Collectors and Collections
11.8 Further Institutional Collections
Over the following years a number of institutional collections followed either on permanent loan or by purchase. The expression “permanent loan” was first defined in Manchester after a deposit, which had been in the John Rylands for some twenty years, was peremptorily “repossessed” and sold in the London auction rooms, without redress for the library of any kind. I devised a formula for agreements between depositors and the library which aimed to dissuade
“owners” from removing such collections in the future. The deposit of the Greenwich Observatory Archives brought the papers of all Astronomers Royal together under one roof and both sides of the correspondence of many distin- guished scientists. The archives of the Vickers Company and its subsidiaries, which at been at the heart of national events for over a century, came boxed and indexed under the guidance of their Honorary Company Archivist. The immensely important and extensive Library of the Royal Commonwealth Society (RCS) was purchased, necessitating the raising of £3 million: its successful transfer was celebrated by a visit to the Society of Princess Margaret.
It complemented the Rosenthal Collection, formed by South Africa’s leading historian Eric Rosenthal. This traced in depth that country’s controversial history and was so important that a major South African State University Library opposed its removal from South Africa. The Hanson Collection of Rare
12 The Lambeth Library was reclaimed by Archbishop William Juxon in 1660 and replaced by the library of Richard Holdsworth, Master of Emannual, in 1664. See J. C. T. Oates (1986)Cambridge University Library: a History, etc., pp. 247–67. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Books acquired from the Cruising Association might seem an unlikely acquisi- tion but it comprised very many scarce maritime items and filled a distinct gap in the library’s holdings. It attracted a large grant from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, a seal of endorsement in the eyes of many library syndics.
The Leigh collection proved to be the forerunner of many named collections formed by scholar collectors acquired during the next fourteen years. They were all distinguished by the same single-minded, disciplined approach to collect- ing, the hallmark of the true collector. The collections made by two former Dep- uty Librarians, F. J. Norton and J. C. T. Oates, are of special interest in that an unusually high degree of bibliographical expertise acquired through spending their professional lives in CUL went into the collecting. Norton’s books included a glossed thirteenth century Apocalypse and eight incunables, but were espe- cially notable for the many rare items printed in Spain and Portugal from 1501–1520. A distinguished Hispanist, his services to Spanish bibliography were recognized by the award of the Grand Cross of the Order of Alfonso X El Sabio. Oates’s collection of editions of Laurence Sterne was easily the most important one of Sterniana outside Shandy Hall. It was formed with an eye to the Library’s own notable holdings of Sterne and was, therefore, a specially per- tinent addition to the impressive holdings in the university library.
During my penultimate year as university librarian I was approached by Mr Peregrine Churchill, a nephew of Sir Winston and the last surviving family member of his trustees, about the sale to Churchill College of the Churchill papers, which were already on deposit there. He was anxious to recruit me in persuading the Government to buy them for the College, thereby ensuring a permanent home for them. This caused a great deal of critical comment in the media under the delusion that they belonged to the Nation and were not the family’s to sell, when in fact they were the responsibility of Sir Winston’s Trust- ees. The sum suggested by Mr Peregrine Churchill was half the Sotheby’s esti- mate, which itself was considerably below offers received from America. It was an unnecessarily contentious issue, in which I became reluctantly involved and was only settled by Mr Churchill’s threat to withdraw the papers from Cam- bridge and seek export to a USA buyer. The government recognized belatedly that the threat was real and foresaw the public outrage, which export would have stirred. Mr Peregrine Churchill did not benefit personally from the sale.
The inclusion of a title in any collection is often a good guide to its value, identi- fying the work of a collector. The Popish Plot Collection, which appeared in a London salesroom, comprised over 1,400 Broadsides and Pamphlets dating from 1660 to 1695, among which some two hundred items appeared to be unique. Formed more or less contemporaneously with their publication by a well-informed man of affairs, they were arranged and indexed in thirteen vol- umes. They make a powerful impact even three centuries later. The American based bookseller, Brett-Smith, gave the library offer of “first refusal” on a collec- tion of Restoration Drama, the result of some fifty years collecting by father and son. Despite the copyright deposit privilege, the library’s holdings were surpris- ingly “patchy” and the bookseller, an expatriate Englishman, put an affordable asking price on the collection in the hope that it would find a permanent home
in England. Both these purchases aimed to remedy deficiencies in the library’s holdings in important subject areas. Two further opportunities to harness the potential of scholarly collecting came up in the purchase of the Waddleton and Harley Mason books. Mr Norman Waddleton, an Emmanuel man, formed a col- lection of Illustrated Colour books over some thirty years at the extraordinary rate of nine or ten volumes a day. It was probably one of the richest and certainly largest collections of its kind in private hands and Mr Waddleton intended to continue collecting with a view to donating all succeeding purchases to the library. Soon afterwards the opportunity to purchase the Dr John Harley Mason collection of rare aquatint books occurred. A Corpus Christi Fellow and friend, he like Mr Waddleton sold the books at well below market prices on a “willing buyer, willing seller basis”. A distinguished academic chemist, Harley Mason was also an “authority” on aquatints, which he had collected during his univer- sity career. Together, almost overnight, these two collections established the library as an important centre for the illustrated book.
The library’s reputation as an institutional collector prompted many offers of collections. The readiness to acquire collections by donation or purchase also persuaded members of the university to bring to my notice material in their subject field, which might otherwise have gone elsewhere. The library’s reward- ing contact with the well-known German author and political activist, Stephan Heym, came about through the good offices of a member of staff in the German Department. The author was in the University to receive an Honorary Degree and, after inspecting the university library, was introduced to me. The library impressed him, in particular its practice of naming collections after their donors and preserving them as self contained units within the special collec- tions. It became clear that he was interested in bequeathing to a library his own archives, which were highly sensitive politically and also important in modern German literature archive. He was particularly anxious that they should survive intact and believed that only in England would his work be free from censor- ship. His controversial career began in pre-war Germany as a Jewish fugitive and, following service in the American army, continued in the USA during the McCarthy era. He then returned to Germany, first as a very prickly resident in the DDR, afterwards as a vigilant critic of the government of the united Ger- many, all of which made his concern for the preservation of his papers and library highly credible. Discussing his papers and career both in Cambridge and Berlin was an enjoyable and rewarding experience.
It is possible only to hint at the many collections, which came to Cambridge dur- ing my fourteen years as librarian, on a much grander scale inevitably than in Manchester. The much longer history of CUL, the many great names and events associated with the university down into modern times, and its international standing ensured that it must be so. The purpose of this paper is not, however, to compare library holdings but to demonstrate how the work of collectors, great and small, contributes significantly to the sum of scholarship in any library and how important to bibliographical scholarship such collections are. The Parker Library of Corpus Christi College Cambridge exemplifies this to perfection. If I had ever had doubts about the importance of collectors and collections in the annals of librarianship, my “honorary” retirement job as the Fellow Librarian of
the College would have dispelled them. The first Archbishop of Canterbury to serve Elizabeth I was the modest Matthew Parker13, a “reformer” with a small
“r”, who nevertheless quietly ensured the survival of Cranmer’s Reformation.
He might also claim to be England’s first serious collector. His famous collec- tion of manuscripts rescued as much as possible from the fast disappearing monastic and religious institutional libraries. It contains about a quarter of known O.E. texts and other early manuscripts of the very greatest importance preserving vital information about the Nation’s history, which in the tempestu- ous times during which he lived could very easily have been lost. His own exten- sive collection of documents, papers and letters relating to the Reformation, a signally significant record of his own times, were also meticulously preserved.
He was no less diligent in preserving his large working library, which provides an almost unique glimpse of the sixteenth century scholar at work. All collec- tors are concerned about the future of their collection and he proposed severe penalties for the College were anything to disappear through “indolent neglect”! This unique collection also contains books, which even in Parker’s day would be seen as “collectables”.
Special collections require special conditions and high among these must be the quality of staff. Dr Tyson influenced me not just in the building of collections:
he also convinced me that scholarly collections need scholarly librarians to curate and exploit them, to administer them and direct the institutions which house them. Before the expansion of the university system, opportunities for him to pursue this aspect of his librarianship were limited but whenever they occurred, he opted to appoint highly qualified scholars. As a product of his recruitment policy, I sought to implement it wherever possible in the much larger and more flexible employment field of my day. Whereas I was probably the only member of Tyson’s graduate staff during his thirty years as university librarian to pursue preferment in another library, the opportunities for staff to move during my librarianship were legion, as so many more academic libraries were created. As a result many of the young scholars appointed by me during my librarianship secured senior posts in the university library field.