Our special collections contain several main items donated by college members, families of alumni, and college tutors and staff. Here we look at two examples of donors and their gifts. Our library rebuild plans include a new bespoke rare books and archives store and consultation space. These will allow us to preserve the collections and share them with many future generations.
A rare gift from the Obsonator
Hundreds of books were donated to the libraries of Magdalen Hall and Hart Hall in the 17th and 18th centuries. Our best sources of information for these are the Benefactors’ Books from Magdalen Hall. This edition of Lombard’s Sentences is one of the earliest printed items still in the collection. This copy was given to Magdalen Hall by Roger Fry in 1657. The inscription in the book (and in the Benefactors’ book) describes him as “obsonator”, i.e. manciple or caterer for the Hall.
Provenance note on inner leaf of bookEntry in fair copy of Benefactors’ BookText with early modern annotations in marginsCover of book showing chain marks“Sentences” by Peter Lombard, Bishop of Paris (approximately 1100-1160), is a theological and philosophical work. It consists of theological questions posed by Lombard and became the fundamental textbook for the study of Theology and as such was a required text in many universities in Europe well into the 16th century. This is an edition printed in Venice in 1489. There are just over 100 surviving copies of this particular edition, mainly in university libraries.
Cale’s legacy
Hertford College’s collections received a large bequest from Hart Hall alumnus John Cale in 1777. His will records the donation of books, money to pay for the transfer and cataloguing of the books, and shares in the East India Company to fund a librarian. Cale’s donations are currently part of the College’s rare books cataloguing project. We are gradually learning about the wide variety of material in his collection and his distinctive bindings and markings on the books.
This set of brief works is an example of the wide variety of material collected by Cale. The items were published from 1718 to 1754 and cover topics including currency and finances, controlling infectious diseases, political debate, growing hops, and the criticism of the Moravian Church.
Distinctive mottled calf binding of a Cale bookHops farmingEconomic policy debateMedical textsA very varied selection of works are bound in the same volume.
Hertford’s Library has gradually grown over the past two centuries. As the college prepares for a major library rebuild project to create a library fit for the 21st century we look back over some of the key developments in its history.
1820: Magdalen Hall’s dreadful fire
Magdalen Hall was based in a site adjacent to Magdalen College on Oxford’s High Street from its foundation in the late 15th century to the early 19th century. A fire in their buildings on the High Street proved the catalyst for its move to Catte Street.
‘I have just time to inform you, that a dreadful fire broke out in Magdalen Hall…this morning, about three o’clock, which totally consumed the whole range of buildings, consisting of about eighteen sets of rooms, in three hours… No lives were lost. All the furniture, books, &c. destroyed. It is supposed to have originated in the room of a young man over the common rooms…’
Source: Morning Chronicle, 11 Jan 1820
Following this fire, which was caused by a student who left a candle burning and fell asleep, Magdalen Hall moved onto the crumbling Catte Street site of Hertford College (previously Hart Hall). In 1874 Magdalen Hall legally became a college of Oxford University and revived the name Hertford College. In the subsequent 200 years the library collections have moved around the sites as storage requirements and members’ needs have changed. The library has never had a purpose built space on the Catte Street site.
Source: Skelton, Oxonia Antiqua Restaurata (1843)
1908: A new chapel
Architect T.G. Jackson designed the new chapel, bridge, dining hall and spiral staircase at Hertford in the early 20th century.
On these plans you can see the new chapel design on the right and the small old chapel on the left, which is now the library. Behind the original chapel is a toilet block (now the site of the library staff office)! Initially the old chapel remained as a single large library room, which would have been a very well lit space.
T.G. Jackson’s architectural drawing for the new Chapel.
‘…Chapel is becoming so famous that the local guides, who used to dismiss Hertford in a single sentence, have found it necessary to add a new speech to their repertoire and to extend their itinerary. This is a mixed blessing, but we may set against it the great though very secular advantages which have resulted from the evacuation of the Old Chapel, which, by the abolition of the ‘horse box’ and the addition of a gallery, has been converted into a very serviceable Library. There is room in it for a surprisingly large number of books, and tables have been provided for the accommodation of readers, who are now admitted at most hours of the day.’
Hertford College Magazine, Vol. 1, No. 1 (1910)
Jackson plan of the original chapel before conversion into the libraryInterior of original Hertford Chapel before it became the library building19th century view of Old Buildings Quad before the building of the new chapel and dining hall
The Library keeps on growing
Demand for study space and bookshelves continued right through the 20th century (and still does today). In the 1960s a library extension was built onto the old building. The space, including the old building, was split into two floors, creating a light-filled first floor and a very dark ground floor. Further extensions were added in the basement levels in the nineties and noughties to meet the continued demand for more space.
Hertford is planning a library rebuild to support many future generations in their academic studies. This project will create additional accessible individual and group study areas, space for the modern book collections, and specialist storage and consultation space for the special collections.
Many of the books in this early library are still part of our collection today. Our current plans to rebuild the library include a purpose-built store and consultation room for our special collections.
Representation of Magdalen Hall’s key figures, with Henry Wilkinson holding his plans for the library and Josiah Pullen on his left. Source: Skelton, Oxonia Antiqua Restaurata (1843)
Henry Wilkinson – Principal and Librarian
Principal Henry Wilkinson (1648-1662) funded the first purpose-built library for Magdalen Hall in 1656. The library was a single book-lined room in the Hall’s original site next to Magdalen College on Oxford’s High Street. As well as donating many volumes, he also published the first printed catalogue of any Oxford college or hall library in 1661. One aim of the catalogue was to highlight what was not in the collection to encourage donations to fill these gaps.
The original library was a simple room will bookshelves around the walls. Early catalogues have been used to reconstruct the arrangement of the library using the shelfmarks. They were not ordered by subject, and larger books were chained.
Chain marks on the front cover of an early modern book.
Josiah Pullen
Vice-Principal Josiah Pullen (1657-1714) continued the expansion of the library. He persuaded Hobbes to donate a copy of his works to his old hall in 1673. Pullen acted as Librarian and maintained the Benefactors’ Book – which we can see evidenced by his doodles on the end covers!
Josiah Pullen’s doodles in the back of the rough copy of the Benefactors’ Book.
Benefactors’ Books
The Benefactors’ Books are some of the most important archival resources from Magdalen Hall. They record donations from the 1650s to 1740s of books, coins, globes, and money to the library. Both the rough (working) and fair copy are part of Hertford’s archival collections. They are regularly used to trace the provenance of books held in the collection and to trace old members of the Hall.
Rules and regulations
Both copies of the Benefactors’ Books include a set of rules for reader behaviour in the Library. There were fees for students to use the library but also strict fines or bans for failing to follow rules.
The most costly fines were for writing in or damaging books, which attracted a 5 shilling fine plus the cost of repairing damage. Similarly, bringing in candles, drinks or tobacco would result in a six month ban.
Library users were also expected to be considerate of the library as a space. They were not permitted to leave ‘strangers’ in the library, although they were allowed to bring guests if they accompanied them. They were also required to study quietly in the library and not disturb other readers.
The Benefactors’ Books are a really useful tool for understanding how the library worked in the 17th and early 18th centuries. The library relied on direct funding by students and donations of money and books from old members and colleges friends to create the collection. And yet this library has a very familiar shape which we still recognise today, with libraries continuing continue to provide a vital quiet study space and access to academic resources.
