions demanded, and neither age, nor rank,
dignity, nor above all party, would be for
one moment taken into account."
9
COXE AS LIBRARIAN
was
Henry Octavius Coxe, characterized by
Dean Burgon as "the large-hearted li-
brarian," was born in 1811, and while still
an undergraduate of Worcester College,
received an offer of a position in the manu-
script department of the British Museum.
Here he remained for six years, returning
to Oxford in 1838 as sub-librarian at the
Bodleian under Dr. Bandinel. For the
first thirty years of his work there he never
took the full six weeks vacation to which
he was entitled. His love for the library
so strong that he was never quite
happy away from it. He succeeded to the
headship upon the death of Dr. Bandinel
in 1860. Bandinel had carefully watched
sales and studied catalogs, and had brought
up the collection of printed books to a high
standard. When Coxe was appointed libra-
rian, he saw that two things were needed:
first, it was necessary to make the library
more accessible; secondly, to see that a
careful inventory was taken, preparatory
to making a general catalog of the library.
His chief work was this new general cata-
log, made in duplicate form slips pasted into
723 folio volumes, a work which took
twenty years to complete. The author en-
tries were written in triplicate, the third
copy being reserved for the subject cata-
log. All the printed books except those in
Oriental languages were included.
"I never enter the library," he said upon
one occasion, "without looking at the por-
trait of Bodley, and resolving to do nothing
which would have offended Sir Thomas."
Coxe had often watched hard-working tu-
tors come to the Bodleian at the end of
their day's lectures, to use the one or two
remaining hours during which it was open
for study, and he felt that there ought to
be a reading room open in the evening for
the use of such men; and he was the means
of obtaining the Radcliffe Library for this
purpose.
"Coxe was always working-over work-
ing," said Dean Farrar. "Yet he always
had a kindly temper in spite of being bored.
He was in this respect the ideal of a libra-
rian. On my going to consult him on some
literary point one afternoon, he sighed and
said, 'My dear Farrar,' he always opened
his vocative with 'my dear' in this
way—'I am so tired. I have lost two hours
this morning, through a visit of old
[a noted archæologist, a country clergyman,
then in Oxford for his holiday, and always
rather a dilettante]. 'He brought his wife
and a friend, and asked me to show them
our coins.' [The Bodleian coins are seldom
seen. They live upstairs in a cupboard of
the Bodleian Gallery.] When he got sight
of the Roman as, he took it up, and fixing
his bright eyes on his friend, exclaimed,
'Yes, this is a real as; this is an as.' What
a pity, I thought to myself, that he could
not see that there were two,-not one,—
and so have had the sense to set me free
without consuming my time in library
hours.'"
A friend once brought him a small, care-
fully bound volume of papers by his de-
ceased father and asked, with some show
of filial piety, that it be accepted by the
Bodleian. "Oh, yes," said Coxe, with
moistened eyes, "You wish this little book
to be cherished. I quite understand. I will
see to it. Leave it to me."
"With the officials of the Bodleian, Coxe
was thoroughly popular," writes Dean Bur-
gon. "There was in him no affectation of
dignity. His welcome to the janitor was as
cordial as to any one. He had no sus-
picious ways: he assumed that all beneath
him were doing what they ought to do,
though he could be playfully sarcastic with
them on occasion if he found any of them
off their duty. He loved a trusty man su-
premely. There was in him a real power of
governing and guiding a great institution;
his intellectual supremacy keeping him first
in all matters requiring headwork, and giv-
ing him a right to the authority conferred
on him by his office. To Oxford men visit-
ing the library he was simply delightful. In
the words of an ancient resident in Ox-
ford, Archdeacon Palmer,-'It will not be
easy to get so good a librarian as Coxe,
though his successor may grow to be as
good; as lovable a librarian it is out of the
question to expect.'
"He never suffered his private work to
encroach upon his official time," says Stan-
ley Lane-Poole, "and avoided interference
in academic controversy, lest it might lead
to the intrusion of party spirit into the man-
"""
10
agement of the library. He showed perfect
tact and consideration for his subordinates,
who respected his authority the more be-
cause it was exerted without fuss or self-
importance, and with a general air of
camaraderie. His personal charm was due
to a rare combination of playfulness, dig-
nity, and old-fashioned courtesy; and his
wit and stores of anecdote were equally re-
markable. His social powers and his un-
affected sweetness of character made him
a welcome guest in all society."
THE CATALOG
No sooner had the discussion about lend-
ing Bodleian books died down than Profes-
sor Chandler started a new tirade in a
pamphlet entitled, "Some observations on
the Bodleian classed catalogue," (Oxford,
B. H. Blackwell, 1888). In 1885 he had
printed a memorandum on that subject in
which he contended that the classed catalog
and all the work it entailed was so much
labor thrown away, that no real scholar, no
man who is capable of literary research,
wants a classed catalog. He argued that it
served no useful purpose, and was but a
snare and a delusion. The sciolist alone
thinks how delightful it would be to turn
to any given subject and there see all that
has been written on it. Most French cata-
logs are classed, and Professor Chandler re-
tained a lively sense of detestation for those
who were foolish enough to attempt to
class the books of a large library. In answer
to the question, How is a man to know
what books have been printed on this or
that subject, Professor Chandler would
answer that every man fit to be admitted to
a great library knows many ways of acquir-
ing this information.
On another occasion Professor Chandler
handled the subject-entries of the Bodleian
catalog without gloves. The arrangement
of the titles of the books under classes and
sub-classes is easy in some cases, difficult in
others, while simply impossible in many.
Some go quietly enough under one class,
some under two or three heads, some under
many, while some utterly defy all attempts
at classification. Our pamphleteer puts the
following into the mouth of the man whose
ideas of books are hazy: "My dear Sir, you
are really very obtuse, you make difficulties
where none exist; the thing is exceedingly
simple. Put all your theological books to-
gether, put all your law books together, and
so on; range all the histories of England,
all the histories of France, side by side;
proceed on the same principle with the
whole of your books, and your classed cata-
logue will be made: it may take a slight
amount of trouble, yet anybody with an
ounce of brains and a little good-will can
and must succeed; real difficulty there is
none." Chandler said that it was impossible
to suppress a smile when one thought how
many men there were in Oxford to whom
this sad nonsense appeared to be perfectly
sane and rational. And if his hazy friend
should reply that what he "so dogmatically
calls nonsense is advocated by a large num-
ber, perhaps by a majority of librarians;
they must know all about books; it is their
profession." No, rejoined our philosopher,
he did not forget the librarians, to whom
and the subject of their profession and
qualifications, he hoped some day to return.
So far as I know he never gave the world
of librarians the full benefit of his opinion
of them.
Under what head, asked Professor Chan-
dler, ought "balloon" to come? Those who
dream of traveling in the air will be dis-
posed to think that this should stand some-
where near traveling on land and travel-
ing on water, while those who look
on the balloon as a toy will be inclined
to look under sports, pastimes, and amuse-
ments; those who regard them as bags full
of gas lighter than air may look under
physics. Quot homines tot sententiae, and,
wonderful to relate, everybody is right. A
balloon may very correctly be looked at in
an indefinite number of ways and the classi-
fication will vary accordingly. A large
number of books, perhaps thirty or forty
per cent, would be found obstinate when
one tried to classify them, and the opera
omnia of a polygraphic writer like Aris-
totle or Leibnitz would prove a veritable
crux. Moreover, since all classification is
arbitrary, what suits one reader will not
suit another. "If any two persons would
spend an hour in assigning to their re-
spective classes a hundred books taken at
random, they would discover that the ar-
rangement which one considers to be nat-
II
ural and proper, is to the other in the
highest degree unnatural and improper. A
man may discover more than this; he may
find, and certainly will find, not only that
he differs widely from other people, but,
what is more confounding still, that he
differs from himself. The classification
which seemed natural enough a month ago
looks very different to-day. And the classed
catalogue of a library is largely, if not
wholly, the vagary of the librarian; even if
it is fashioned on results arrived at in a
congress of librarians, it by no means fol-
lows that any but the authors of the
scheme can find their way about in it, nor
can they always do so. Each system of
classification-and there are many such-
is a maze in which all but those in the
secret are lost. But even were such a cata-
logue possible, no one man could compile
it; for to class all the books in a library
as large as the Bodleian, is to class works
which cover, or nearly cover, the omne
scibile; and unless a man knows every
branch, nay, every twig and bud of human
knowledge, he will never be able to assign
to each book its proper place, even if the
book has only one proper place; still less
successful must he be, if, as is usually the
case, a book has two, three, or more places.
Some books are definitely this or
that, and nothing else; but large numbers
are as vague and indefinite as the transi-
tion tints in a rainbow, or as those excru-
ciating notes somewhere between C and C
sharp which may be heard on a summer's
night in a conversazione of excited cats.
The man with no ear for music has no
difficulty in classing the ambiguous note;
the man insensible to color boldly classes
the equivocal tint; and some charming book
that laughs at classification, a perfectly
sane and delightful volume like the 'Essays
of Elia,' or Fuller's 'Holy and profane
state,' will be seized by the stolid slave of a
system and thrust like a lunatic into the
straight-waistcoat of a class where its best
friends will never more be able to find it."
“A protest by Bodiey's librarian” was
set up in type in November, 1888, but Mr.
Nicholson kept back the printing in the
hope that Professor Chandler's pamphlet
against which he was protesting would fail
in its object, and, happily, it did so fail.
In May, 1890, Mr. Nicholson had struck off
a small number of copies of this protest for
private distribution and for preservation in
a few libraries. Mr. Nicholson said that
there was no one in Oxford whose sincer-
ity and unselfishness he honored more heart-
ily, no one in Oxford with whom he had
had so many long, pleasant talks, no one in
Oxford whom he believed to be more kindly
disposed to him or more ready to defend
him against ungenerous and unjust criti-
cism than was Professor Chandler. To
Professor Chandler's statement that "the
unfortunate officials are harassed with re-
ports which cost an infinity of trouble to
compose," Mr. Nicholson replied that among
the reports required from him had been
some relating to the subject-catalog, and
the preparation of those particular reports
had caused him weeks of overworry and
bad sleep. The curators considered them
necessary for their information, and the
curators alone could be judges of that ne-
cessity, but Mr. Nicholson thought that
Professor Chandler was ultimately re-
sponsible for any trouble which the prepara-
tion of the reports on the subject-catalog
caused him. For the future, said Mr.
Nicholson, any librarian of the Bodleian
must understand that, if the reports which
he presents to the curators tend to lead
them not to take the views of a particular
curator, he may be further harassed by
having to occupy his scanty and fagged
leisure in public controversies with that
curator, unless he prefers to risk what he
believes to be the vital interests of the li-
brary. It is idle to say "Why not leave
other curators to defend them?" Many
curators have probably as little time for
pamphlet writing as has the librarian, nor
is it possible for those not in library work
to speak from the special standpoint of a
librarian's professional experience. More-
over, no librarian of Bodley whose heart is
in the right place could stand by and leave
others to defend the library from such criti-
cisms as those of Professor Chandler. Mr.
Nicholson considered it perfectly proper
for Professor Chandler to address to the
University printed appeals to decide for his
particular views on the lending-question,
but he considered the subject-catalog a mat-
ter of internal administration of the library
12
7
i
PALETTE
:
within the province of the curators and of
no other body. Mr. Nicholson asked wheth-
er it was a right thing to do to try to up-
set the direction of the Bodleian in the way
Professor Chandler was trying to upset it,
and consequently whether it was a prudent
thing to do in the interests of the library.
"There are no doubt many persons in the
University not curators of the Bodleian who
would be highly qualified to act as cura-
tors," said Mr. Nicholson, "but until they
are curators they cannot possibly have the
same opportunities as the curators for ac
quainting themselves with the merits of
questions of internal administration. And
of course this is equally true of the entire
body of members—even resident members—
of Convocation. To appeal then to them.
against the curators is to appeal from an
(ad hoc) necessarily more instructed body
to an (ad hoc) necessarily less instructed
body. Is that a prudent thing to do in the
interest of the Bodleian? And what does
any sensible man, who will think of the
matter for half a minute, think of the pro-
posal to direct the internal administration
of any library-let alone the Bodleian-by
a committee of about 400 residents and
5400 non-residents? That is the proposal If
That is the proposal
that Professor Chandler's appeal to Convo-
cation amounts to-for be it remembered
that, if such an appeal can be made once it
can be made an infinite number of times,
whenever a particular curator cannot get
his own way, or for that matter even when
the curators are unanimous. Suppose that
on October 25 a majority of the curators
including Professor Chandler had resolved
to discontinue the subject-catalog. Suppose
that a member of the minority had pub-
lished an appeal to Convocation and had
succeeded in forcing the curators to con-
tinue the catalog against their will. What
then would Professor Chandler have said
about the prudence of such an appeal in
the interests of library-administration?
And yet such an appeal would have been
laudable in comparison with Professor
Chandler's. For in 1879, some time after
the subject-catalog was begun, the curators
went to Convocation for a two years' grant
of £270 a year 'for the purpose of a classi-
fied catalog of the library.' A discussion
and a division took place on the merits of
the question, previously to which Profes-
sor Chandler might most properly have ad-
dressed to Convocation whatever appeal he
chose. Convocation declared by 50 to 16
for the subject-catalog, and it is a perfectly
arguable position to take up that if the
curators had decided on October 25 to
abandon that catalog it would have been
right for one of a dissenting minority to
appeal to the University to torce them to
resume it. Professor Chandler has no such
justification. I fancy, Lowever, that I hear
Professor Chandler say 'What have you to
do with protesting? It is for the curators,
if for anyone, to protest.' But even a Bod-
ley's librarian has his statutory rights, and
one of those rights is that he is subject to
the direction of a stated committee only—
and that when he has been engaged for
over six years in continuing a work which
was approved by his predecessor, approved
by his curators, assisted by Convocation,
amply reconsidered and reapproved by his
curators, and when that work has been
brought into a state in which it is already
of high practical usefulness to readers who
may avail themselves of it, his curators
shall not be coerced or worried into order-
ing him to abandon it. That is my protest.
If I were to enter into the details of Pro-
fessor Chandler's attack on the subject-
catalog, I trust that I should be able to
absolutely demolish them to the satisfac-
tion of most members of this University,
no less than to the satisfaction of most li-
brarians—if indeed any librarian of prac-
tical experience in the matter requires such
a demolition. And if the need ever arises,
and I am still Librarian, I pledge myself to
do all that in me lies to save the library
from the immense and almost irreparable
disaster threatening it. No one, however,
but a librarian knows what labor of expla-
nation, argument, and collection of opinions
—not given forty or fifty years ago—such
an effort might involve, and no one knows
so well as myself how much (I do not
mean of money, though I should not spare
that) such an effort might cost me. And
for the reasons I have given above I pro-
test against being compelled to make it."
NICHOLSON AS LIBRARIAN
Inasmuch as the memorial address on
Mr. E. W. B. Nicholson, Bodley's librarian
from 1882 to 1912, has already been sum-

MAKER
RADCLIFFE CAMERA, BODLEIAN LIBRARY, SEEN FROM WITHIN ALL SOULS' COLLEGE QUADRANGLE
15
но
OF
TIME
за
на
7.
7:
-
.
•
marized in the LIBRARY JOURNAL, Novem-
ber, 1913, p. 616-617, and again more
briefly, in the number for September, 1914,
p. 722, it will not be necessary to give here
any details of his career. The address in
question called forth considerable discus-
sion not only on the occasion of its de-
livery at the Bournemouth meeting of the
English Library Association, but also since
then in English library periodicals. Mr.
Falconer Madan said that, as Mr. Nichol-
son's successor and having served under
him for thirty years, he might almost be
expected to say one or two words in appre-
ciation of the address. He called especial
attention to his immense capacity for tak-
ing pains. This was amply illustrated by
the "Staff calendar,” which in Nicholson's
day was a most remarkable volume filled
with detailed instructions about everything,
from the sweeping of the back stairs and
"the H," the cleaning of the chimney and
the flues of the Camera, to the winding of
the clocks, the look-out for student bon-
fires and the keeping of an extra pair of
dry shoes and socks at the library! But
the personality of the librarian to whose
care was due this unique annual showed out
from between the lines and in the last one
edited by Mr. Nicholson there is a pathetic
appeal for indulgence and co-operation
from members of the staff in case he should
wish them to take from him an increased
amount of work which he had been hither-
to accustomed to do himself. He said that
his desire was not to do less than his own
proper share of work, but to be able to
find more time for such parts of that work
as could not be deputed to others and so
avoid as far as possible a continuance of
the overpressure which had for years so
affected his sleep as to lead to several break-
downs, the last of which "was so long and
distressful that a recurrence might compel
him to apply in February, 1912, (when he
will have held his office 30 years), to retire
under § 3.2 of the Bodleian statute. Now
the Bodleian income is not enough to meet
the ordinary annual expenses of the libra-
ry-what would be the result of loading it
in addition with a pension of £500 a year
for perhaps a quarter of a century to come!
And he feels that his natural health and
strength ought to make such a retirement-
at an age 20 years below that at which Ox-
,
M
13
ford professors often perform their duties
-quite needless. Nor, in the interests of
that extensive scheme of development and
improvement of which the last few years
have seen only a first ins.alment, does he
think it would be otherwise advantageous
to the library. And if, as he cannot doubt,
the curators of the library and the trustees
of the Oxford University Endowment Fund
kindly continue to minimize as far as in
them lies the pressure and anxiety which
are not altogether to be eliminated from a
period of varied and strenuous progress, he
feels that with the willing co-operation of
the staff he can give the Bodleian much fur-
ther work before (if at all) the need comes
to make himself its unwelcome pensioner."
Those who had known the remarkably
sympathetic nature of Dr. Coxe naturally
contrasted Mr. Nicholson with him. There
was a charm of characrer about the earlier
librarian which his successor did not have.
Added to Mr. Nicholson's aloofness were
the difficulties arising from poor eyesight.
Mr. T. W. Lyster, of the National Library
of Ireland, felt that though his knowledge
of Mr. Nicholson was slight, it gave him
much stimulus. He felt that Mr. Nichol-
son's excessive partiality for detail almost
approached the limits of mania, and Mr.
Lyster supposed that in his later years the
universe and the Bodleian were too much
for Nicholson, just as the universe and its
problems were toward the end too much for
Tolstoi. Mr. Nicholson impressed him as
being a nervous man, with a not unkindly
gruffness of manner, a man who was al-
ways in haste, whose health was not good,
but who always meant well. He thought
that Mr. Nicholson was a very great libra-
rian. Oxford could hardly have under-
stood him, and certainly his gruffness of
manner could not have been helpful to such
an understanding, but still he did great
things at Oxford, and to a very great ex-
tent revivified a mighty, noble, and ancient
institution, whose size and requirements of
scholarship and management might well
daunt any man, for in the Bodleian many
things were attempted by one brain which in
the British Museum were allotted to several.
-
THE READING ROOMS
In 1860 the Radcliffe trustees offered the
use of the building under their control as
14
a supplementary reading room for the Bod-
leian. This offer was accepted as a most
welcome relief from the congestion which
was evident everywhere in the Bodleian.
The building is a handsome rotunda, em-
bellished with columns and surmounted by
a dome resting on an octagonal base. It
dates from 1737-39 and Freeman called it
"the grandest of all English-Italian de-
signs.' It was originally the home of the
Radcliffe library of medicine and natural
history, founded by Dr. John Radcliffe,
court physician to William III and Mary II.
The main floor was remodelled into a read-
ing-room, open from ten in the morning
till ten at night. The ground floor was also
utilized for the storage of books from the
overflowing Bodleian; the stone floor was
covered with wood, windows were placed
in the hitherto open arches and bookcases
built inside, giving a total book capacity
for the whole building of about 130,000
volumes. In 1909, when a new heating
plant was installed, it was found that a
beam ran into the flue and the authorities
congratulated themselves that the building
had not burned to the ground long before.
Some years previous certain openings in
the dome had been covered with wire net-
ting so as to keep out the birds whose noise
disturbed the readers. When the dome
was examined to find out whether it had not
been damaged by the defective flue, there
was discovered a large accumulation of
twigs and other rubbish carried there by
the birds before the netting was put up.
The surprising amount of 226 bushels of
rubbish was cleared away.
There are two sets of the manuscript
catalog bound up in folio volumes,-one set
kept in the old reading room and the other
in the Radcliffe Camera. Several years
ago Lord Hythe gave £3,000 towards the
expense of the catalog revision, which it is
expected will defray the cost up to the
early part of 1916, when it is believed that
the catalog will be ready for any scheme of
printing which may be adopted. In this
revision one of the chief difficulties is found
in the large groups of anonymous works,
formerly found under such headings as
"Novels," "Journals," "Poesis," "Plays"
and the like. In one year (1909) one as-
sistant ascertained the authorship of 1058
works previously entered as anonymous.
""
A reader having selected his seat, enters
its number and the number of the book on
his call-slip. The book is brought as soon
as possible to the reader's desk and is left
there, even if the reader is absent for the
time being, except that manuscripts and es-
pecially valuable books are in such cases
reserved at the counter until the reader
applies for them. Books can be left at the
reader's desk with a protective slip of pa-
per bearing his name and the date, and they
will remain undisturbed for three days, af-
ter which time, if the reader does not re-
turn and alter the date, the books will be
moved to an adjacent place of reserve,
where they will be kept for seven days
more. At the Selden end books with pro-
tective slips are left at the reader's desk
for ten days. Manuscripts and valuable
printed books are never to be left at a seat
but must be given up at the counter where
they are reserved for the reader's use, pro-
vided each volume has a slip bearing the
name and date. In the Camera reading
room, all ordinary books which the reader
desires to reserve must be given up with a
protective slip to the superintendent, who
will reserve them for seven days. If a
reader is likely to be absent for more than
ten, or in the Camera more than seven days,
and wishes to use the same books on his re-
turn, his best course is to keep a list of the
shelf marks of the books and then let them
go back to the shelves, unless special per-
mission is granted to have the books re-
tained. Ordinary books when done with
may either be left at the reader's desk or
given up at the counter on leaving. In both
parts of the library are found suggestion
books in which readers may enter the title
of any works of permanent value which
they need and which cannot be found in the
general catalog. Such suggestions are wel-
comed, especially if adequate details are
supplied, with an estimate of the value of
the book. They are considered by the li-
brarian every Wednesday and often lead.
to the filling up of gaps in the collection.
The quicker delivery of books to readers
is occupying the attention of a committee of
curators. It is admitted that there is a con-
siderable interval of time between the order
for a book and the receipt of it, but the
problem is considered as well nigh insoluble
in a large old library, shelved and housed
as is the Bodleian. The reader naturally
desires a book the moment he has handed
in a call-slip for it; on the other hand, the
volume may be in a distant room, or even
building, and it would require a much larger
staff to enable a messenger to attend to
each individual call as soon as it is handed
in. There are about 380 of these each work-
ing day. The necessary processes of regis-
tering a book have to be gone through, while
the complications of the old collections and
the new classification by subject are con-
siderable, and the state of the finances do
not permit at present of any enlargement
of the staff. The subway, opened April 13,
1914, will of course materially aid in saving
time but, as the librarian says, it cannot be
expected to work wonders. If call-slips
properly filled out are sent to the library
by mail the books may be obtained in ad-
vance and reserved for the readers.
RECENT HISTORY
If both size and importance are taken
into consideration, the Bodleian may be
considered the most important university
library in the world, and the greatest libra-
ry not directly aided by the state. It con-
tains about 2,750,000 printed literary pieces
bound in about 860,000 volumes. There are
in addition some 40,000 manuscripts exclu-
sive of 18,500 separate charters and deeds.
The incunabula number about 5,600, as
contrasted with 11,500 in the British Mu-
seum, 2,800 in Cambridge University Li-
rary and 2,400 in the John Rylands Library,
Manchester.
15
The manuscripts of five colleges are de-
posited in the Bodleian-University, Jesus,
Hertford, Brasenose and Lincoln. The
last two deposited their manuscripts on the
understanding that they should be kept sep-
arate and called by the name of the college;
that the loan should be revocable by the
college at any time, but that nothing
should be recalled except by authority
of a college meeting signified in writ-
ing to the librarian or curator of the
Bodleian; that the manuscripts should be
treated with the same care and on exactly
the same footing as Bodleian manuscripts,
except that they should not be sent over to
the Radcliffe and that all applications to
borrow them should be referred to the col-
lege for decision; that the Bodleian should
not be responsible for loss or damage when
reasonable care had been exercised; any
binding or repairs necessary at the time of
the transfer were to be done at the expense
of the college, but all subsequent repairs at
the expense of the Bodleian, and that the
college should have reasonable power of
inspecting the collection.

In Bodley's time there was no copyright
act, but the Founder was farsighted enough
to secure from the Stationers' Company an
agreement whereby copies of new books
were to be sent to the library as issued.
In 1623 or 1624 the Company sent the
sheets of the recently issued first folio edi-
tion of Shakespeare's collected works. The
sheets were sent to the binder and on its
return the book was chained to the shelves
and it appears duly entered in the supple-
mentary catalog of 1635 but not in the cata-
log of 1674. It is supposed that it was
disposed of as superfluous in 1664 when the
second issue of the Third Folio was re-
ceived. It was probably among a lot of
"superfluous library books sold by order
of the curators" for which the library re-
ceived £24 from Richard Davis, an Oxford
bookseller.* Nothing is known of its sub-
sequent history until 1759 when it was
acquired by Mr. Richard Turbutt of Ogston
Hall, Derbyshire, from whose possession it
eventually descended to that of his great-
great-grandson, Mr. W. G. Turbutt. On
Jan. 23, 1905, Mr. G. M. R. Turbutt, the son
of the owner, brought the book to Mr.
Madan to ask for advice as to having the
binding repaired. Mr. Madan showed it
to Mr. Strickland Gibson, who had made a
study of Oxford bindings and he soon found
proofs of its being the old Bodleian copy.
It was proposed that the book be valued and
purchased for the Bodleian by subscription.
An American collector offered $15,000 for
it and the owner gave the Bodleian the
refusal of it at that price, allowing a
period of five months for raising the
money. There were 823 subscribers and
chief among those who helped to bring the
matter to a successful issue was Sir William
Osler, of whom grateful mention is ma


(CT
*"It is the only one which can be regar
standard exemplar," says Mr. Madan.
copy selected by the publisher for perma
tion."

16
On October 8 and 9, 1902, the three hun-
dredth anniversary of the foundation of the
Bodleian was fittingly celebrated by the
University. About one hundred and fifty
delegates came from various universities,
libraries, academies and learned bodies of
Europe and America, and there were in
addition sixty specially invited guests. The
public orator, the Rev. Dr. W. W. Merry,
delivered a Latin address in which he dwelt
on the nothingness of 300 years and took
his audience back to the time of Nineveh,
ancient Egypt and Imperial Rome, lament-
ing the wanton ruin and waste of the
barbarian invasions and glorying in the
scholarship of the renaissance. In this ret-
rospective manner he brought out the hu-
manistic interests of Oxford, to the further-
ance of which the Bodleian has been chiefly
devoted. As a memorial of the centenary,
there was issued a beautiful quarto volume
of 50 pages, "Pietas Oxoniensis," con-
taining a life of Bodley, an account of the
University Library before his time, the
foundation of the new "public" library of
the University, the chief gifts to the
library after Bodley's death, the main
transfers and deposits, a list of librarians
and sub-librarians, with a bibliographical
list of printed Bodleian library catalogs.
In 1900 the curators approved a scheme
of extension of the storage space by pro-
viding a large underground two-story stack
between the Bodleian and the Radcliffe
Camera. Authorities on underground con-
struction gave assurance of the security
of such a chamber against damp. The trus-
tees of the Oxford University Endowment
Fund offered to place at the disposal of the
University such a sum as might be required
to defray the cost of construction. By the
end of 1910 the underground stack room
begun in August, 1909, was practically com-
pleted so far as construction, heating, ven-
tilation and structural iron-work were con-
cerned, but money was lacking for the
rolling bookcases. In 1912 two hundred of
PAS
w
these, made by Lucy & Co., Oxford, were
put in place and by pressing some tempo-
rary wooden shelving into service, it was
possible to deposit about 120,000 volumes
in this underground room before the end of
the year. It is expected that £500 a year
will have to be spent on new stacks for the
next twenty-five years in order to keep
pace with the accessions. A subway con-
necting the Bodleian quadrangle with the
Radcliffe Camera was constructed in 1913
and so facilitated the staff passing from one
part of the library to another. This to-
gether with a new book-lift has aided very
materially in the prompt delivery of books.
to readers. The yearly accessions for 1913
were 97,795, of which 571 were manu-
scripts. The income for that year was £11,-
700 and the expenditures £12,000. "The
financial position causes anxiety," says the
Bodleian Quarterly Record in its first num-
ber. “A joint committee of council and
curators have been unable to recommend a
reduction of expenditure, if the efficiency of
the library is to be maintained, and an ap-
peal for funds will shortly be issued."
In closing we cannot do better than
quote the lines which Henry Vaughan, the
Silurist, wrote when he visited the library:

ARRE

Most noble Bodley! we are bound to thee
For no small part of our eternity.
Thy treasure was not spent on horse and
hound,
Nor that new mode, which doth old States
confound.
Thy legacies another way did go:
Nor were they left to those would spend
them so.
This is thy monument! here thou shalt
stand
Till the times fail in their last grain of
sand.
And wheresoe'er thy silent reliques keep,
This tomb will never let thine honor sleep,
Still we shall think upon thee; all our
fame
Meets here to speak one letter of thy name:
Thou canst not die! Here thou art more
than safe
Where every book is thy large epitaph.

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
INNNEN
3 9015 03690 5464
•
Apple Cat P
de.
Aded as a
it was the
ent preserva-
- Bugimas,
4ܝ ܐ ܟ ܐܠ ܢ
potten off as aforate
!