DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.65479#0161
THE LIBRARY
HE Library at Ham House, which Dr. Dibdin in his Library
Companion, published in 1824, declares to be “ a very wonderful
book-paradise,” consists of about three thousand volumes.1 The
books, which, with very few exceptions, are earlier than the nineteenth
century, are in good condition, and well bound. It is believed that the
collection was first formed for the Duke of Lauderdale by Dr. George
Hickes, the eminent divine and philologist, who was his Grace’s private
chaplain from 1676 to 1682, but the library at that period could have been
but small, as a large proportion of the volumes are of a later date than
1682, the year of the Duke’s death; and it is evident that the Caxtons
and other rare books were acquired during the lifetime of Lionel, the
third Earl of Dysart, a great lover of books, through the instrumentality
of the Rev. Joseph Brereton, the son of the steward in the Earl’s house-
hold at Helmingham in Suffolk. Brereton was entered as a commoner at
Queen’s College, Cambridge, at the early age of fourteen, and in 1745,
before he was in priest’s orders, he was presented by Lord Dysart to the
living of Acton, near Nantwich, in Cheshire. Here he remained until his
death in March, 1787. Dr. Joseph Priestley, the Unitarian minister, who
knew him well, describes him as having “ a taste for astronomy, philosophy
and literature in general.” Mr. Brereton appears to have bought largely
out of the catalogues of Thomas Osborne, the bookseller of Gray’s Inn,
who purchased the printed books in the library of Edward Harley, Earl
of Oxford, after the Earl’s death in 1741, for about thirteen thousand
pounds, and several of the volumes which he acquired contain his signature,
and his book-plate, which reads, “ E libris Josephi Brereton de Helming-
ham in Com. Suffolk.” The library contains a very considerable number of
rare and valuable books, and many most interesting and beautiful bindings,
1 A list of the books is given in an In-
ventory of the Contents of Ham House, made
on the 17th of November, 1884.
135
HE Library at Ham House, which Dr. Dibdin in his Library
Companion, published in 1824, declares to be “ a very wonderful
book-paradise,” consists of about three thousand volumes.1 The
books, which, with very few exceptions, are earlier than the nineteenth
century, are in good condition, and well bound. It is believed that the
collection was first formed for the Duke of Lauderdale by Dr. George
Hickes, the eminent divine and philologist, who was his Grace’s private
chaplain from 1676 to 1682, but the library at that period could have been
but small, as a large proportion of the volumes are of a later date than
1682, the year of the Duke’s death; and it is evident that the Caxtons
and other rare books were acquired during the lifetime of Lionel, the
third Earl of Dysart, a great lover of books, through the instrumentality
of the Rev. Joseph Brereton, the son of the steward in the Earl’s house-
hold at Helmingham in Suffolk. Brereton was entered as a commoner at
Queen’s College, Cambridge, at the early age of fourteen, and in 1745,
before he was in priest’s orders, he was presented by Lord Dysart to the
living of Acton, near Nantwich, in Cheshire. Here he remained until his
death in March, 1787. Dr. Joseph Priestley, the Unitarian minister, who
knew him well, describes him as having “ a taste for astronomy, philosophy
and literature in general.” Mr. Brereton appears to have bought largely
out of the catalogues of Thomas Osborne, the bookseller of Gray’s Inn,
who purchased the printed books in the library of Edward Harley, Earl
of Oxford, after the Earl’s death in 1741, for about thirteen thousand
pounds, and several of the volumes which he acquired contain his signature,
and his book-plate, which reads, “ E libris Josephi Brereton de Helming-
ham in Com. Suffolk.” The library contains a very considerable number of
rare and valuable books, and many most interesting and beautiful bindings,
1 A list of the books is given in an In-
ventory of the Contents of Ham House, made
on the 17th of November, 1884.
135