Tag: 17th century

Library Treasure

Hertford College Library’s Michaelmas Term 2023 rare books display included a selection of items that have recently been worked on by the library team. Over the past year the team have also been preparing the collection for the library’s renovation project, packing up material for specialist storage.

The display was curated by Sophie Floate (Rare Books Cataloguer), Alice Roques (Librarian) and Katherine Knight (Assistant Librarian).

Guard book of 15th century fragments, Hertford College MS 41

Two page opening of MS41 showing part of Versor's commentary on Aristotle. Two columns of manuscript text per page with an illuminated letter on each. Additional marginalia surrounds the columns.

Examples of different sized items attached via guards to the guard book

This is a guard book – a book with ‘guards’ or stubs that various loose sheets are attached to. Bound in 1954, this guard book contains various manuscript (i.e. handwritten) fragments from works made in the 15^th century. Some of these pieces were treated as scrap material and recycled, probably in Oxford, into later bindings for other books. Finally, at a later date, they were rescued from these bindings and preserved in this guard book.

Thanks to the work of Sophie Floate, Hertford’s rare book cataloguer, and the Bodleian Special Collections team, information about this guard book is now available in the free public website that lists manuscripts in Oxford. This means it will be easier for researchers from all over the world to discover.

The volume includes a beautiful section of Johannes Versor’s 15th century Commentary on Aristotle and other works in Latin, German and Italian. There are a number of illuminated initials at the beginnings of columns in Versor’s work, showing very finely detailed and colourful patterns with gold.

View the record for this manuscript in the online Medieval Manuscripts in Oxford Libraries catalogue

Cyrano de Bergerac, The Comical History of the States and Empires of the Worlds of the Moon and Sun, trans. Archibald Lovell, (London, 1687)

Book open to show printed title page and engraved title image of the Comical History.

Close up of page showing text and music score

Hertford’s rare books cataloguer, Sophie, has also been working on the college’s early printed book collections to create online records that meet modern standards. This means that information is being added to the SOLO website about each book, including descriptions of bindings, additional handwritten notes (marginalia) and details of previous owners (provenance). The data is publicly available and searchable, making it easier for our collections to be discovered by researchers.

This book is an English translation of a set of works first published by Cyrano de Bergerac in French. They are recognised as some of the earliest works of science fiction and an influence on authors like Hertford alumnus Jonathan Swift (author of Gulliver’s Travels).

The book was owned by Katherine Blount, who has recorded her name, a date and the price at the front of the book. Sophie’s cataloguing uncovered this previously unrecorded information and she shared her findings further in a blog post for the Early Modern Female Book Ownership project. Subsequent work by other researchers has uncovered further books owned by Blount in other collections, including a manuscript collection of sermons by John Donne (a Hertford alumnus) now housed in the St Paul’s Cathedral Library.

View the record for this book in the online SOLO library catalogue

Set of Astrological Works, 17-18th century

Handwritten contents list of 11 items in bound volume.

Title page of 'Magick & Astrology Vindicated' (1651)

Hertford’s early printed book collections contain a very wide array of subjects. Along with standard theological and classical works, there are also many scientific, geographic and popular texts. Many of the books were owned by other people before they became part of Hertford’s collections. It was common for multiple short works to be gathered together and bound into a single book. Sometime booksellers intentionally sold sets of works bound together but many others were bought individually and bound in an entirely unique combination by their owner. This item is a collection of books about astrology. Each item has its own individual description on the SOLO library catalogue.

The book includes a fold out item showing a hand-coloured, illustrated timeline of the world that goes back to biblical times and into the future. This is a particularly rare item. One other copy is known to exist in the British Library according to the English Short Title Catalogue website.

As well as cataloguing items on SOLO, relevant information about Hertford books is also added to the internationally shared English Short Title Catalogue, which includes works from over 2,000 libraries around the world.

See all items in this volume in the online SOLO library catalogue

Thomas Hyde, De Ludis Orientalibus Libri Duo, (Oxford, 1694)

This history of chess and other games was written by Thomas Hyde (1636-1703), who was a scholar and translator of Asian and Middle Eastern languages and the Bodleian’s Librarian. It has engraved and woodcut pictures and diagrams and is written primarily in Latin but includes excerpts in Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, Sanskrit and Chinese. The book was made in Oxford, on printing presses in the basement of the Sheldonian Theatre.

This copy of the book was loaned to the Oxford University Press Library by Hertford College, along with many other books printed in Oxford. As a result, these books were missed out of the previous printed catalogue of the Hertford collections that was made in the mid-20^th century. These books were catalogued as a priority in the library’s current cataloguing project and records for them are now available in Oxford’s online catalogue, SOLO.

View the record for this item in the SOLO library catalogue

Michael Drayton, Poly-Olbion, (London, 1613)

Illustrated frontispiece to Poly-Olbion showing a seated woman decorated in a map of England and with sea in the background.

Page of Poly-Olbion with a poetic description of the illustrated frontispiece.

Poet Michael Drayton (1563-1631) collaborated with engraver William Hole and historian John Selden on this 15,000-line poem. The poem tells the story of England and Wales in a series of songs dedicated to counties. The history, legends and geography of the counties are described by transforming natural topological features into characters in a story. Hole contributed engraved maps and Selden provided notes to explain the verses.

Selden (1584-1654) was a student at Hart Hall (a forerunner to Hertford College) and was in his twenties when he wrote the Poly-Olbion’s annotations. He went on to have a career as a lawyer, MP, linguist and historian. Selden was a major collector of books and bequeathed 8,000 books to the Bodleian Library.

View the record for the Poly-Olbion in the online SOLO library catalogue

What has happened to Hertford’s rare books?

Hertford’s rare book collections (and most archives) are temporarily being stored offsite in specialist conservation storage as part of the library building project. Every book sent offsite over the past 12 months has gone through a special process to prepare it for storage. This work has been done by the library staff, with additional support from a brilliant team of trained student employees and volunteers.

Items have been:

Graded for condition and categorised by size.
Gently cleaned using a brush to remove surface dust and dirt.
Details recorded in a temporary database.
Title pages and other unusual features photographed.
Tied using cotton tape (ribbon made out of cotton, not sticky tape!) if parts were damaged.
Wrapped in archival tissue paper.
Placed in a suitable acid-free archival box. Larger books had custom-made boxes that fit them individually.
Securely transported to the specialist storage.

Whilst in offsite storage the use of these resources will be minimised to reduce the risk of damage during transport. Cataloguing and a small number of research consultations and displays will continue.

The Secretum Secretorum of Louis the Great

Post author By
Post date 14 December 2023
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Hertford’s rare books cataloguer, Sophie Floate, writes about one of the library’s oldest items: Hertford MS 2. This beautifully illuminated 14th century manuscript was commissioned by King Louis the Great of Hungary.

Hertford College Library has a small number of medieval manuscripts, currently housed at the Bodleian. Hertford College MS 2 is a copy of the ‘Secretum Secretorum’, a pseudo-Aristotelian work with an uncertain background. It purports to be, in part, a series of letters from Aristotle to Alexander the Great, advising him on matters of leadership, statecraft along with a miscellany of medical, health and astrological information. Though early translations claim to be from a lost Greek original, it is now thought more likely to be an Arabic work composed during the 10^th century, known as ‘Sirr al-asrā’. Though it purports to be translated by Yahya ibn al-Bitriq, this is also doubtful. The text of the copy at Hertford was certainly translated from the Arabic by Philip of Tripoli in the 12^th century. By the 14^th century, when this manuscript was produced, the work was very widely read in medieval scholarly circles and there are believed to be over 300 extant medieval copies today.

Hertford College MS 2 was commissioned by Louis the Great, King of Hungary and Croatia (and later Poland) from 1342-1382. Louis succeeded his father as King when he was only 16 and launched many military campaigns during his reign. He evidently showed some interest in cultural affairs too, as after his occupation of Naples he had King Robert’s library brought to him. He commissioned this manuscript and another, the ‘Illuminated Chronicle’ (now in the National Széchényi Library in Budapest), which were both produced in a Hungarian workshop. Miklόs Meggyesi, son of Hertul the court painter of Louis, has traditionally been identified as the illuminator, though there is no real evidence for this.

Many manuscripts copies of ‘Secretum Secretorum’ have illuminations depicting either Aristotle or Alexander, or both, but the Hertford manuscript depicts King Louis instead, on the first folio. It is a ¾ length portrait within an illuminated letter ‘H’; Louis is shown holding a sword and sceptre while his shield has the ostrich-headed crest associated with his reign.

In the lower margins of the page are diamond-shaped heraldic coat of arms – the Hungarian coat of arms on the left, those of Arpad and Angevin in the middle, with those of Poland of the right. Stylistic analysis and comparison with the ‘Illuminated Chronicle’ date this manuscript to the 1360s.

The manuscript has some marginal annotations in a contemporary hand and it has been suggested by Laura Fabian (in her article ‘L’image du roi sage en Occident au XIVe siècle et un exemple concernant la Hongrie à l’époque angevine : le Secretum secretorum de Louis le Grand de Hongrie’, 2018) that these might have been by Louis’ official biographer, John of Küküllő, since he quotes several passages from the ‘Secretum Secretorum’ in his work ‘Chronica Hungarorum’ and some of the passages marked ‘NB’ with a manicule in the manuscript match the sections quoted.

How it came to leave Louis I’s library is unclear; in fact, its journey is completely unknown until it came into the possession of Edmund Hall, a priest who had matriculated at Pembroke College, Oxford, in 1636. Hall left Oxford before finishing his degree in order to fight with the Parliamentarians, returning to Oxford in 1647 after the army became too radicalized for his Presbyterian views. He was the author of several pamphlets and was once imprisoned for his criticism of the government. It’s not clear why he gave this manuscript to Magdalen Hall in 1658 but he is listed in the Benefactors Book as giving the manuscript along with several printed books. The manuscript has marginal notes in a 17^th century hand, presumably that of Hall.

Example page with marginalia in 17th century hand at bottom

Now that this item has been added to the Medieval Manuscripts in Oxford Libraries catalogue, it can be more easily found by researchers. We hope that this will lead to further research into the item and its history.

Treasured donations

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 17^th and 18^th 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 book in reddish pen — Provenance note on inner leaf of book

Entry of 'Rogerus Frye' in ink pen with details of donation in Latin written below — Provenance note on inner leaf of book

Early modern printed text with early modern pen annotations in margins — Text with early modern annotations in margins

Front cover of book, with rough holes for chain marks near page edge — Text with early modern annotations in margins

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.

Mottled front cover of a book — Distinctive mottled calf binding of a Cale book

Inside pages of book with text and diagram of hops farming — Distinctive mottled calf binding of a Cale book

First page of pamphlet inside book detailing economic policy debate — Economic policy debate

First page of pamphlet inside book detailing pestilential contagion, with a printed seal — Economic policy debate

The Early Modern Library

A Very Serviceable Library

Resources and Links

More about H ertford’s Cale collection

Information about our upcoming library renovation project

Rare Books and Archives at Hertford

Search for Hertford rare books on the SOLO library catalogue

Tags 17th century, 18th century, Benefactors Book, Cale, Donation

Rare books

The Early Modern Library

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.

Source: Madan, Oxford Books vol. 3 (Clarendon Press, 1931), p.146

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 rules in the fair copy of the Benefactor’s book. Handwritten ink on paper.

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 17^th and early 18^th 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.

Treasured Donations

A Very Serviceable Library

Resources and links

Information about our upcoming library renovation project

Rare Books and Archives at Hertford

Hertford Archives’ guide to the history and records of Hart Hall, Magdalen Hall and Hertford College

Search for Hertford’s rare books on the SOLO library catalogue

Madan’s Oxford Books vol. 3 entry on Henry Wilkinson

Tags 17th century, 18th century, Benefactors Book, Henry Wilkinson, Josiah Pullen

Rare books

Cataloguing at Hertford College Library

Post author By Alice
Post date 27 October 2021
1 Comment on Cataloguing at Hertford College Library

A page from Hertford's typed catalogue listing dozens of books per page, with handwritten additions. — A page from Hertford’s typed catalogue listing dozens of books per page, with handwritten additions.

When the current project to catalogue Hertford’s books started in 2018 only a small proportion of the books had been added to the University’s online library catalogue, SOLO. For the past few decades the main source of information about the collection had been an unpublished typewritten list with minimal information and little detail of provenance or physical condition. The few existing records already in the SOLO online catalogue had been added as part of larger Oxford projects, but this current project aims to add detailed records for all books in Hertford’s rare books collection to the online catalogue.

The first books to be catalogued were around 200 volumes that had previously been on loan to Oxford University Press as part of their “Printer’s Library”. These were mainly books printed in England during the 17th and 18th centuries covering a wide range of subjects from sermons to chess playing.

The Printer's Library bookplate on the inside of a Hertford book. — Left: The Printer’s Library bookplate on the inside of a Hertford book. Centre: a selection of the books on the shelves, with distinctive added publication date in gold at the base of their spines. Right: Title page of a book once in the Printer’s Library, printed in just a few minutes away from Hertford in Oxford’s Sheldonian Theatre in 1714.

A selection of the books on the shelves, with distinctive added publication date in gold at the base of their spines. — Left: The Printer’s Library bookplate on the inside of a Hertford book. Centre: a selection of the books on the shelves, with distinctive added publication date in gold at the base of their spines. Right: Title page of a book once in the Printer’s Library, printed in just a few minutes away from Hertford in Oxford’s Sheldonian Theatre in 1714.

Shelved alongside these was one particularly large and fascinating volume which was given to Hertford by F.D.S. Darwin (matriculated Queen’s, 1883) in 1934. This collection of broadsides contains 43 items, spanning 200 years. They are mostly proclamations, declarations and narratives relating to events from the reign of Charles I to Queen Anne, nearly half of which relate to the English Civil War and Interregnum.

Single printed page of text with royal symbol at top — Left: Proclamation by Charles I (1633). Centre: Proclamation by Oliver Cromwell (1654). Right: Napoleonic bulletin (1812)

Single printed page of text with Protectorate symbol at top — Left: Proclamation by Charles I (1633). Centre: Proclamation by Oliver Cromwell (1654). Right: Napoleonic bulletin (1812)

There are also several very rare sheets; for example, the 28th bulletin of Napoleon’s “grande armée” issued in November 1812 when he arrived at Smolensk, relating various successes (and omitting losses), concluding with the sentence: “La santé de l’Empereur n’a jamais été meilleure” [translation: the health of the Emperor has never been better]. The volume also contains the only recorded surviving copy of the “The St. Lucia gazette, or, General intelligencer” printed on St Lucia on October 21, 1780 and gives a variety of information from items for sale to information relating to the American Revolution. Each item within the collection has been individually catalogued in the online catalogue.

Section of leather book spine with 'Broadsides 1633-1812' embossed in gold — Left: The spine label of the broadsides volume, the book is so large that it is stored flat. Right: St Lucia Gazette (1780)

Close up of title and top three columns of printed sheet of text — Left: The spine label of the broadsides volume, the book is so large that it is stored flat. Right: St Lucia Gazette (1780)

Tall, narrow book held open by book snakes. Book open to show hand drawn red and black in title page. — The title page of Hertford’s Benefactors Book.

Cataloguing an early printed book involves looking at three areas: the bibliographic text, the materials used to construct the book and the provenance. The resulting record which appears on the library catalogue therefore holds a great deal of information which will enable researchers and academics to locate books and texts which fall into their sphere of interest more easily. With the increase in the numbers of texts which have been digitised, often the scholarly interest will lie in textual differences, manuscript annotations and ownership, all of which will be evident from the catalogue record in a way which was not previously available.

Unpicking the provenance trails of early printed books can shed so much light on the history of a collection, especially where written records may no longer exist. The pattern of ownership in college libraries in Oxford is typically a mix of bequest, donation and purchase, with the emphasis on bequest and donation, and this is particularly so at Hertford. Hertford’s early printed books have a somewhat complicated provenance trail. The collection combines the earlier libraries of Hart Hall and Magdalen Hall, which were the predecessors of the current Hertford College (for more on this see our history of the college). We are lucky to still have the Benefactors Book from Magdalen Hall, which records donations from the 1650s to 1730s and often provides useful information. Books can be matched with entries in the Benefactors Book which has proved invaluable in identifying previous owners and their roles in the college.

Close up of hand written entry in red and black ink reads 'Richard: Day Tonsor Aulae Magd: dedit Greenhamio opera.' — Left: Entry in the Benefactors Book for Richard Daye’s donation. He is listed as Magdalen Hall’s barber. Centre: Close up of the handwritten donation note on the title page of the book. Right: Detailed notes about Hertford’s copy in catalogue record

Close up of printed title page of book with handwritten 'ex dono Richard Daye tonsoris Aulae Magd:' — Left: Entry in the Benefactors Book for Richard Daye’s donation. He is listed as Magdalen Hall’s barber. Centre: Close up of the handwritten donation note on the title page of the book. Right: Detailed notes about Hertford’s copy in catalogue record

As the cataloguing continues, the college’s understanding of the connections alumni and other donors have had to the libraries of Magdalen Hall, Hart Hall and Hertford College over the centuries is growing. This helps us learn about life at the halls and college in the past and answer archival queries about old members and staff too. The new catalogue records are making it easier for researchers from around the world to learn about Hertford’s collections. This detailed information is helpful for researchers unable to visit the collections in person, and those tentatively planning potential trips to Oxford. We also hope that, by making the books easier to discover, this will lead to more enquiries and requests to visit the collection in future.

Resources and links

Oxford’s library catalogue, SOLO

Hertford College’s Archives catalogue

Treasures from Hertford’s rare books collection

17th century, 18th century, Benefactors Book, Cale, Donation

Tags 17th century, 18th century, Benefactors Book, Cale, Donation

Guard book of 15th century fragments, Hertford College MS 41

Cyrano de Bergerac, The Comical History of the States and Empires of the Worlds of the Moon and Sun, trans. Archibald Lovell, (London, 1687)

Set of Astrological Works, 17-18th century

Thomas Hyde, De Ludis Orientalibus Libri Duo, (Oxford, 1694)

Michael Drayton, Poly-Olbion, (London, 1613)

What has happened to Hertford’s rare books?

Links

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Further reading

Links

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A rare gift from the Obsonator

Cale’s legacy

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Resources and Links

Henry Wilkinson – Principal and Librarian

Josiah Pullen

Benefactors’ Books

Rules and regulations

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Resources and links

Resources and links