A General Catalogue of the Library at Apperley Court. 2 vols. 4to.

Beschreibung

Neatly written throughout, mainly on rectos, in a fine sloping hand in black ink (with occasional additions or notes in pencil). Two handsomely bound volumes in contemp. full speckled calf, spines gilt in compartments & with remains of early ms. & leather labels; expertly executed repairs to spines. An extensive library catalogue of Apperley Court, Gloucestershire, home from 1816 to Henry Eustatius Strickland and his family. The bulk of the library is eighteenth century, although there are also a fair number of seventeenth-century works, and books were evidently added up to the time of compilation, with the latest volumes in the catalogue dating to the mid-nineteenth century. A contents leaf at the beginning of the first volume shows the broad nature of the collection, with nineteen distinct sections, among them Poetry and Plays, Voyages and Travels, Novels and Romances, Philosophy, Divinity, Classics and Translations of the Classics, Arts and Sciences, Architecture, History and State Papers, and Agriculture, Botany, Gardening, and Natural History. Unusually, following the contents leaf, there is a full page 'Explanation of the Catalogue', outlining the way in the which the books have been arranged and their locations. The explanation indicates that most of the books are listed twice: in the first section according to their subject matter, and in the second 'according to their present places in the shelves'. A contemporary note tipped on to the leading pastedown of the first volume suggests the system of delineation was devised from that of the Cathedral Library at York, and an example of that institution's cataloguing procedure is demonstrated. Many notable works are listed among the collection, with most of the best-known writers of the eighteenth century represented. The first volume is more fully completed, with nearly all of the 139 numbered leaves utilised, mostly on rectos only, but with some overspill on versos. The final fifteen pages of the first volume give the content of the 'Vols of Miscellanies', painstakingly listing all the bound tracts and pamphlets (well over 400 titles) in the collection. The second volume (without page numbers, but of similar size to vol. I) is approximately half filled in, and remains partially in draft format; evidence of the expanding nature of the collection. This volume also outlines the contents of an additional group of books in the 'blue bed room'. The Strickland family were originally from Yorkshire (Henry was the son of Sir George Strickland of Boynton, Bart.), but moved to Gloucestershire early in the nineteenth century. The house at Apperley was constructed from 1816 onwards, while other philanthropic endeavours were pursued in the parish. By the time of Henry Strickland's death in 1865, he had founded a school in the neighbouring village of Deerhurst, and also a Chapel for the residents of Apperley. From 1802 Henry was married to Mary, née Cartwright, second daughter of the celebrated inventor the Rev. Edmund Cartwright, and niece of the radical Major John Cartwright. A memoir of the latter is listed among the books in the library, as is his plan for a grandiose naval tribute, The Trident (1802). Henry and Mary Strickland were the parents of the highly regarded naturalist Hugh Edwin Strickland, and it is interesting to note that a large number of books in the collection pertain to natural history, and would undoubtedly have influenced the young Hugh in his formative years. Hugh was briefly taught by Thomas Arnold, a family friend of the Stricklands, before Arnold took up the role of headmaster at Rugby School. A fascinating record of an extensive and evolving country house library, from an influential and well-connected family.

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Bibliografische Details

Titel

A General Catalogue of the Library at Apperley Court. 2 vols. 4to.

Verlag

n.p. [c.1830-1860]

Erscheinungsjahr

1830

Einband

Hardcover