A descriptive catalogue of the manuscripts in the library of Peterhouse / by Montague Rhodes James ; with an essay on the history of the library by J.W. Clark.

Peterhouse College (University of Cambridge). Library.

Date:: 1899

Credit: A descriptive catalogue of the manuscripts in the library of Peterhouse / by Montague Rhodes James ; with an essay on the history of the library by J.W. Clark. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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$holie mens wourks, so that every one dyd studye what Doctor pleased them best, haveinge the Librarie at all tymes to goe studye in besydes there carrells I have described the system that obtained in the Monasteries because it is obviously the source whence the corresponding enactments in collegiate statutes were derived. Not only is the language of monastic statutes and Customs {Consiietndinaria) identical with that of many early collegiate statutes, but the practice of the Colleges was the same as that of the Monasteries. I will translate, as an example, the following rules for the management of the books from the statutes of Oriel College, Oxford, dated 1329: The common books {communes libri) of the House are to be brought and inspected once a year, on the feast of the Commemoration of Souls [2 November], in presence of the Provost or his deputy, and of the Scholars [Fellows]. Every one of them in turn, in order of seniority, may select a single book which either treats of the science to which he is devoting himself, or which he requires for his use. This he may keep until the same festival in the succeeding year, when a similar selection of books is to take place, and so on from year to year. If there should happen to be more books than persons, those that remain are to be selected in the same manner^. In this statute we find the annual audit, the distribution among the members of the House, and the permission to retain the volume so received for a year. The statutes of Peterhouse, dated 1344, class the books of the Society with the charters and the muniments, and prescribe the following rules for their safe custody: In order that the books which are the common property of the House, the charters, and the muniments, may be kept in safe custody, we appoint and ordain that an indenture be drawn up of the whole of them in the presence of at least the major part of the scholars, expressing what the books are, and to what faculty they belong ; of which indenture one part is to be deposited with the Master, the other with the Deans. The aforesaid books, charters, and muniments are to be placed in one or more common chests, each having two locks, one key of which shall for greater security be deposited w’ith the Master, the other with the Senior Dean, who shall cause the books to be distributed to those scholars who have need of them, in the manner which has been more fully set forth in the section which treats of the office of the Deans®. ’ Rites of Durham, ed. Surtees Soc. p. 71. - Commiss. Docts. Oxford, Vol. i.. Statutes of Oriel College, p. 14. The Statutes of the Colleges of Oxford and Cambridge bearing on the care of books have been thoroughly analysed by Professor Willis in his essay on “The Library,” Arch. Hist. iii. pp. 387 —471- ® Commiss. Docts. Cambridge, Vol. ii. p. 38, Statutes of Peterhouse, § 53, De omnibus Libris Damns, Munimentis, et Chartis custodicndis.$