Rare Books Cataloguer, Sophie Floate, shares some of the highlights of another year’s work cataloguing the early printed books (ca. 1450-1800) held at Balliol’s Historic Collections Centre.
The cataloguing project here at the Historic Collections site is continuing despite being delayed a little over the last few years by Covid and the University migrating to a new library management system. Current focus is on the smaller format books so this has a bearing on the subject matter covered. I have found plenty of copies of editions of the classics, prayer books and other theological works, with the odd slightly more unusual work here and there!
Some of the more unusual items so far catalogued include a copy of “Les guerres de Nassau” printed in Amsterdam in 1616. This rare work has over two hundred engraved plates depicting battle scenes and army movements during the Eighty Years’ War (Dutch War of Independence). The work was written by Willem Baudartius (1565-1640) who, although born in Flanders, spent much of his early life in Sandwich, Kent. This book has provenance relating to two Balliol men. The first indication of previous ownership is the gold stamped armorial crest of Thomas Wendy on the binding. Wendy bequeathed approximately 2000 books to Balliol, and although not all them have his armorial stamp, the entire library was listed in the library donations register. However, this book also has a manuscript inscription on on the endpapers:
“Ex dono Joannis Harris Art: Magistri et hujus Collegij quondam Socij 1666”
There were several John Harris’s listed in the matriculation registers at Balliol but it is probable this is the John Harris who was Fellow at Balliol in 1634 (having been an undergraduate at Merton) and it is conceivable that Thomas Wendy may have known him since he matriculated in 1631 at Balliol and perhaps gave the book to Harris.
Another book with an interesting provenance is a copy of a work supposedly by Apollinaris, Bishop of Laodicea, a 4th century theologian and is a poetic paraphrase of the Psalms in Greek. Printed by the French scholar and printer of Greek books, Adrien Turnèbe in 1652, this copy ended up in the possession of Mildred Cecil, second wife of William Cecil, Lord Burghley. Mildred Cecil was highly educated in Latin and Greek and owned a great number of books, as testified by her husband in his memorial to her. This book is typical of the sorts of Greek texts she owned, and contains her inscription at the foot of title page: “Μιλδρεδα Κεκιλια …”. She often wrote her name in the language of the book or had her initials incorporated into the binding of her books. Her remaining books are now scattered amongst a variety of institutions, including Hatfield House, Westminster Abbey and St John’s College, Oxford. The book has come to Balliol via the bequest of George Coningesby https://balliollibrary.wordpress.com/2016/07/21/george-coningesbys-books/, though it is not known where he obtained it. Coninesgby’s bequest continues to provide interesting links to other family members, including more early women book owners. At least six books in Coningesby’s collection appear to have once belonged to his mother, Chrysogen (1666-1753) – a few devotional works by the cleric Jeremy Taylor, and a burlesque on Virgil’s Aeneid. Other books have come from his aunts, uncles, brothers and cousins.
Finally, an unusual book which is perhaps an unexpected find in an Oxford College Library: “Artificiall embellishments or Arts best directions how to preserve beauty or procure it”. This odd little volume was apparently written by Thomas Jeamson (though the dedication is signed “M.S.”), a doctor practicing in Oxford, who published it anonymously in 1665. It contains many recipes for home remedies for beautification (mainly aimed at women) including some which sound fairly gruesome:
According to William Munk, who wrote biographies of Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians (of which Jeamson was a member) the publisher revealed the name of the author and Jeamson was much ridiculed for his work. This book was given to Balliol in 1683 by a John Newman, who is as yet unidentified but the donation is recorded in the Library donations register for that year.
Historic Collections @Balliol 