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.
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.
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.
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.
Left: The spine label of the broadsides volume, the book is so large that it is stored flat. Right: St Lucia Gazette (1780)
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.
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.
Most of the early printed book collection at Hertford is shelved broadly in subject order. This means any discrete collections given by individuals have been separated. Not an issue if their provenance is marked in the books, but this is not always the case.
A title page with pencil note
Books containing a pencilled note “Cale” began to come to light and further research found this to be John Cale, born in Abbot’s Langley in 1722. Cale matriculated at Hart Hall, predecessor of Hertford, in 1739 and three years later was admitted to the Inner Temple where he presumably trained as a barrister. He spent most of his life as a barrister in Barming, Kent.
Mottled calf binding
As I progressed along the shelves, I began to recognise particular bindings as being typical of Cale books. He seems to have favoured a type of calf marbling, and often had gold tooling applied to the board edges. Not all these books have been noted as previously belonging to Cale, and yet they match what I am learning to be his taste in bindings and subject matter. His books, in terms of subject, seem to cover quite a range of topics, from the usual theology and law you might expect in a provincial gentleman’s collection but with a definite interest in the practical, particularly gardening and horticulture.
Gold-tooled board edges
Another interesting aspect to Cale’s library is that it contains a several books which belonged to a Phebe Cale. This is probably his aunt, who married mathematician Charles Hayes in 1713; the books have her maiden name so must have been owned before she married. There are also several books by Hayes himself in the collection, for example his Treatise of fluxions published in 1704, the first work printed in English to explain Newton’s method of fluxions, and his Of the moon: a philosophical dialogue.
Pasted in handwritten contents list at front of a Cale book, signed ‘P Cale’
In his will of 1777, Cale bequeathed his books and manuscripts to the college and left detailed instructions for the delivery of the books to Hertford, for the appointment of a librarian, and for a catalogue to be made, as well as provision for their general care and upkeep. Unfortunately, records of the college (and certainly for the library) have not survived in any significant amount for this period so we don’t know whether these plans were ever put in place. As the cataloguing of Hertford’s rare books progresses, we are gradually discovering more of Cale’s books. Each new volume brings more insight into Cale’s varied interests and makes his collections, which include some rare items, visible for researchers to locate in SOLO.
