Acc.11997 June 2006

Inventory

Acc.11997

Professor Edward Frederick Denis Roberts (1927-1990), Librarian, National Library of Scotland, 1970-90.

National Library of Scotland Manuscripts Division George IV Bridge Edinburgh EH1 1EW Tel: 0131-466 2812 Fax: 0131-466 2811 E-mail: [email protected]

© Trustees of the National Library of Scotland

Working papers relating to the doctoral thesis of Professor Edward Frederick Denis Roberts (1927-1990), Librarian, National Library of Scotland, 1970-90. Together with some official, personal and semi-personal papers dating from his childhood until his death.

The doctoral research notes and other working papers of Professor Denis Roberts. They include typescript transcriptions, early 1950s, of the registers of the later mediaeval archbishops of Armagh (1361-1543), prepared by Roberts and W.G.H. Quigley for their joint doctoral thesis presented to the Queen’s University, Belfast, 1955, with typescript copy of the same. The collection also includes research and editorial notes, galley proofs and related correspondence which went to form their joint subsequent publication of that thesis as Registrum Iohannis Mey: The Register of John Mey, , 1443-1456 (Belfast: HMSO, 1972). The collection also includes another copy [the other being Acc.11850] of Roberts’s Edinburgh University dissertation, 1959, on two mediaeval manuscripts in the National Library of Scotland’s collection: Two Twelfth-Century manuscripts [ie MSS. 6121-22] in the National Library of Scotland, Analysis and Problems.

The register of John Mey is but one of a series of seven volumes in Armagh Public Library. The remaining registers, about which Roberts and Quigley produced research notes, concern the primacies of (1) Milo Sweteman, 1361-1380 (2) Nicholas Fleming, 1404-16 (3) John Swayne, 1418-1439 (4) John Prene, 1439-1443 (5) John Mey, 1443-1456 (6) Octavian de Palatio, 1478-1513 (7) George Cromer, 1521-1543.

The collection also includes personal, and quasi-personal papers – parts of which are restricted until 2021 – of Professor Roberts: (1) postcards principally of Roberts to his wife and family (2) official correspondence, invitations etc. from his time as Secretary of the National Library of Scotland, Librarian of Trinity College, Dublin, and Librarian of the National Library of Scotland (3) letters sent by staff of the National Library of Scotland during his illness of 1986 & final illness of late 1989 until his death in February 1990.

Presented 2002

1. Typescript transcription of Registrum Milonis Sweteman qui Armachanam Ecclesiam rexit ab anno 1361 ad 1380 (Milo Sweteman, 1361-1380). Sections of the transcription are missing. This typescript covers various leaves of preamble for the register, followed by various unfoliated leaves, then some foliated leaves – but the order is unclear - of the original register. Initially in a file labelled `Sweteman, part 1’. The typescript is foliated 1-211.

2. Typescript transcription of Registrum Milonis Sweteman qui Armachanam Ecclesiam rexit ab anno 1361 ad 1380 (Milo Sweteman, 1361-1380). This typescript covers various foliated leaves - fols.27b-53b, followed by Tabula Contentorum - of the original register. Initially in a file labelled `Sweteman, part 2’. The typescript is foliated 212-411.

3. Typescript transcription of Registrum Nicholai Fleminge. Sumptibus Reverendissimi Domini Iohaninis Georgii Archiepiscopi Armachani ab Originali descriptum MDCCCLV (Nicholas Fleming, 1404-16). This typescript covers a table of contents (in manu recentiori) followed by fols.1a-35b of the original register. Initially in a file labelled `Nicholas Fleming, part 1’. The typescript is foliated 1-244.

4. Typescript transcription of Registrum Nicholai Fleminge. Sumptibus Reverendissimi Domini Iohaninis Georgii Archiepiscopi Armachani ab Originali descriptum MDCCCLV (Nicholas Fleming, 1404-16). This typescript covers fols.36a-69b followed by Tabula Contentorum of the original register. Initially in a file labelled `Nicholas Fleming, part 2’. The typescript is foliated 245-456.

5. Typescript transcription of the `register’ of John Swayne, 1418-1439, covering fols.1r-48r of the original. Initially in a file labelled `Swayne I, part 1’. The typescript is foliated 1-204.

6. Typescript transcription of the `register’ of John Swayne, 1418-1439, covering fols.48v-75v of the original. Followed by typescript of Liber Secundus, fols.1r- 37r. Initially in a file labelled `Swayne I, part 2’. The typescript is foliated 205- 415.

7. Typescript transcription of the ‘register’ of John Swayne, 1418-1439, covering fols.37v-56v of Liber Secundus. Followed by: (1) typescript of Liber Tertius, fols.1r-9v & fols.152r-154v; (2) typescript of Liber Quartus, fols.1r-15v.; (3) extra leaves from Book I, fols.69xxxx&xxxx(V). Initially in a file labelled `Swayne I, part 3’. The typescript is foliated 416-601.

8. Typescript transcription of Registri Iohannis Swayne Liber Tertius. John Swayne, 1418-1439. The typescript covers fols.7r-65r of the original. Initially in a file labelled `Swayne II, part 1’. The typescript is foliated 1-201.

9. Typescript transcription of Registri Iohannis Swayne Liber Tertius. John Swayne, 1418-1439. The typescript covers fols.65v-130v of the original. Initially in a file labelled `Swayne II, part 2’. The typescript is foliated 202-408.

10. Typescript transcription of Registri Iohannis Swayne Liber Tertius. John Swayne, 1418-1439. The typescript covers fols.131r-151v of the original. It then covers fols.15v-71v of Book IV. Initially in a file labelled `Swayne II, part 3’. The typescript is foliated 409-559.

11. Typescript transcription of the register of John Prene, 1439-1443, covering fols.1r-72v of the original. Initially in a file labelled `Prene I, part 1’. The typescript is foliated 1-289.

12. Typescript transcription of the register of John Prene, 1439-1443, covering fols.73r-142r of the original. Initially in a file labelled `Prene I, part 2’. The typescript is foliated 290-583.

13. Typescript transcription of Registrum Octaviani alias Liber Niger (Octavian de Palatio, 1478-1513), covering fols.1a-96b of the original. Initially in a file labelled `Octavian I, part 1’. The typescript is foliated 1-294.

14. Typescript transcription of Registrum Octaviani alias Liber Niger (Octavian de Palatio, 1478-1513), covering fols.97a-194b of the original. Initially in a file labelled `Octavian I, part 2’. The typescript is foliated 295-667.

15. Typescript transcription of Registrum Octaviani alias Liber Niger (Octavian de Palatio, 1478-1513), covering fols.195a-273a of the original. Initially in a file labelled `Octavian II, part 1’. The typescript is foliated 668-937.

16. Typescript transcription of Registrum Octaviani alias Liber Niger (Octavian de Palatio, 1478-1513), covering fols.273b-336b of the original. Initially in a file labelled `Octavian II, part 2’. The typescript is foliated 938-1179.

17. Typescript transcription of Registrum Octaviani alias Liber Niger (Octavian de Palatio, 1478-1513), covering fols.337a-408b of the original. Initially in a file labelled `Octavian III, part 1’, within a box labelled `Dowdall’. The typescript is foliated 1180-1445.

18. Typescript transcription of Registrum Octaviani alias Liber Niger (Octavian de Palatio, 1478-1513), covering fols.409a-416a & the subsequent un-foliated leaves of the original.

Followed by typescript transcription of Liber Niger: Regsitrum Georgii Dowdall Archiepiscopi Armachani Anno Domini 1540, which amounts to some 280 pages of original text.

Both transcriptions were initially in a file labelled `Octavian III, part 2’, within a box labelled `Dowdall’. The typescripts are foliated 1146-1484, then 1-340.

19. Typescript transcription of Registrum Georgii Cromer (George Cromer, 1521- 1543), covering fols.1r-77r of the original. Initially in a file labelled `Cromer, part 1’. The typescript is foliated 1-202.

20. Typescript transcription of Registrum Georgii Cromer (George Cromer, 1521- 1543), covering fols.77v-111v of the original. Followed by transcription of, presumably, Liber Secundus, fols.4r-29r. Initially in a file labelled `Cromer, part 2’. The typescript is foliated 203-323 & 330-403.

21. Typescript transcription of Registrum Georgii Cromer: [Liber Secundus] (George Cromer, 1521-1543), covering fols.29v-93v of the second volume. Initially in a file labelled `Cromer, part 3’. The typescript is foliated 404-624.

22. Typescript transcription of an un-identified register in the series. It covers fols.142v-202v and `Book II’ fols.1r-36v and a `stray’ transcription of fols.25- 26. The original file is unclear. The typescript is foliated 584-940 & 992-994. The bulk of the charters transcribed are dated variously in the years: (1) 1432-38, the period of the primacy of John Swayne (Archbishop 1418-1439); (2) 1458-70, the period of the primacy of John Bole or Bull, O.S.A. (Archbishop 1457-71) whose papers are not otherwise included among these research notes; (3) 1476, the period of the primacy of Edmund Connesburgh (Archbishop – but never gained possession – 1475-77) whose papers are not otherwise included among these research notes.

23. Typescript – noted as being the fourth copy – of A Study in the Structure and History of the Registers of Archbishops Prene and Mey, together with an edition of the Register of Mey and a Calendar of the Register of Prene. A thesis presented to the Queen’s University of Belfast for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Arts by William George Henry Quigley, B.A., and Edward Frederick Denis Roberts, B.A. April 1955. Part 1 of the thesis: iiipp + pages 1-101.

24. Typescript (part 2) of the above: pages 102-227.

25. Typescript (part 3) of the above: pages 228-332.

26. Typescript (part 4) of the above: pages 333-464.

27. Index of persons and places appearing within Roberts’s thesis. Originally composed to match the pagination of the thesis. These page numbers have been cancelled and the new numbers – in red - match the pagination of the printed edition. There is a separate index of subjects. N.d., but 1960 x 1970.

28. Galley proof of the Index of Persons and Places for Registrum Iohannis Mey (A-B only), with (1) typescript of the remainder of the index (C-W), foliated 13- 73; (2) typescript of the index of subjects and procedures, foliated 1-14.

29. Galley proof of the Index of Persons and Places for Registrum Iohannis Mey (A-B only), with (1) typescript of the entire index of persons and places, foliated 1-73; (2) typescript of the index of subjects and procedures, foliated 1- 14. Annotated by Roberts of their having been `Checked against page proofs, 28-3-1971’.

30. Final (possibly) proof version of pp. lxv-cxiv and pp.1-78 of Registrum Iohannis Mey; with (1) two copies of the galley proofs of the Index of Persons and Places (C-Z only) and of the Index of Subjects and Procedures for Registrum Iohannis Mey (2) several annotated copies of the Index of Persons and Places (A-B only); (3) Roberts’s drafts of the preface of the edition; (4) other ms. & ts. notes and letter; all dating from 1970-72.

31. Correspondence between Roberts, Quigley, and Mr. J.W. Gray, Reader in Mediaeval History, The Queen’s University, Belfast, mostly 1956-7 & 1965, with Roberts’s ms. and ts. notes on: (1) Research subjects in the Armagh Registers reserved by Quigley & Roberts; (2) notes on editorial policy; (3) schemes of work by the two authors in preparation for the printed edition; (4) extensive notes by Roberts on the role of Archbishop and the re-binding of the Armagh registers.

32. Correspondence between Roberts and Quigley, 1960-64, with Roberts’s ms. and ts. notes on: (1) Notes on Galleys of Introduction; (2) Personal names; (3) Main points for inclusion in the introduction; (4) Notes on page proofs of introduction etc of Registrum Iohannis Mey. (5) Various schemes and codicological notes on the manuscript. The notes are un-dated, but are from the early 1960s.

33. Correspondence between Roberts and Quigley, 1968-72, with galley proofs of part of the introduction of the Registrum Iohannis Mey, and fac-similes of some of the leaves of Mey’s register, with reproduction of the water-mark of the register.

34. Microfilm entitled: Prene II. Copy – supplied to Mr J.W.Gray of the Queen’s University, Belfast – of a 16th-century register of manorial and other related records.

35. Microfilm copy of Marco Vattasso Initia Patrum aliorumque scriptorum ecclesiasticorum latinorum ex Mignei Patrologia et ex compluribus aliis libris …, published by the Vatican Library as nos. 16 & 17 in the series Studi e Testi, 1906 & 1908.

36. Typescript copy [the other being Acc.11850] of Roberts’s dissertation on two mediaeval manuscripts in the National Library of Scotland’s collection: Two Twelfth-Century manuscripts [MSS. 6121-22] in the National Library of Scotland, Analysis and Problems. A Dissertation presented by E.F.D. Roberts as part of the requirements for the Diploma in Palaeography in the University of Edinburgh, June 1959. Foliated i-iv & 1-75.

PERSONAL PAPERS

37. A paper-cutting hand-work exercise undertaken by the 5 year old Denis Roberts at Forth River School, Belfast, ca. 1932.

38. Certificates, awards from Roberts’s time at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution, War service, the Queen’s University, Belfast, and other significant personal papers, 1942-56. They include (1) copy, signed by the boys (including Roberts as Henry Percy, son of the Earl of Northumberland), of the programme for the Royal Belfast Academical Institution’s performance, December 1942, of The first part of King Henry IV; (2) letter of G.O. Sayles, July 1947, informing Roberts of his achieving the top position in the Undergraduate Scholarship List at Queen’s.

39. Correspondence, May-June 1955, concerning Roberts’s appointment to an Assistant Keepership in the Department of MSS., National Library of Scotland.

40. Postcards, 1960s-late 1980s (i) of Roberts to his wife & family (Jane and Patrick) while journeying at home and abroad on NLS & TCD business; (2) personal cards of Jane and Patrick Roberts to their parents. (In 2 bundles).

41. Letters of congratulations to Roberts, 1969, upon his appointment as Librarian of the National Library of Scotland. Included are (i) a testimonial, 1967, written by William Beattie, recommending Roberts for the post of Librarian at Goldsmiths College, London; (ii) correspondence with Norman Jeffares, 1968, inviting Roberts to apply for the post of Librarian of the Brotherton Library, Leeds.

42. Roberts’s copy of the Order of proceedings for the Farewell Banquet to mark the closure of the International PEN Conference held in Edinburgh, October 1970.

43. Invitations, some Library-related correspondence, seating plans for NLS & other dinners, dinner menus, with other official memoranda, 1970-78; with one or two earlier items relating to (i) the Belgian Libraries exhibition, 1963 (ii) the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition, 1966. The correspondents include Lawrence Quincy Mumford (1903-82), Librarian of Congress, 1954-74. With some semi- professional correspondence from Andrew Watson and Julian Brown, London, 1979.

44. Two copies of a fac-simile of some Henryson passages in the Bannatyne MS. with transcription: To Hugh MacDiarmid on his eightieth birthday: a Henrysonian offering from the National Library of Scotland, 11 August 1972. One of the copies has been signed by MacDiarmid as a memento for Roberts.

45. Letters, 1972, to Roberts expressing gratitude for receipt of copies of his Registrum Iohannis Mey: The Register of John Mey, Archbishop of Armagh, 1443-1456 (Belfast: HMSO, 1972). The correspondents include the Bishop (Church of Ireland) & Archbishop (Catholic) of Armagh, Professor G.O.Sayles (1901-94) and Robert Dudley Edwards (1909-88).

46. Letter, 1974, of Robert Vosper (1913-94), one-time President of the American Library Association, to Roberts concerning his visiting NLS & EUL.

47. Cartoon, dinner menu, song-sheet & other printed & ts. ephemera relating to the [?Edinburgh] Savage Club, mostly 1970s.

48. Correspondence, invitations, seating plans, and menus principally relating to NLS exhibition openings and dinners, with some cognate material mainly concerning other Library-related social events, 1980-88.

49. Correspondence, memoranda, invitations, lunch and dinner invitations with seating plans principally relating to business concerning the visit of the Association Internationale de Bibliophilie to Edinburgh, 1983; with other NLS- related memoranda & correspondence, 1983-5.

50. Order of Service for the funeral of Professor William Beattie, C.B.E. (1903- 86), Librarian of the National Library of Scotland, 1953-70, with typescript copy of verse recited by Roberts during the service, April 1986.

51. `Get Well’ letters and cards sent to Roberts during an illness, June-September 1986.

52. Invitation card to, and Order of Service for, the marriage of Roberts’s daughter, Jane, to Dr Christopher Staniforth, August 1988, with a flyer for the hotel in which the reception was held.

53. Letters and cards of congratulations to Roberts upon his being awarded the C.B.E., May-June 1989.

54. Correspondence, invitations, and cognate material mainly concerning NLS- related events, 1989.

55. Letters and cards to Roberts during his final illness, September 1989- February 1990 (Bundle 1 of 3) (Totally restricted until 1 January 2021).

56. Letters and cards to Roberts during his final illness, September 1989- February 1990 (Bundle 2 of 3) (Totally restricted until 1 January 2021).

57. Letters and cards to Roberts during his final illness, September 1989- February 1990 (Bundle 3 of 3) (Totally restricted until 1 January 2021).

58. Miscellaneous items:

(i) An off-print, 1988, of Janet Adam’s article Books in my Life reprinted from The Book Collector, Winter 1988, together with a select bibliography of her writings by Andrew Roberts. An inscribed copy presented to Professor Denis Roberts from Janet Adam Smith, 1989. (ii) Travel notes, 1992, from Marjorie Wynne, an American bibliophile, to Mrs Irene Roberts. (iii) Letter, 1993, of Richard W. Couper, President Emeritus, New York Public Library, to Mrs Roberts. (iv) Various printed items including: (1) a newsletter, 1993, of the Grolier Club