A.D. 1835
The original MS. of Burnet’s History of his Own Times, with a copy prepared for the press, a portion of his History of the Reformation, and some other papers by him, was purchased, from a family descended from the Bishop, for £210. An account of these MSS. may be found at p. 474 of the Appendix to Burnet’s History of James II, being an extract from the Own Times which Dr. Routh edited, with additional notes, when ninety-six years old, in 1852. The copy prepared for the press is expressly mentioned in the catalogue for 1835 as forming part of the purchase; and yet that copy appears from a passage in a letter from Rawlinson, dated Aug. 18, 1743, to have been then in the hands of that collector, whence it would have been supposed that it must have passed at once into the possession of the Library. After mentioning the book, Rawlinson says, ‘I purchased the MSS. of a gentleman who corrected the press where that book was printed, and amongst his papers I have all the castrations327.’
The MS. of Lewis’ Life of Wyclif, with some additions by the author, was bought for £4 14s. 6d. Various other MSS. by Lewis were already in the Library among Dr. Rawlinson’s collections. The purchases of printed books were chiefly amongst early editions of Classics (Juvenal, Ovid, Virgil, &c.), Fathers (Augustine, Jerome), Schoolmen, and a very large series of fifteenth-century editions of the Decretals, Digest, Institutes, and other works in Canon and Civil Law. These were obtained at the sale of the famous library of Dr. Kloss, of Frankfort, whose collection was so remarkably rich in books bearing MS. notes by Melanchthon.
A curious collection of papers and pamphlets, printed and MS., relating to Spanish affairs, and of much interest to students of Spanish history, contained in thirty-two volumes in folio and eighty in quarto, was purchased for £40. It was lot 4583 in Heber’s sale, by whom it had been bought at the Yriarte sale for more than £100.
Notes
327 Ballard MS. ii. 88.