Catalogus Librorum Manuscriptorum Bibliothecae Cottonianae by Thomas Smith - 1696

Oxford: e Theatro Sheldoniano, 1696. Leather Bound. Very Good. E Theatro Sheldoniano, Oxford., 1696. Folio, [xii],l,[ii],159,[25]pp. Contemporary leather boards, Modern reback in contemporary style. Wear to extremities. Internally excellent. End pages have browning and chipping, the rest of the book is clean and bright, without markings, excessive soiling or foxing. See our pictures. <br><br> The library formed by Sir Robert Bruce Cotton (1571-1631) during the early seventeenth century was the major antiquarian collection in England at the time, and as early as the 1620s was a landmark in the political and cultural life of the country, containing as it did both outstanding literary manuscripts and important state records. The library counted Ben Jonson, Sir Walter Raleigh, and Francis Bacon among its borrowers. After his death the library passed successively to his son and grandson, and it was the latter, John, who authorized the publication by his librarian, Thomas Smith, of the first printed catalogue. This catalogue is particularly valuable, as it pre-dates the disastrous fire of 1731, which destroyed or damaged over two hundred of the manuscripts. Smith's catalogue is therefore the prime record for volumes now lost. Smith also knew the Cotton family well and the Latin essays, with which he prefaced his catalogue, are an important source for the history of the family and for the development of the collection.