BOOK III. Chapter XXII. ries of London. 1 many examples of early English printing. An Orosius, The Minor Libra- without date or place of imprint, but bearing the name of Leonardus Achates de Basileâ, is probably the first specimen of Vicenza typography, although Ioannes de Reno has been usually regarded as the earliest printer in that city. There is a fine copy of the Augsburgh Tewrdanckh; a complete series of the folio Shakespeares, and the curious Chinese block-book entitled Liber Organicus Astronomia Europææ apud Sinas restitutæ, printed at Pekin, in 1668. A collection of Spanish laws of some rarity (the Recopilacion. of 1581) attained great temporary notoriety from the use to which this copy was turned on the famous trial of Sir Thomas Picton, for putting Luisa Calderon to the torture, during his governorship of Trinidad. Rarely, perhaps, has the casual acquisition of a public library by chancing to synchronize with an exciting event. attracted so much of public attention. Another acquisition is noticeable for curiousity of a different kind. Towards the end of the last century a worthy clergyman of Devonshire bethought himself of constructing a new "System of Divinity," and of printing it with his own hands. The work extended to twenty-six octavo volumes, of which the author and printer perfected but eleven copies, and of these the set preserved at the London Institution is one. Among the more recent accessions is an unusually splendid copy of the great French work on Egypt. In the original formation of this Library (between the years 1806 and 1812), the sum of £16,533 was ex 1 Comp. Cotton, Typographical Gazetteer, Second edition, 308. BOOK III. Chapter XXII. ries of London. officers of the Library. pended; and from that date to the present, liberal accessions have been regularly made. Richard Porson was The Minor Librathe first Librarian, but his early death (25 Sept. 1808) made his term of office a very brief one. Nor, indeed, Extent, cost, and despite his brilliant scholarship and his other eminent endowments, was the office congenial to him. His successor, Mr. Maltby, has told us in the Porsoniana (appended to the Table Talk of Samuel Rogers), that his attendance was so irregular as to draw from the Directors on one occasion the pointed reproof, "we only know you are our Librarian, by seeing your name attached to the receipts for your salary;" and from devoted friends the admission that the censure was merited. But he had an excellent assistant in Mr. William Upcott, who filled the office of Sub-Librarian for twenty-eight years. Mr. Maltby, too, continued to fill the office of Principal Librarian, from the death of Porson to the midsummer of 1834. He was succeeded by Mr. Richard Thomson and Mr. E. W. Brayley, as joint Librarians. To these gentlemen is mainly due that Catalogue of the Library of the London Institution, systematically classed, which is one of the best productions extant in its kind. The present number of volumes exceeds 62,000. The right of admission belongs, of course, exclusively to the Proprietors and their nominees, but for a long time the Library has been easily accessible for literary purposes. 1 Thomson and Brayley, Historical and Bibliographical Account of the London Institution, prefixed to the Catalogue, i, v-lxviii; MS. Correspon dence (Rich. Thomson Esq.). BOOK III. Chapter XXII. Very similar in character to this collection, though The Minor Libra- much smaller in extent, is the Library of the ROYAL ries of London. Library of the tion. INSTITUTION, the foundation of which was laid in 1803. The Managers began by purchasing the entire collection of Thomas Astle, (author of The Origin and Progress of Royal Institu- the Art of Writing,) which in cludedthat of the Rev. Philip Morant, the historian of Essex, and is noticeable for the number of books with MS. notes which it contains. John Guillemard, F.R.S. gave a valuable series of books relating to America,, and the Rev. Lewis Dutens an extensive collection of tracts on various subjects. Dr. Charles Burney (of Greenwich) took considerable pains in the formation, arrangement, and cataloguing of the series of Greek authors. Lady Banks presented part of the Library formed by her sister-in-law Miss S.S. Banks. The collection includes the three great works on Egypt of Denon, and his Colleagues; of Rosellini, and of Lepsius; and a few modern MSS.,' chiefly relating to the History of the American War. The total number of volumes is about 27,000, including 300 volumes of Historical Tracts. 1 Library of the 1 The Library of the EAST INDIA COMPANY is almost exclusively a collection of Asiatic History, Philology, and Politics. On these subjects it has an excellent series of books; to which, as to most proprietary Libraries in the Metropolis possessing any special attractions for students, access may now be readily obtained for any important purpose. 1 Vincent, Catalogue of the Library of the Royal Institution (1857), preface. BOOK III. Chapter XXII. ries of London. The Collection dates from the year 1800, was at first almost confined to MSS. and was perhaps re- The Minor Libragarded rather as an appendage to the Museum of Oriental curiosities, than as a Library which would become individually important. But it has grown, under wise management, until about 15,500 volumes have been gathered, of which more than 8,000 volumes are MSS. in Sanscrit, Arabic, Persian, Hindustani, Punjabi, Zend, Malay, Javanese, etc.; or printed books, analogous to MSS., in the Chinese and Tibetan languages. The Sanscrit portion is the largest assemblage in Europe, perhaps in the world. The Tibetan contains works not to be found elsewhere in this country, and to be seen in Europe, only at Paris, or at St. Petersburgh. The collection of Printed Books (strictly so termed) amounts to about 7,500 volumes, and includes an extensive series of Oriental books printed in England, on the Continent, and in India. The average annual cost of the Library has been about £1,500, defrayed by grants from the Court of Directors out of their ordinary funds. The distinguished Orientalist Professor H. H. Wilson is the Librarian, and has the general superintendence of the Library and Museum, the latter being under the immediate charge of the Curators, Dr. Horsfield. The Library is accessible for six hours daily on five days of the week, and permission to frequent it requires but an introduction, similar to that in use at the British Museum. 1 1 MS. Correspondence (Professor H. H. Wilson); Catalogue of the Library of the East India Company (2 vol. 8vo. 1845-51). Vol. II. 7 ་ BOOK III. Chapter XXII. ries of London. of Guildhall. In Bagford's Account of the London Libraries (HarThe Minor Libra leian MS. 5,900), “Guildhall" appears as ninth in the list, but he wisely adds a note with the qualifying obThe City Library servation, "belongs rather to the Record Repositories." His list was made almost at the beginning of the last century. Some forty years later, Thomas Carte made it a reproach to the wealthy citizens that they were erecting "a most expensive structure for the Mansion House of their Chief Magistrate," without making any provision either there or elsewhere to remedy a defect which, he thought, would scarcely be found to exist even in the private houses of similar Magistrates abroad.1 Nor did the record-loving historian stop short at the reproof. He gave extensive circulation to a scheme for the erection of a City Library, by a subscription (of £2,000 a piece) from the ample funds of the Twelve great Companies of London. But the scheme had no results. It was not until 1806 that the commencement even of a "Lord Mayor's Library" was made at the Mansion House (during the Mayoralty of Sir J. Shaw); nor until 1824, that the foundation of a City Library was begun at Guildhall:-the Common Council having in that 1 Carte, ubi supra. In a preceding section of this book (vol. I, p. 306) I have mentioned the Library given to the London Franciscans by Sir Richard Whittington, during his Mayoralty in 1421, and have referred to a passage in Stow's Survey respecting it. But in that work I notice another paragraph which looks somewhat inconsistent with the former, and contains an assertion well deserving of investigation. The paragraph in question is headed "Ancient Library at Guildhall,” and runs thus:- Adjoining to the Chapel (of St. Mary Magdalen) on the South side, was sometime a fair and large library pertaining to the Guildhall These books were (as it is said) in the reign of Edward VI, sent for by Edward, Duke of Somerset, Lord Protector, with promise to be restored shortly. Men ........ |