Bagford and Sloane

Abstract

• THE way in which over a hundred volumes of John Bagford collections were acquired for the Harleian Library after his death in 1716 is well known to bibliographers. However, the acquisition by Hans Sloane of several other volumes compiled by Bagford, including one which contained the Gutenberg leaf discussed by E. Konig, has not so far been the subject of study, and as the transactions which took place between Sloane and Bagford in the early eighteenth century throw light on the growth of interest in printing history at that time it seems worth while here to tell the story of their relationship in some detail.