A summary catalogue of Western manuscripts in the Bodleian Library at Oxford which have not hitherto been catalogued in the quarto series: with references to the Oriental and other manuscripts

Book : Catalogue

PREFACE

The Summary Catalogue, of which a first instalment is now published, is directly due to a series of Resolutions passed by the Curators of the Bodleian Library on June 7, 1890. The idea was first started in the autumn of 1889, and the two chief preliminary steps were an address to the Curators, pointing out the desirability of such a Catalogue, signed by thirty-eight readers in the Bodleian and dated Feb. 20, 1890 ; and the publication by the Rev. Andrew Clark (at that time a Curator) of a pamphlet entitled 'The Cataloguing of MSS. in the Bodleian Library. A letter . . . by the outgoing Junior Proctor, 9 April 1890,' in which a detailed scheme, very similar to the one actually adopted, was proposed, with a full statement of the arguments in its favour.

The design has been to catalogue, in a style similar to the Inventaires sommaires of the Bibliotheque Nationale at Paris, such Bodleian MSS. as are (1) not included in the Quarto Series of Catalogues instituted by Mr. Coxe *, and are (2) not Oriental. It was decided that the collections should be first dealt with, in chronological order of their acquisition by the Library, and subsequently the remaining MSS., which had been acquired singly or in small groups, in the same order. The current accessions from July 1, 1890, are also dealt with and separately printed, a full manuscript index of the whole catalogue, as it progresses, being accessible to readers in the Library.

Authors: Madan, F

• Alternative title: Collections received during the 18th Century
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Volume: 3
• Publication date: 1895-01-01
• Language: English
• Keywords: Special Collections catalogue; Finding aid
• Subjects: Catalogue . .
• Subtype: Catalogue