Annals of the Bodleian Library, Oxford, A.D. 1598-A.D. 1867: With a Preliminary Notice of the earlier Library founded in the Fourteenth CenturyMacray, William Dunn
History
Annals of the Bodleian Library, Oxford, A.D. 1598-A.D. 1867: With a Preliminary Notice of the earlier Library founded in the Fourteenth Century
Macray, William Dunn
Bodleian Library
first volume at length appeared in 1798, in folio, and the second,
edited by Prof. A. Robertson, in 1805, with an appendix of observations
made by Bradley's successor, Rev. Nath. Bliss, and his assistant, Mr.
Charles Green, to March, 1765, which had been purchased by the Board of
Longitude, and were presented by them to the University, in March, 1804.
Some further remains of Dr. Bradley were, after Dr. Hornsby's death,
found among the papers of the latter, and these (having been restored to
the University by his family, on application, about 1829) were published
in 1831, under the editorship of Prof. S. P. Rigaud, in one vol.
quarto, entitled _Miscellaneous Works and Correspondence of Rev. J.
Bradley_. In 1861, a fresh application for the return of the
Observations was made to the University, by Mr. Airy, the Astronomer
Royal, on the ground that they were the only volumes wanting in the
series preserved at Greenwich, and that they were frequently needed
there for reference. By a vote of Convocation, on May 2, this
application was acceded to, and thirteen volumes of Observations were
returned to what was certainly their legitimate place of deposit. Some
miscellaneous papers, making about thirty parcels, still remain in the
Library.
A.D. 1778.
_Carte's MSS._ See 1753.
A.D. 1780.
On Jan. 22, a Statute was passed which imposed an annual fee of four
shillings[260] on all persons entitled to read in the Library and all
who had exceeded four years from matriculation, as well as assigned to
the Library a share of the matriculation fees. The preamble of the
Statute alleges that the funds of the Library were so insufficient for
their purpose that of works of importance daily published throughout the
world 'vix unus et alter publicis sumptibus adscribi possit.' The
Statute also provided for the holding of regular meetings by the
Curators, and the issuing of an annual Catalogue of the books purchased
during the year, with their prices, together with a statement of
accounts. The commencement of the annual printed purchase-catalogues
dates in consequence from this year.
In a letter from Thos. Burgess, afterwards the Bishop of St. David's and
Salisbury, to Mr. Tyrwhitt, the editor of Chaucer, dated Corp. Chr.
Coll., Nov. 16, 1779, the plan for increasing the funds of the Library,
established by this Statute, is mentioned as a scheme 'much talked of,'
the defects of the Library being such as 'we are now astonished should
have been of so long continuance[261].' A paper in behalf of the
proposal was circulated among Members of Convocation, upon a copy of
which, preserved by Dr. Bliss with his set of the annual Catalogues, the
latter has noted that it was written by Sir William Scott, afterwards
Lord Stowell.
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