A.D. 1838
One of the ‘curiosities of literature’ was obtained by the purchase (for £10 10s.) of the System of Divinity, in a Course of Sermons on the first Institutions of Religion, by Rev. Will. Davy, A.B., Vicar of Lustleigh, Devon. It is a work in twenty-six volumes, of which only fourteen copies were printed, entirely by the hands of the indefatigable author himself, between the years 1795 and 1807. It is very roughly executed, the author having purchased only just so much old and worn-out type, as sufficed for the printing of two pages at once; accomplishing in this way the work upon which he had set his heart, ‘arte meâ, diurno nocturnoque labore’ (as he says in a Latin preface), in consequence of having failed to procure in any other way the publication of his book. The copy in our Library is distinguished by having many additions inserted, printed (in many cases with later and better type) upon small slips337.
A set of the Monthly Review, from the commencement to 1828, in 200 volumes, in which the names of the contributors are appended in MS. to their several articles, together with a volume of Correspondence with the Editor, Ralph Griffiths, LL.D., between 1758 and 1802 (now numbered Bodl. MS. Addit. VII. D. 11), was bought for £42.
Among the donations were: 1. A collection of twenty-one Oriental works, printed between 1808-1835 by the East India Company, presented by the Directors, and, 2. A valuable series, MS. and printed, of the Statutes of various Italian cities, presented by George Bowyer, Esq. (the present baronet, who succeeded to the title in 1860), who also in the years 1839, 1842, and 1843, forwarded large additions to the printed series. These volumes are now kept distinct as a separate collection. Altogether there are seventy-eight printed volumes, besides four MSS.
On Nov. 15, a Statute was approved by Convocation which raised the stipend of the Sub-librarians from £150 to £250.
From the year 1825 an annual folio Catalogue had been printed, containing, in one list, all the accessions accruing in each year from purchases, gifts, and the supply of new publications from Stationers’ Hall. The issue of these lists was discontinued after the appearance of that for the years 1837 and 1838 jointly; except that in 1843 one for that year was printed in octavo.
A form of declaration and promise for due use of the privilege of admission to the Library, to be made by all graduates upon taking their first degree, in lieu of the oath formerly required, was approved by Convocation, on June 9338. In accordance with this form, which is still used, each graduate now promises: ‘Me libros cæterumque cultum sic tractaturum ut superesse quam diutissime possint, et, quantum in me est, curaturum ne quid Bibliotheca detrimenti aut incommodi capiat.’ The same declaration is subscribed in the Library by all non-graduates who are admitted to read there, with the addition of a promise that they will devote their attention ’ad studia et silentium.’ The statutable penalty for any wilful mutilation or abstraction of any book, or portion of a book, is immediate expulsion from the Library and University, ‘sine ulla spe regressûs.’
On the resignation of Rev. H. Hill, Sub-librarian, in this year, he was succeeded by Rev. H. O. Coxe, M.A., of Worcester College, who had previously worked for five years and a-half in the Department of MSS. in the British Museum339. Mr. Coxe’s nomination was approved by Convocation on Nov. 16.
Notes
337 Mr. Davy has had a rival, with much more success, within late years in the Rev. Thos. R. Brown, M.A., Vicar of Southwick, Northamptonshire. The Library possesses three works written and printed by this gentleman in his own house. The first is entitled, A Grammar of the Hebrew Hieroglyphs applied to the S. Scriptures, containing the History of the Creation of the Universe and the Fall of Man, 8o. 1840. This appears to have been partly composed in type, literally as well as technically, for the author says that ‘a considerable part of the mental composition is coeval with’ the manual labour, which last was entirely performed by himself. A second book appeared in 1841, Elements of Sanscrit Grammar. A third, A Dictionary, containing English Words of difficult Etymology, tracing them chiefly to Sanscrit roots, appeared in two vols. 8o. 1843. Of this the author certifies that only nine copies were printed, and the one now in the Library was bought of Mr. Lilly (who had it from the author) for £5 5s. in 1855. The execution of all these volumes does the reverend printer great credit. The Rev. Dr. J. A. Giles had also a private press for some time in his house at Bampton, Oxon., which he taught some of the village children to work, and from which issued some of the publications of the Caxton Society, but the results were anything but satisfactory, although probably quite as good as could be expected from such juvenile compositors.
338 A previous proposal of this alteration had been rejected by Convocation on March 17, 1836.
339 Mr. Coxe had a considerable share in the compilation of the folio catalogue of the Arundel MSS. preserved in the Museum.