British Library Journal (volume 18, number 1, spring 1992)

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Cotton's counsels: the contexts of Cottoni Posthuma
(1992-05)
Parry, Graham
COTTON'S name is constantly alluded to in books on antiquarianism, history, genealogy, topography and law published in the first three decades of the seventeenth century. Invariably these references to 'my worthy friend', the honoured, the learned, the worshipful Sir Robert Cotton, are accompanied by expressions of gratitude for his generosity in granting access to his library, his cabinet of coins and medals, or for his advice on procedure. The sense we have of Cotton as a universal facilitator among men of learning is overwhelming. Yet, although he was always willing to contribute to other men's works, and though books were his life and authors his friends, he made but a slender appearance in print himself. In fact, he published only one short tract under his own name. It was not until 1651 that a volume of his writings appeared, with the title Cottoni Posthuma. Then, twenty years after his death, the world could form some estimate of his political judgement, and understand why Cotton's incomparable knowledge of the parliamentary records was so valued by his contemporaries. Cotton's own reluctance to publish meant that he left his literary character to be formed by other men, by selective editing of his writings, and his first editor presented him almost exclusively as a patriotic political adviser who had anatomized the ills of the Stuart kings, and had done his best to offer remedies. In retrospect, his writings could be seen as describing the inward decay of Stuart kingship, and explain why the monarchy had collapsed within two generations of Queen Elizabeth's death. It is my intention in this article to provide some context for the various items in Cottoni Posthuma., and to read them as a critical commentary on the political developments of the second and third decades of the century.
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English bookbindings: additions to the collections 1975-1985
(1992-05)
Marks, Philippa
DURING the ten years from 1975 to 1985, the Library has been fortunate in obtaining through purchase or gift several particularly interesting English bookbindings dating from the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries.
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Sir Robert Cotton and the commemoration of famous men
(1992-05)
Howarth, David
THIS article is concerned with the interest Sir Robert Cotton took in the funerary monument as shown by a group of tombs and epitaphs which he had erected in All Saints, Conington, Huntingdonshire, probably circa 1613-15. The appearance and placing of these were influenced by Cotton's views on the use of the stele and cippus in antiquity. It will be suggested that Sir Robert has a distinguished if modest place in developing the repertoire of Jacobean sculptors, whilst his close involvement with the Conington monuments, encourages the view that he had wider concerns than has been appreciated. The article ends with a consideration of a monument to Sir Robert himself, also in All Saints, erected by his son, Sir Thomas Cotton.
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The Royal Library as a source for Sir Robert Cotton's collection: a preliminary list of acquisitions
(1992-05)
Carley, James P.
PUBLIC Record Office, Augmentation Office, Misc. Books 160 (E. 315/160), ff. 107v-120r, contains an alphabetical list of 910 books, printed and manuscript, found in the Upper Library at Westminster Palace in 1542. At approximately the same time the inventory was compiled, so it would appear, a number was entered into each book: this number corresponded to the place where the book occurred in the alphabetical sequence established by the list. Slightly afterwards, probably around 1550, more books came to Whitehall - presumably from Hampton Court and Greenwich - and these too were put into alphabetical order and an inventory number inserted. Somewhat later the printed and manuscript books were separated.
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Sir Robert Cotton's record of a royal bookshelf
(1992-05)
Backhouse, Janet
OUR knowledge of the early history of the English royal library, conveniently sketched out by Warner and Gilson in 1921, has been considerably amplified in recent years. An edition of the vital Westminster library catalogue of 1542 is now in preparation and will be of major advantage to future students. However, the Tudor rulers of England, like other noble owners of large quantities of books, did not confine the storage of reading matter to a single one of their many residences, nor to one specially designated apartment in any house. It is increasingly clear that the Westminster list by no means reflects even the entire royal collection of books in the one major palace at the time it was drawn up. The existence of substantial libraries in other royal residences is recorded in the inventories of Henry VIII's possessions taken soon after the accession of Edward VI and individual volumes appear variously among the diverse contents of private apartments, alongside hawks' hoods, dog collars, spectacles, scissors, knitting needles and other minor paraphernalia of everyday life. References to the contents of the royal library during the latter part of the sixteenth century are scanty, though all three of Henry VIII's children are known to have been interested in books and each quite frequently received them as gifts on appropriate occasions. Such books seem often to have been set aside for personal use. The New Year gift rolls of Elizabeth's reign show that, although some volumes were at once assigned to Thomas Knyvett, who apparently had charge of the library, the Queen herself not infrequently took possession of books that caught her personal fancy. Others were placed in the hands of her principal gentlewoman of the Privy Chamber, Blanche Parry, or her successor Mary Radcliffe, who also took charge of gifts of clothing and personal jewellery.
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Sir Robert Cotton, antiquarianism and estate administration: a Chancery Decree of 1627
(1992-05)
Manning, Roger B.
THE Chancery Decree of 5 November 1627, found on Public Record Office, Chancery Decree Roll, C. 78/300/1, is a lengthy, but very interesting document, consisting of eleven membranes of a parchment roll. It illustrates an aspect of Sir Robert Cotton's antiquarian researches, which has been but little investigated. The document consists of a bill of complaint filed in the Court of Chancery in Trinity term 1618 by Marsilian Sampson and seven other copyholders of the Manor of Glatton and Holme, Huntingdonshire, on behalf of the whole body of tenants, alleging an attempt by Sir Robert Cotton, John Cotton, his uncle, and Sir Thomas Cotton, his son and heir, defendants, to overthrow the tenants' copyhold estates of inheritance and to increase the entry fines and rents contrary to manorial custom.
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Some classified catalogues of the Cottonian Library
(1992-05)
Teviotdale, E. C.
COLIN Tite has recently drawn our attention to the many manuscript catalogues of the Cotton collection copied in the seventeenth century and has initiated a reconsideration of their role in our understanding of the formation and early history of the Cottonian Library. It is my intention here to consider a group of catalogues copied when the library was in the hands of Sir John Cotton (1621-1702), the eldest grandson of the library's founder. This group consists of eight classified lists of the collection, one of which survives only as a fragment. There is a complicated network of similarities among them, which could only be analysed in full if a complete comparative edition were made. This would be an enormous task, and I do not claim to have undertaken it. In the absence of an exhaustive study, however, some observations on the origin, the contents, and the owners of these manuscripts might be of interest.
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British Library Journal (volume 18, number 1, spring 1992)

British Library Journal (volume 18, number 1, spring 1992)

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