NOTES UPON ANCIENT LIBRARIES.
Reading edition
"N. Prior Ecclesiæ Christi Cantuariensis discretis viris et religiosis Domino Priori de Anglesheya et ejusdem loci sacro conventui salutem in Domino. Cum sincera semper caritate noverit faternitas vestra nos constiuisse fratres Gauterum de Hatdfeld et Nicolaum de Grantebrigiense Ecclesiæ nostræ monachos latores precencium procuratores nostros ad exigendum et recipiendum librum qui intitulatur. Johannes Crisestomus de laude Apostoli. In quo etiam volumine continentur Hystoria vetus Britonum quæ Brutus appellatur et tractatus Roberti Episcopi Herfordiæ de compoto. Quæ quondam accommodavimus Magistro Laurentio de Sancto Nicholao tunc Rectori ecclesiæ de Tyrenton. Qui post decessum præfati Magistri L. penes vos morabatur et actenus moratur. In cujus rei testimonium has litteras patentes nostro sigillo signatas vobis transmittimus."
The contents of the book which is the subject of this special embassy are of the character usually found to have formed the staple of monastic libraries, though the particular treatises included in it are not common.
"Johannes Crisostomus de laude Apostoli. In hoc volumine continentur Idem de laude Redemptoris. Brutus latine. Nomina Regum Britanniæ sicut in ordine successerunt. Nomina Archiepiscoporum Cantuariensis sicut in ordine successerunt. Tabula et questiones Bede de ratione temporum. Tabula ejusdem et expositio super tabulam de lunationibus. Descriptio Britanniæ Insulæ. Expositio super Merlinum, imperfecta."
It may perhaps be supposed that this proves too much, as, besides the direct title of the volume, eight "tracts" are here entered, while in the Power of Attorney only two are noticed. But we would maintain, nevertheless, that it is the identical book, and explain this variation in the description by the circumstance that the library having, in the space of nearly two centuries, been materially enriched, numerous works, consisting in many cases only of a single "quaternion," were inserted in the volumes already existing. An examination of the structure of books of this period would confirm this view, and show that their apparent clumsiness is to be explained by the facility it was then the custom to afford for the interpolation or extraction of "sheets," by a contrivance somewhat resembling that of the present day for temporarily fixing loose papers in a cover, and known as the "patent leaf-holder."
The second document is a list of certain books, belonging to the monastery of Anglesey, early in the fourteenth century, allotted out to the canons of the house for the purpose of custody, or, perhaps, of study or devotion.
Penes Dominum Priorem; Parabelæ Salomonis; Psalterium cum ...
Penes Dominum J. de Bodek.; Epistolæ Pauli...; Quædam notulæ super psalter et liber miraculorum ... Mariæ cum miraculis sanctorum.
Penes Sub-priorem; Liber vitæ Sancti Thomæ Martiris.
Penes E. de Ely; Quartus liber sententiarum cum sermo...; Liber Reymundi; Liber de vitiis et virtutibus et pastorale.
Penes R. Pichard; Liber Alquini; Liber Johannis de Tyrington cum Catone et aliis.
Penes Henrici Muchet; Liber de vita Sanctæ Mariæ Magdalenæ et remediarum (?)
Penes Walteri de Yilwilden; Liber S ... ligatus in panno ymnaro glosatus cum constitutionibus; Belet ligatus et vita sanctorum.
Penes Ricardi de Queye; Omeliæ Gregorii (?) super Evangelistos ligatæ in nigro corio.
In commune biblia; Decreta; Decretales; Prima pars moralium Job; Liber de abusionibus.
Liber justitiæ; penes Magistrum Adam de Wilburham.
Penes Walteri de Wyth; Liber Innocentii super sacramenta cum Belet et introductione in uno volumine.
Item penes Sup-priorem; Psalterium glosatum duod fuit in custodia Magistri Henrice de Melreth.
Item aliud psalterium glosatum inpignoratum penes Isabellam Siccadona.
Several of these descriptions are highly curious; particularly the last item, which describes one of the "glossed" psalters as being "in pawn," a fact which, in itself, tells a history of the then condition of the house.
The first document, taken in connection with that referred to by Mr. Hunter would seem to establish the existence of a system of interchanging the literary wealth of monastic establishments, and thereby greatly extending the advantages of their otherwise scanty stores. Both are executed with all the legal forms used in the most important transactions, which would support the opinion of their not being special instances: but they are, in either case, curious and satisfactory evidence of the care and caution exercised by the monks in cases where their books were concerned; and one cannot but regret that when the time came that the monasterias were destined to be dissolved, and their books torn and scattered to the winds, no attention was paid to Bale's advice for the formation of "one solemne library in every shire of England."
JOSEPH BURTT