Collectors and Collections
11.5 Collections
Academic libraries, certainly the older ones, have traditionally been associated with great collections, great collectors and their librarians. A good library was held to be one where unique collections were held and large stocks accumu- lated, hence the reputation of the deposit libraries. A good librarian was one who built on and maintained these collections. It is only in comparatively recent times, the post WWII years, that access in academic libraries, now the hallmark of good library services, has been accorded the same sort of priority as acquisi- tion, or rated as of equal importance. Today, the good librarian is expected to be as much at home with the use of information tools as with the collections in the library, even in the deepest depths of Special Collections Departments. The highly sophisticated forms of information retrieval now common in accessing remote databases have become of particular importance in the use of such collections as they find their way into online accessible form.
In such a situation it is worth considering how far the assumptions about “great collections, great collectors and their librarians” are still valid; how far their presence is still an essential ingredient of the good academic library? How much
“extra” can they bring to a library which in effect has the resources of the entire scholarly world at its electronic fingertips, equally accessible to scholars and librarians alike? Over some fifty years involvement with academic libraries, acquiring and exploiting many such collections, it seems reasonable to ask how important or useful such collecting has been and is. Some were the work of a bibliophile or scholar collector, a few the creation of a “black letter” librarian, others the archive “spun off ” by a business or an institution. In the copyright deposit or academic library such initiatives stand out among the large amor- phous collections accumulated under the Copyright Act or formed in the pur- suit of teaching and research subject provision. They reflect the personality of the collector who formed them, the identity of the institution which preserved them, with a wider dimension than that of the subject itself. It is possible to identify subjects at undergraduate and research level from a library’s stock, through the presence of core books of a syllabus and multiple copies. Amidst these,collectionsare distinguished by their comprehensiveness and scholarly detail, even by the esoteric and trivial.
Although an aspirant book collector from my mid-teens, it was the introduc- tion to the catalogue of the Christie Collection as an undergraduate at
Manchester University sixty years ago, which opened my eyes to the scholarly value and importance of systematic, disciplined collecting. In his introduction to his catalogue9Christie wrote:
“Although some of the volumes are what are called ‘Collector’s books’, yet the Collection as a whole will be found to have a uniform aim and a principle of unity pervading it. It has been formed with a view of illustrating and enabling its owner to study the Renaissance, and especially the classical Renaissance of Italy and France, and it will be found that the greater number of the volumes bear upon this subject, and more particularly upon certain departments, and the lives, labours and works of a certain number of scholars upon whose lives and labours I had at one time hoped to write something... I believe that no other library... contains a more nearly complete collection, and I indulge the hope that some time, perhaps in the course of the next century, some student may feel interest in these scholars – veritable ‘oubliés et dedaignés’ – and may find these collections available for making their dry bones live.”
The result is a monument to inspired collecting, both in its scholarly purpose and bibliographical completeness, presenting the classical Renaissance through the hard literary evidence left behind.
Christie’s collection became the gold standard against which I sought to mea- sure those which I set out to acquire for the libraries in which I worked. Only those superb collections in the Rylands, such as the Crawford or Spencer collec- tions, later to be merged with those of the University Library, were superior to it and that only because of their greater dimensions and the money and profes- sional help which went into forming them. They were to use current jargon, Christie libraries “writ large”. Nevertheless, the Christie Collection enriched the then still new University of Manchester immeasurably and although a num- ber of other fine collections also came to the library in the nineteenth century, none displayed the same degree of bibliographical single-mindedness, acumen and flair found in the Christie Collection. Regrettably, the exemplary unity characterizing the Collection was badly damaged in the sale of so-called
“duplicates” by the university library in the eighties.
Christie’s approach was clearly appreciated by my predecessor as University Librarian, Dr Moses Tyson, although the opportunities for acquiring whole col- lections which arose during his librarianship (1935–65) were few and far between. A medieval historian, sometime Keeper of Western Manuscripts in the Rylands, he was an “out and out” bookman. Despite the constraints imposed by WWII during the early years of his librarianship, by the end of his career in Manchester he had established an enviable reputation among his contemporar- ies as a collection builder. He secured acquisition funds which were in a differ- ent league from those of other university librarians and he used them not only to provide generous cover for the curricula, but also to develop the existing
9 Catalogue of the Christie Collection Comprising the Printed Books and Manuscripts Bequeathed to the Library of the University of Manchester by... Richard Copley Christie.
Compiled under the direction of C. W. E. Leigh. Manchester University Press, 1915, pp.
ix–xi.
strengths in Special Collections,par excellencethe History of Science Collec- tion. He united the rare science books in the Departmental, Museum and Medi- cal libraries with those of the University Library to form the core of a History of Science collection. He then systematically pursued “desiderata” on a scale, which soon brought him to the notice of the book trade and, until his retire- ment, bought vigorously, often, if pressed for library funds, out of his own money. His last coup was the acquisition of the Partington History of Science Library, formed by Professor J. R. Partington. A Manchester graduate and some- time university teacher, in retirement an emeritus professor of London Univer- sity, he had been courted assiduously by Tyson over the years. The books arrived during my first week as University Librarian. Tyson had in effect created a Collection on the History of Science of unique importance in the provinces by the end of his career.
His recruitment of staff reflected his “black letter” approach and was different from many of his contemporaries. He brought in first class graduates with research qualifications wherever possible in the course of which he pioneered academic salaries for library graduate staff. The cataloguing room at times resembled a bibliographical hothouse. Libraries in his view were the stuff of scholarship and they needed scholars to administer them. He upset the Library Association by advertising for such staff and describing its qualifications as
“desirable but not essential”. The Library Association was not at that time the grown-up body it has later become. If such recruits went off to academic posts – a frequent criticism of his policy by “professional” librarians – he saw them go as library missionaries in an academic jungle and they went with his blessing, three at least to occupy chairs in the years to come. For much of his career his was a lone voice in the “professional” library world, that of a “wild card”, but, in the University of Manchester, a very powerful one, being of senior professorial status and among other things, University Reader in Palaeography and Dean of the Faculty of Arts.
Seven years in that environment marked me for my library life and determined the shape of my career. A would-be book collector, I relished the role of institu- tional book collector, which is open to the university librarian. It is not possible to avoid the administrative chores endemic to most senior academic posts but, though depriving me of daily close contact with individual books, they put me into the “dream” position of determining acquisition policies, in particular in regard to rare books, manuscripts and archives. They also brought the rare priv- ilege of meeting collectors and discussing their collections, often in the setting of their homes and libraries, usually with the aim of acquiring them. No univer- sity library can afford the scholarly expertise, time or money, which the collec- tor brings to his collecting so that to acquire them by gift or by purchase is to add significantly to the university’s scholarly treasury, frequently opening up new seams of academic gold. It is not just the books, which are acquired, it is also the scholarship which went into forming them into a collection.
By way of illustration, only a representative sample of the many transactions successfully concluded can be cited here. The first, chronologically, has to be the Pybus Collection, now in the University Library of Newcastle upon Tyne. I was
introduced to F. C. Pybus, Emeritus Professor of Surgery, a few months after my arrival there. He was one of a number of serious book collectors in the Newcas- tle medical fraternity and by far the most distinguished. He had learned from the Librarian that his new Deputy “collected books’and invited me to view his collection at his home. It was far beyond my expectations, disciplined in the manner of the Christie Collection but with the crucial advantage of being able to discuss it with the collector. During a long bachelor life he had endeavoured to acquire all the major books of historic importance in the field of medicine in the first edition, later ones if more important, along with medical manuscripts, prints, portraits and archival items. He rarely strayed outside his chosen field, except, as he once admitted, to buy the occasional work with a fine binding to transfer to a “tired” contemporary medical book! His initial objective had been to collect all the works of William Harvey but he soon extended his sights. Items such as Harvey’s own copy of hisDe generatione animalium,1651, with three pages of notes in Harvey’s own hand, or a manuscript copy of John of Arderne’s De arte phisicale et de cirurgia,ca.AD1380, say all that needs to be said about the quality of the collection.
Endowed with a genuine photographic mind, he had an almost exhaustive knowledge of the History of Medicine, its literature and bibliography, whilst being for much of his working life the premier surgeon in the North East. His original intention was to leave his collection to the Royal College of Surgeons but he changed his mind following two successful exhibitions from his collec- tion mounted in the University Library, which to his gratification received much press interest. Later, he allowed me to transfer the whole of his collection, including pictures, prints, engravings, letters and shelving, to the University Library, and to draft a document detailing conditions relating to his gift. The many hours spent with this great collector, who was little known nationally as such, extended significantly my bibliographic boundaries, as I witnessed the finer points of bibliography transformed into fact. For the university, which was already strong in the field of medicine and its literature, the acquisition was of major practical importance and was put to use immediately in a series of His- tory of Medicine lectures and exhibitions. Newcastle acquired not only a splen- did collection of rare and valuable materials uniquely tailored to illustrate the History of Medicine but also a highly disciplined contribution to medical scholarship.
The Pybus Collection was still much in my mind on moving to Manchester not least because of the arrival of the Partington collection. Although afait accom- pli,it involved me briefly with the donor and endorsed my institutional collect- ing instincts. It comprised some fifteen hundred volumes illustrating the history of Science, many of great rarity, in the specific field of chemistry, and unlikely to turn up often in booksellers’ catalogues. Such collections often reflect a lifetime’s commitment and offer opportunities which are unlikely to come twice. The purchase of the Ferguson Collection of early printed books illustrated this admirably. F. S. Ferguson, sometime President of the Biblio- graphical Society and a founder editor of theShort-Title Catalogue of Books printed in Britain before 1640used his specialized knowledge to collect items of bibliographical significance and rarity. Such items seldom appeared even
individually in sales catalogues at the time let alone as whole collections. The acquisition was of unusual importance as the product of a mind steeped in the subject and proved especially interesting since the library had been a sub- scriber to the two microfilm sets English Books printed before 1640 and 1640–1700since their inception. The Ferguson books showed clearly that there is more to a publication than the text since the hard copy provided a wealth of additional scholarly information not conveyed by the film. It also demonstrated again that there are few real duplicates among early printings. Its purchase alerted many booksellers and others wishing to dispose of materials that offers made to the University of Manchester Library, whether by gift or sale , would receive serious consideration. The library eventually had the chance of “first refusal” of much highly desirable material.
Among these was an archive, which the Professor of Modern History described as “historical gold”. I was invited by Field-Marshal Sir Claude Auckinleck to visit his home in Beccles to inspect his personal papers covering the period 1938–47. He was concerned that they should go to a “non-Establishment” insti- tution with a good reputation in the teaching of history. They covered crucial periods of World War II, including the campaigns in Norway, Iraq, the Middle East Burma and India, and comprised many official reports, messages and cor- respondence with leading contemporary statesmen and soldiers. They were of particular interest for the insights they gave into the North African campaign, into partition in the Indian subcontinent and the role of the Indian Army. As a result of this donation six generals serving with Auchinleck also offered their papers, among them those of Major-General Dorman Smith, a colourful figure in the military, whose papers were especially relevant to the first battle of Alamein. The donations were important in a University where Spenser Wilkinson, later Chichele Professor of Military History in Oxford, had founded and presided over the Manchester Tactical Society in the nineteenth century and complemented significant holdings both in the library and the still inde- pendent John Rylands. The donation also brought Auchinleck to Manchester where at a conference organized by the University and Western Command, though in his mid-eighties, he made an outstanding contribution to the debate on the necessity of war for maintaining the peace. These military papers were quickly exploited by the History Department and underlined how valuable a part collection building could play in supporting and promoting subjects taught and researched in the university.