Library of Worcester.

In the Chapter House of this ancient Cathedral is deposited the Library belonging to the Dean and Chapter; the books, amounting to nearly six thousand volumes, being arranged upon open shelves around its ample area against the walls, while the slender column which supports the roof rises gracefully in the centre of the whole.

The books are extremely well arranged according to their sizes, with proper attention to their subject matter, the work of the present Librarian, Mr. Clarke, with references on their backs to a Catalogue compiled by Mr. Griffin, and continued by his successors to the present time.

This Manuscript Catalogue is divided into classes and sections, and bears the following title; “Catalogus Librorum Impressorum in Bibliothecâ Collegii Cathedralis Vigorniæ, Cal. Nov. 1780. Curâ J. Griffin Bibliothecarius,” which is succeeded by a dedication to the then Dean. At the conclusion of this Catalogue in the second folio volume, is a supplementary Catalogue, the title whereof runneth thus: “Catalogus Librorum Musicorum in Ecclesiâ Cathedrali Vigorniæ, 1781. Hunc fecit vir Reverendus Edvardus Taylor Præcentor ejusdem Ecclesiæ et Musices peritissimus.”

There is also a copy of the old Bodleian Catalogue interleaved, in 4 volumes, folio, which appears to have been formerly intended to supply the place of a Catalogue of this Library, from the references and insertions here and there apparent, but the plan having been found not only slovenly but inconvenient, it was doubtless abandoned when the labours of Mr. Griffin were completed. The general aspect of the books is of that sombre character which old calf, whether English or foreign, usually gives to the shelves upon which it reposes; but the judicious addition of lettering pieces to almost every volume has greatly relieved their sombre tint, and rendered their contents much more accessible to the stranger. Some volumes however still retain their original vellum wrappers, and a few are coated in morocco.

The only Manuscript which met my eye was a tattered folio Missal, whose knobs had been judiciously replaced upon a binding imitating, as nearly as possible, the original coverture, and on whose fly leaf some modern hand had written, “Missale Vetus ad usum Sarum eleganter et admodum descriptum et exornatum.” Probably however there may be in the archives of so ancient a foundation other manuscripts more worthy of notice than this.

The oldest printed books I could find were the Biblia Latina Vulgata, Illuminata, Venetiis, 1478; and the Nuremberg Chronicle, without a title, in modern calf binding. Let any one who wishes for a particular account of this remarkable specimen of Koberger’s press, read the sixteen pages relating to this book in the Spencer Catalogue, and I will only add that the volume under description retains but little of its pristine beauty. The earliest Classic Author I noticed was the Juvenal, with the Commentaries of Calderinus, printed at Rome in 1474. With these three exceptions the bibliographer will seek in vain for any productions of the fifteenth century within these walls, without the consolation of finding any books printed upon vellum.

Of Bibliographical Works however this Library contains a greater number than usually falls to the lot of similar repositories. I may instance the Bodleian, Cottonian, and Harleian Catalogues; Fabricii Bibliographia Antiquaria, and Bibliotheca Græca; Antonii Bibliotheca Hispana, Barberini Bibliotheca, Romæ, 1681; Lipenii Bibliotheca Philosophica; Juridica & Medica; Nicolai Toppi, Bibliotheca Neapolitana, 1778; Mich. Hertzii Bibliotheca Germanica, 1679; “Bibliothecæ Cleri Londinensis in Collegio Sionensi Catalogus duplici formâ concinnatus, &c. a Guilielmo, Reading, Bibliothecario, Londini, typis J. Watts, 1724,” folio; Watt’s Bibliotheca Britannica; Dibdin’s Bibliotheca Spenceriana; Saxii Onomasticon Literarium; and the Acta Eruditorum Lipsiæ; Berington’s Literary History of the Middle Ages; Pitseus de Rebus Anglicis; and Maseres Scriptores Logarithmici; in proof of the accuracy of this assertion.

In Biblical Literature the paucity of the Impressions of the Sacred text is equally remarkable with the host of obscure commentators, and multitude of forgotten theologians whose works encumber the shelves of this ancient Library.

I remarked with satisfaction a copy of Walton’s Polyglott, with Castell’s Lexicon, respectably clad in old calf, most properly placed on the same shelves with the Biblia Polyglotta, Montani, Antverpiæ, Plantin, 1572, also in folio. There are also the Biblia Græca LXX. per Grabe, Oxon. 1707, in 2 vols. folio; and the Biblia Latina Castalionis, Basileæ, 1554.

I also remarked Kennicott’s Hebrew Bible; and the Biblia Germanica; Martini Lutheri, Francof. 1580; also an English Bible, by Blayney, printed at Oxford in 1769; and Baskerville’s Bible, printed at Cambridge in 1763, together with Purver’s Bible; but no early English Impressions of the Sacred Text.

There was the Novum Testamentum Erasmi, Basileæ, apud Froben, 1538; Nov. Test. Millii, Oxon. 1707, in 2 vols, folio; and Nov. Test. Wetstenii, Amst. 1751, in 2 vols, folio, in calf; also Junii Evangelia Gothica et Anglo-Saxonica, Amst. 1684; Heptateuchus Anglo-Saxonicus per Thwaites, Oxonii, 1698; the Psalterium Arabicè et Latinè, Romæ, 1619; and Kipling’s facsimile of the Codex Bezæ, printed at Cambridge in 1793, 2 vols, folio.

I also noticed two early editions of the Common Prayer, the one printed by Barker at London in 1636, the other published at the same place in 1662; also the Pontificale Romanum, printed at Rome in 1645, folio; Breviarium ad usum Sarum, Parisiis, 1519-25; Missale ad usum Sarum, Parisiis, 1555; & Missale Romanum, apud Plantin, Antverpiæ, 1577, folio, in old red morocco.

Of Commentators I have already intimated that the number is too large for minute specification. It will suffice therefore to mention the Critici Sacri; Poli Synopsis; Comestoris Scholastica Historia, Argentorati, 1503; Canisii Lectiones Antiquæ, in 4 vols. folio; De Rossi Variæ Lectiones Veteris Testamenti, in 4 vols. 4to.; the well-known Commentaries of Patrick, Lowth, Arnald, and Whitby; Pearce on the Evangelists; Pococke on Hosea; and Blayney on Jeremiah.

Proceed we therefore to the Fathers of the Church, who in common with other early divines, were usually Commentators upon the Scriptures as well as the teachers of its truth. Here we have the Works of Saints Athanasius, Eusebius, Isidore, Cyprian, Augustine, Epiphanius, and St. Jerome, with the writings of Tertullian, Justin Martyr, Clemens Alexandrinus, Origen, & Lactantius; Philo Judæus, Parisiis, 1552; Vincentii Speculum Majus; with the Bibliotheca Veterum Patrum, in 15 vols. folio, and 2 volumes of the Supplement; and Dacherii Spicilegium, in 13 vols. 4to.

Among the earlier Divines of our own country, we may mention the Works of Bede; Lanfranc Cantuar. Opera, Paris, 1648; and Anselm Cantuar. Opera Theologica, Colon. 1573; and turning to those abroad may notice the Works of Luther and Melancthon; Erasmus, Grotius, Vossius, Calvin, and Bellarmine; and the Bibliotheca Fratrum Polonorum, Irenop. 1656; with Limborch, Theologia Christiana, Amst. 1695; and returning to the Divines of our own country, we find the Works of Cuthbert Tonstall, and of Tyndale, Hooker; of Bishop Jewel, Jackson, Hall, Hammond, Horne, Stillingfleet, Barrow, Chillingworth, Horsley, Cudworth, Prideaux, Hoadley, and Conybeare; Waterland, edited by Van Mildert; Bishop Berkeley’s Works, in 2 vols. 4to.; and those of Warburton, Macknight, Paley, Wake, Lardner, and Bingham. To which may be added the Hulsean and Bampton Lectures; and numerous Sermons by various authors.

In Ecclesiastical History, the valuable Annals of Baronius and Tornielli; the invaluable Acta Sanctorum; Alfordi Annales Ecclesiastici Britanniæ, in 4 vols. folio; Cressy’s Church History of Brittany; the Ecclesiastical Histories of Cave, Collier, and Warner; Warton’s Anglia Sacra; Fuller’s Church History; Du Monstier, Neustria Pia; Inett’s Church History; Usher’s Annals; and Burnet’s History of the Reformation, occupy a prominent place.

To these may be added, Neal’s History of the Puritans; Josephus’ History of the Jews, edited by Hudson, in 2 vols. folio; Magdeburgensis Historia Ecclesiastica, Basileæ, 1559, in 8 vols. 4to.; Gualteri Chronicon Chronicorum Eccl. Politicum, in 4 vols. 4to.; the Concilia Generalia, in 4 vols. folio; Wilkins’ Concilia, in 4 vols. folio; and the Concilia Maxima, in 15 stout folios, with the Apparatus in 2.

Of General History, the most remarkable features are the Universal History; Carionis Chronicon; Krantzii Chronicon Suecicum, &c.; Pighii Annales Romanorum, in 2 vols. folio; Saken, Van Staet Netherlanden, in 4 vols. folio, in old red morocco; Freheri Bohemicarum Rerum Scriptores; the Asiatic Researches; Kæmpfer’s Japan; Maurice’s Hindostan; Rudbeck’s Atlantica; Thuani Historia sui temporis; Ralegh’s History of the World; Heylin’s Cosmography; Roscoe’s Leo X. and History of the Medici; Robertson’s Foreign Histories; Knolles’ History of the Turks; Shaw’s Travels; with Chappe d’Auteroche, Voyage en Siberie; and as relates more particularly to Antiquities, the valuable Collections of Grævius and Gronovius; with the Supplement of Gruter; and the Works of Montfaucon, including his Diarium Italicum; together with Aringhi Roma Subterranea; and Wood’s Antiquities of Balbec and Palmyra.

With reference to those minute yet faithful monuments of former ages, Coins, I noticed the Numismata of Spanheim; Folkes’s Coins; Ruding’s Annals of the Coinage; and a most beautiful Copy of the Numismata Pembrochiana upon large paper, bound in stout old russia, with an elegant border of gold, the gift of Bishop Johnson to the Library of his own Cathedral, about the middle of the last century.

As connected with Foreign lands, I may here notice the Voyages of Cook, Forster, Hawkesworth, and Vancouver; the Collections of Voyages by Harris and Churchill; to which may be annexed Pinkerton’s Geography; and the Atlas of Sansom.

The earlier and more obscure portions of English History are admirably elucidated by the Scriptores Francorum Coetanei collected by Du Chesne; the Scriptores XV. edited by Gale and Fell; the Scriptores X. collected by Twysden; the Scriptores post Bedam, edited by Savile; the Histories of Mathew Paris, of Mathew of Westminster, and of Florence of Worcester; the Fœdera of Rymer; Eadmeri Historia Novorum; Polydore Vergilii Hist. Anglicana, &c.; Hemingii Chronicon Wigornense curâ Thomæ Hearne, 2 vols. 8vo.; and Guilielmi Neubrigensis Hist. Angl. Antverpiæ, 1567.

I also noticed Fosbroke’s British Monachism; the Histories of England, by Rapin and Tindal, Echard and Carte, Henry and Lingard, Brady, Hume, and Macauley; the Chronycles of Englonde, with the fruyte of tymes, printed at London in 1528; Baker’s Chronicle; the valuable Works of Stow and Speed; Birch’s Memoirs of Elizabeth; Asseri Alfredi Annales; Bates’s Elenchus Motuum; Strype’s Memorials; Dugdale’s Troubles, Baronage, and Origines Juridiciales; Spelman’s Alfred, Oxford, 1678; May’s History of the Long Parliament; Brooke’s Heraldry; Thurloe’s State Papers; Kennett’s Register; Clarendon’s Works; Clanricarde’s Memoirs; Lyttelton’s Henry II.; Ashmole’s Order of the Garter; Nalson’s Collections; Sandford’s Genealogical History of the Kings of England; and Coronation of James II.; to which I may add Boethii Historia Scotorum; Macpherson’s Original Papers; and Dalrymple’s Memoirs.

The Topography of England is here also illustrated by Camden’s Britannia, edited by Gough; Twyne, Antiq. Oxon. Apologia; the Histories of Oxford and Cambridge, published by Ackermann; Ducarel’s Anglo-Norman Antiquities; Weever’s Funeral Monuments; Wood’s Athenæ et Antiquitates Oxonienses; Loggan’s Oxonia Illustrata; the Marmora Oxoniensia; Dugdale’s Monasticon Anglicanum, and History of Warwickshire; King’s Vale Royal of Cheshire; Borlase’s Cornwall; Thoroton’s Nottinghamshire; Wright’s Rutland; Nash’s Worcestershire; Atkyns’s Gloucestershire; Leycester’s Cheshire; Bentham’s Ely; Gunton’s Peterborough; Green’s Worcester; Thomas’ Worcester Cathedral; Antiquitates Prioratùs de Malvern, Londini, 1725, 8vo.; Kennett’s Parochial Antiquities; Willis’s Cathedrals; Ecton’s Thesaurus; and Tanner’s Notitia Monastica.

As connected with English History; the Biographia Britannica of Kippis, new, in calf; the General Biographical Dictionary of Chalmers; the Memoirs of Evelyn and Pepys, of Walpole and Bishop Hough, who still lives in marble in the adjacent Cathedral; Tomline’s Life of Pitt; and the publications of the Record Commission deserve to be here recorded.

And lastly, as illustrative of History, the English Atlas and Pinkerton’s Geography; Collier’s Historical Dictionary, and Postlewaite’s Dictionary of Commerce; Mabillon de Rê Diplomaticâ; Anderson’s Diplomata Scotiæ; and the Itinerary of Antoninus, may be mentioned.

Of works relating to the Laws of England, we find a Year Book of Edward IV.; Coke’s Institutes; Blackstone’s Commentaries; Gibson’s Codex; Burn’s Ecclesiastical Law; Lyndewode’s Provinciale; the Statutes at large; and Selden’s Works.

In Etymology there are in this Collection the following valuable Works, calculated to render more intelligible the earlier historians of England; Somner’s Glossary; Hickes’ Thesaurus Septentrionalis; Lye’s Saxon Dictionary; Skinner’s Etymologicum Anglicanum; Davies’ Celtic Dictionary; Menage’s Gothic Lexicon; Cotgrave’s French and English Dictionary; Spelman’s Glossary; as well as others more general in their nature, such as Stephani Thesaurus; Hoffmanni Lexicon; Suidæ Lexicon, Cantabr. 1705, 3 vols. folio; Buxtorf’s Hebrew Lexicon; D’Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orientale; Johnson’s English Dictionary; Du Cange, Glossary; and the labours of the learned Vossius.

Of Classic Authors, though the list of names be copious, yet the editions contained in this Library are neither remarkable for antiquity nor covetable for their value. Of Homer, the Prince of Song, there is the elegant impression of Foulis at Glasgow, the Iliad being on large, and the Odyssey on small paper. To make amends for this however we have the four volumes of the Commentaries of Eustathius, printed at Rome in 1550, and Cowper’s Translation, in 2 vols. 4to. bound in red morocco.

Of Cicero’s Works there are the editions of Basle in 1576, and of London in 1680, and the Lugduno-Batavian impressions of Cæsar, Tacitus, and Suetonius, of Virgil, Lucan, and Plautus, as well as Pliny.

I also remarked Du Val’s editions of Aristotle’s Works; Athenæus, Casauboni, 1657; Xenophontis Opera, Leunclavii; Plutarchi Opera, Francof. 1620; Horatius, Lambini, Francof. 1596; Seneca, Parisiis, 1627; Valerius Maximus, Mediolani, 1505; Plinius Junior, Venetiis, 1519; Pindar, edited by West and Welsted; Euripides, by Barnes; Isocrates, by Stephens; and Arrian, by Gronovius; together with editions of Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus, Livy, Dio Cassius, Thucydides, Polybius, and Strabo; of Aristophanes, Ovid, Sophocles, and Terence; of Macrobius, Demosthenes, Euclid, Plato, and Epictetus; Photii Bibliotheca et Epistolæ, and the Corpus Poetarum Latinorum of Mattaire.

Of English Literature, the principal features are the Works of Boyle, Newton, Mede, Bacon, Addison, and Hobbes; Monk’s Life of Bentley; Robertson’s Works; Antiquitates Middletonianæ, Londini, 1795, 4to.; Watson’s Philip II.; the Athenian Letters; the Encyclopædia Britannica and the Quarterly Review; Bedford’s Scripture Chronology; Bryant’s Heathen Mythology; and Spence’s Polymetis.

Of English Poetry, besides Warton’s admirable History thereof, I found only Spenser’s Faerie Queen; Gower’s Confessio Amantis, 1509; Urry’s edition of Chaucer’s Works; and Todd’s Milton.

In Natural History, the only Works which met my eye were Raii Historia Plantarum; Bocharti Hierozoicon; and the various Works of Aldrovandus.

In Science I can only mention the Scriptores Logarithmici of Maseres, with a hope that some portion of the fabric fund, hitherto so judiciously applied to the restoration of the Cathedral of Worcester, may, when this laudable object has been effected, be so applied as to augment the literary treasures of the Dean and Chapter, now under the guardianship of Mr. Clarke.