HANS SLOANE, BOOK COLLECTOR AND CATALOGUER, 1682-1698
M. A. E. NICKSON
IT is well known that the immense library of printed books and manuscripts collected over a period of more than seventy years by Sir Hans Sloane and unsurpassed in his own time as the work of a single collector eventually became the foundation collection of the library of the British Museum and hence of the British Library. Surprisingly enough, however, bibliographers have been very little concerned with the history of this remarkable collection.' A chief reason for this is that soon after its entry into the Museum in 1753 Sloane's library ceased to exist as a separate entity, although the books themselves, with the exception of some dispersed as duplicates, remained in the British Museum and so became part of the British Library. Most were incorporated into the general library without any mark or catalogue annotation to distinguish them as having belonged to Sloane, so that they may now be identified in a random way only by means of inscriptions on the flyleaves and title-pages. Some items have found their way into specialized departments ofthe British Library (i.e. the Map Library and the Department of Oriental Manuscripts and Printed Books); others into departments of the British Museum (particularly the Department of Prints and Drawings and the Department of Oriental Antiquities) and ofthe British Museum (Natural History). One major part of the original library which has remained virtually intact is the collection of manuscripts, most of which are preserved in the Department of Manuscripts as Sloane MSS. i to 4100, though these are not Sloane's own numbers.^ What I hope to show here is that in spite of this dispersal and renumbering it is still possible not only to identify a great number of the items which formed part of the library in Sloane's time but also to determine the year in which he acquired each printed book or manuscript. This date, in turn, may often help to identify the sources from which Sloane obtained his books, particularly when they were purchased at sales.
SLOANE'S CATALOGUES OF HIS LIBRARY The key to this identification is Sloane's own catalogues of his books and manuscripts. These are now Sloane MSS. 3995 and 3972B to D in the Department of Manuscripts, and his interleaved copy of G. A. Mercklin's Lmdemus renovatus (1686) in the Department of Printed Books. The relationships between these catalogues are complex, but I shall begin by describing their general characteristics as briefly as possible.
52 1. Sloane MS. 3995. This is the earliest library catalogue known to have been kept by Sloane.^ In it he listed his purchases of printed books (and a few manuscripts) with the prices he paid for them over the period 1685 to 1687.** No press-marks are given, so it appears that Sloane had not begun to number his library at this early date. The entries are made in a small notebook with an introductory heading 'A catalogue of my books taken in Febry. 1684/5 ir* London' (fol. 114^),'' followed by a list of books entered first on the recto pages and then continued on the versos until the last was reached (fol. I'"). The books are grouped in sections, arranged in folios, followed by quartos then octavos and duodecimos, with the prices paid added in the right-hand margins. The first section, books collected up to February 1685, ends at fol. 85^ and from then on entries were made as the books were purchased. Whether Sloane continued this system of listing his books is not known; it is probable that he did so, but no similar notebooks have survived amongst his papers in the British Library. 2. Sloane MSS. 3972B, C. As I hope to show later, this catalogue first began to take its present form about 1693 although it includes the books and manuscripts which had been acquired earlier. It is now bound in nine volumes (3972B and eight volumes of 3972C) and covers all items which Sloane acquired before his death in 1753 and considered to be part of his library, apart from his medical books in Latin. There is one continuous pagination i to 3944, begun at an early date, and used by Sloane and his librarians for compiling the index (Sloane MS. 3972D).
(a) 3972C. The pages of the catalogue, except for some taken out and now bound in 3972B, arc distributed amongst the present volumes of 3972C as follows:
I 1-202 II 203 392 III 393-859* IV 860^-1341 V 1342-1967"' VI I97I-2524 VII 2525-3076 VIII 3077 3944 The present division into eight volumes is of recent origin and in this article I have referred throughout to the original page numbers rather than the modern foliation, in order to avoid confusion. This is particularly necessary when referring to entries in Vols. I and II where the rectos only were originally numbered in arabic, the versos, beginning at the verso of p. i, being numbered in one sequence in romans from I to CCCXCV. The early entries are in Sloane's own hand but from about 1698 librarians were employed to keep the catalogue, although Sloane never ceased, even in his declining years, from making some entries himself. Not all these librarians have yet been identified. The most famous was Humfrey Wanley, who worked in Sloane's library for a brief time in the early i7oos;^ others were J. G. Scheuchzer,^ a brilliant scholar who
53 died prematurely in 1729, and Thomas Stack, who undertook a thorough verification of the library in 1740.*° For the greater part of the catalogue items were entered as they were acquired, or shortly afterwards, so that it is possible, by plotting the positions of entries for volumes know n to have been acquired at a certain date, to fix the date of acquisition of other volumes entered nearby. Entries were made not only for printed books but also for manuscripts, charters, rolls, horti stcci, maps, miniatures, prints, and periodicals. Each of these classes was distinguished by a characteristic press-mark, thus:
Printed books an upper or lower case letter of the alphabet followed by a number (arabic). Upper case letters were assigned to folios, lower case to quartos, octavos, etc. The entries are not in any discernible order of author or subject and numbers are often missing from lettered sequences. Manuscripts MS. followed by a number (arabic). About 1702 Wanley began a new system of roman upper case numbers (I-CXXIV), but after his departure from the library the old numbering was resumed. About 1726 another new system was introduced by Scheuchzer whereby each MS. was given a capital letter (A = folio; B = quarto; C = octavo and smaller) and then a number (arabic). This numbering was applied not only to new acquisitions but also to manuscripts acquired previously (the earlier numbers were cancelled but are usually still visible). Charters Charter followed by a number (arabic)." Rolls Roll followed by a number (arabic). Horti sicci H.S. followed by a number (arabic). These were albums of dried plant specimens or herbaria, some of which were collected by Sloane himself They are now in the British Museum (Natural History).'^ Maps a number (roman, upper case). This class included atlases. Miniatures Min. with a number (arabic). These included illustrated books, both manuscript and printed. Prints Pr. with a number (roman). Periodicals a number and a sub number (both arabic).
This division of the library into various classes was a gradual process which did not develop fully until tbe first decade of the eighteenth century, when Prints and Miniatures were first added to the other classes.'^ However, as items were often re-numbered and re-classified retrospectively, the state of the library in its earlier years cannot be described without some reference to these later divisions. To give a typical example, present Sloane MS. 2401, acquired by Sloane as early as 1693, was numbered MS. 3, then MS. B. 1174, then Min. 155, and finally Min. 201 while it was still in Sloane's possession.^'^ Although such re-numbering is still recorded in many volumes, the key to understanding the various press-marks remains in the catalogue itself.
(b) 3972B. When Sloane's library was incorporated into the British Museum after 1753, most of the entries referring to manuscripts (including charters and rolls and beginning
54 with p. 475, at Wanley's MS. I) were taken out of his catalogue and sent to the Department of Manuscripts where they are now bound as a separate volume, 3972B. Although the makers of the original catalogue had usually entered blocks of entries belonging to the same class together they had not reserved separate sheets for this purpose so that manuscripts were often mixed with entries for other categories on the same page. When this occurred either the MS. entries were copied out or the whole page was transferred.*^ In this way a new catalogue was prepared between 1758 and 1764 and this, together with 3972A, became the basis for an arbitrary Museum numbering of the Sloane manuscripts."^ In the 1830s Frederic Madden undertook the task of clearing up much confusion in this numbering: the skill he brought to this task may be appreciated even more when it is realized that he worked in ignorance of the existence of Sloane's original catalogue.*'' The notes he compiled in the course of his investigations are now enshrined in both 3972A and B, and still feel a trifle warm to the touch. 3. Sloane MS. 3972A. This catalogue was not part of Sloane's cataloguing system; although it provides useful information concerning the fate of his manuscripts after they entered the British Museum, it is otherwise positively misleading from the point of view of the history of their acquisition by Sloane. The kernel of the volume comprises present fois. 43-128 (minus some partial interleaving) on which the entries for MSS. 1-728 in 3972C have been copied.*^ The numbering given by the copyist, however, is the later A, B, C system introduced by Scheuchzer, which in itself provides little clue to the original order. The pages copied were originally arranged thus:
3972C, pp. Sloane's original MS. nos. 86-113 1-233 i53> 154 234-55 172 256-68 193 269-74 197 269 bis 217-18 270-93 CXEIX 294-8 CLX-CLXXII 299-423 CLXXIX CLXXXIII 424-82 CXC CXCII 483-506 CXCVIII-CXCIX 507-35 CC CCIV 536-614 CCLXIII CCLXVII 614-79 CCCLX CCCLXVI 679-723 CCCLXXI 724-8
The copyist, however, paid no attention to the original order of the catalogue (i.e. first rectos and then versos) but simply copied the pages with manuscript entries in
55 physical sequence; before binding some sheets became misplaced, so that eventually the following order was produced:
3972A, fois. 3972C, pp.
43'"-6i'' 86-98 alternately 63^ 65-^ CCCLXV CCCLXVI As the preceding table shows, these leaves 65'^ CCCLXXI should have been placed at the end, after fol. 98-113 alternately 83' CXLIX 153. 154 86^-98'- CLX CLXXII 99' 172 99'", 100"^ CLXXIX ioi'"-io4 CLXXX-CLXXXIII CXC CXCII 108' 197 CXCVIII-CCIV 117'', 118'" 217, 218 ii8'^-i24^ CCLXIII-CCLXVII 124-^ 128-^ CCCLX CCCLXIV
When these copies were used in the British Museum for the allocation of the first 661 Sloane MS. numbers the confused order shown in the table above was followed. A good example of the effect of this is given in detail in Appendix A (pp. 64-80 below) where Sloane's own MSS. 271-93 can be seen to have been re-numbered out of sequence as 551-71- 4. Sloane MS. 3972D. Tbis is the index to Sloane's catalogue, now bound in two volumes, A-K, L-Z. The earliest entries are in Sloane's hand and it was probably begun fairly soon after 1693. It is arranged in alphabetical order of authors' names, as far as this was possible where fresh entries were continually being added. The references are to page numbers in the catalogue. 5. Lindemus renovatus (Department of Printed Books, press-mark 878. n. 8). The existence of yet another catalogue of his books kept by Sloane was first noted by J. L. Wood, and recorded in his article 'Sir Hans Sloane's books', published in Factotum in 1978. This catalogue is almost as bulky as 3972C and consists in its present form of a copy o{ Lindemus renovatus. . . de scrtptis medtcis libn duo . . . (Nuremberg, 1686), G. A. Mercklin's edition of tbe medical bibliography compiled by J. A. Van der Linden,^^ interleaved and bound in eight volumes.^^ Many of the books listed in the printed text have press-marks added in the margins (sometimes in red crayon), while the interleaving is filled with titles of other medical books in Latin, not listed by Mercklin, also with 56 9A 1
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]^. /. Sloane's catalogue, p. 7, with the entries for books with his press-mark f. Sloane MS. 3972C, fol. 8'- press-marks added. These additions and press-marks are partly in Sloane's hand and partly in the hands of his successive librarians. The press-marks are in the same lettered sequences as those used in 3972C and can be shown to be the 'missing' numbers referred to above in the description of Sloane's printed book press-marks. The following example of a sequence of f press-marks (figs, i, 2) shows the arbitrary way in which the numbers were distributed (the books are all quarto):
Catalogue Press-mark Catalogue description
A./?., p. 555 f I Johannes Colle, De Cognitu difficilibus in Praxi. Venetiis, 1628 3972C, p. 7 f 2 Nicolaus Remigius, Daemonolatreia. Lugduni, 1595 3972C, p. 7 f 3 Jo. Petrus Olina, Della natura degli Uccelli. Sine tit. [an ?Napoli 1627: added by Stack] L.R., p. 538 f 4 Johannes Baptista Silvaticus, De Unicornu, Bergamo, 1605 L.R., p. 151 f 5 Casparus Bauhinus, npoSofio? Theatri Botanici. Francofurti, 1620 L.R., p. 429 f 6 Hieronymus Montuus, Halosis Febrium. Lugduni, 1558 L./?., p. 295 f 7 Franciscus Ranchinus, Opuscula medica. Lugduni, 1627 JL./?., p. 269 f 8 Fabricius Bartoletus, Encyclopaedia Hermetico-Dogmatica. Bononiae, 1619 3972C, p. 7 f 9 Cosmas Rosellius, Thesaurus memoriae artificiosae. Venetiis, 1579 3972C, p. 7 f 10 Geo. Maria Castellani, Filactrion delle flebotomia et arterio. Viterbo, 1619
THE DEVELOPMENT OF SLOANE'S CATALOGUING SYSTEM
It is clear from the above survey that Sloane maintained two catalogues, begun at about the same time, in which he (and later his librarians) made entries for his complete library, i.e. the interleaved copy of Lindemus renovatus, in which medical books in Latin were entered, and his hand-written catalogue (present 3972B, C) which contained entries for all other library items. Is it possible, then, to determine (a) when Sloane began this system of cataloguing and (b) when he first began to list his acquisitions in accession order within the hand-written catalogue? I have already referred above to the fact that 3972B, C was arranged more or less in the order in which library items were acquired, so that by charting the position of entries for books wbose date of acquisition is known it is possible to determine the approximate date when other items were added. Blocks of entries for books or manuscripts purchased at sales are particularly useful for this exercise. J. S. Finch was able to make the first successful identification of some of Sloane's printed books by noting that a marked copy of the sale catalogue of the library of Sir Thomas Browne, January 1710/11, bore an early press-mark, R 2345, and that at least a dozen of the marked books were in the Museum with a similar press-mark.
58 bo
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c c He then reasoned correctly that the catalogue and the books must have belonged to the same person and that this must have been Sloane. However, he was unable to find any entries for them in Sloane's catalogue as he was led to believe that one volume only of this (the present Sloane MS. 3972C, vols. I and II) was still extant and the latest R entry he could find was R 579.^^ This arrangement in accession order, however, does not apply to the earliest entries in 3972C. During his first years as a bibliophile Sloane had begun a practice (which was gradually discontinued after 1697) of entering on the flyleaves of his books and manuscripts the date of purchase and the price paid.^^ At first the date was entered quite openly, followed by the price disguised by a simple substitution code: a = i, b = 2, c = 3, d = 4, e = 5, f = 6, g = 7, h = 8, i = 9, o = 0. By 1686 Sloane had introduced a further refinement in this system by making use of an 'alchemical' code for both date and price, in the form: ^^ = i, -- = 2, O = 3, O = 4i ^ = 5i ~^ = 6, ^ = 7^ ? = 8, V = 9, * = 0.^^ It should therefore be possible to discover when the entries in 3972C began to be arranged in order of acquisition by matching a sequence of catalogue entries with books which still bear Sloane's date and press-mark. In practice this is a Herculean task, particularly since many Sloane books were dispersed in the duplicate sales of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and others have been rebound and deprived of their flyleaves.^ Thus when a possible entry is found in the General Catalogue of Printed Books the odds are no more than even that the book itself will be identifiable as a Sloane item with a date of acquisition. It would be a lengthy process indeed to produce a long enough matching sequence on which an analysis of dating could be soundly based.'^ Fortunately, the inclusion in Sloane's catalogue of manuscripts as well as printed books allows much faster progress to be made in another direction. Since, to a large extent, the Sloane collection of manuscripts still exists as a physical entity, the identification of MS. entries in the catalogue with the manuscripts themselves is relatively easy. A closer study of tbe first part (pp. 1-218) of 3972C shows that it is arranged as follows: pp. 1-85 A list of printed books (interspersed as far as p. 52 with a few entries for single manuscripts) each of which is accompanied in the left-hand margin by a press- mark in the form of an upper or lower case letter, with an arabic number. The letters used are A, a, B, b, C, D, d, e, f, g, h, i, k, 1, m, n, o, P, q, r, s, t, u, x, y, z. The entries are not arranged by subject or author's name nor by alphabetical order of the press-marks, although these are to some extent grouped together m numerical blocks. Where numbers do appear in sequence many are often missing, but this is less enigmatic than might at first be thought, for the missing press- marks belong to medical books in Latin listed in Lindemus renovatus. There are many insertions, cancellations, and alterations to the press-marks. pp. 86-113 A list of manuscripts, numbered MS. 1-233 (^g- 3)- pp- 114-53 A *»s^ ^^ printed books, beginning with press-mark D 18 and including sequences of press-marks lettered c (beginning at c i), d, p (beginning at p i), and g. 60 J. Sloane's catalogue, p. 86, showing the beginning of the list of manuscripts Sloane MS 3972C, fol. S8' PP- 153-218 Lists of printed books alternating with lists of manuscripts. The printed book press-marks include sequences lettered d, g, h, D, and Q_(beginning at Q_i). The order in which the manuscripts are listed is given above (p. 55). A list of the manuscripts described in tbis part of Sloane's catalogue, with their present Sloane MS. numbers and, where possible, Sloane's dates of acquisition, is given in Appendix A (pp. 64-80 below). A study of this soon reveals that the first 174 items were nearly all acquired in 1693 or 1694,^^ a few manuscripts acquired earlier being interspersed (i.e. MSS. 143-5, acquired 1682, MSS. 140 and 142, acquired 1683, and MS. 131, acquired 1691). None of these earlier acquisitions appear in 3995, nor are they among a small number of manuscripts whose descriptions, with printed book type press-marks, are given in 3972C, pp. i 52. MSS. 1-174 are arranged according to size, and not by date of acquisition, in an order which recalls that of the first section of 3995, where Sloane grouped together all library purchases made up to February 1685. Thus MSS. 1-58 are folios, MSS. 59-146 are quartos, and MSS. 147 74 are octavos and smaller. It seems reasonable, therefore, to suppose that when he compiled this list (which can be shown from its contents not to have been made before 1694) Sloane regarded it as containing all the manuscripts which he had so far collected. It does not, however, include a small number of manuscripts known from entries in 3995 to have been in his possession by 1687, entries for most of which can also be found scattered through 3972C, pp. 1-52, where they are given printed book type press-marks. The reason for this apparent discrepancy becomes clear on examination of the entries for MSS. 175-88 and for two following un-numbered MSS. These are the 'missing' manuscripts, transferred by Sloane in 1694 to the new MS. section of his catalogue, in order to make it complete.^^ The progress of these items through the various stages of Sloane's cataloguing is shown in Appendix C (pp. 85-6 below).^^ From MS. 189 onwards entries were added to the catalogue as they were acquired, as can be seen from the entries for manuscripts acquired between 1694 and 1698 listed in Appendix A.^^ The method of compiling the list of manuscripts on pp. 86-133 of 3972C is now clear. Sometime in 1694 Sloane collected together his manuscripts, arranged them in order of size, numbered them 1-174, and listed them. He then remembered some others which had been listed amongst his printed books and added them to the list;^^ from that point he continued to add more manuscripts as he acquired them. The question now arises—can it be shown that Sloane tackled the task of cataloguing his printed books in a similar way? I have already referred to the difficulty of identifying a sufficiently large number of Sloane books with dates of acquisition inscribed in tbem to provide a wide enough basis for an analysis. Nevertheless, with the help of a few examples some features are clearly discernible. The chief of these concerns the distribution of printed book press-marks, where a definite pattern emerges. A, B, C, D, and P are used to denote folios, d, e, f, i, q, r, z, quartos and a, b, g, h, k, 1, m, n, o, s, t, u, x, y, octavos and smaller books. However, entries with press-marks a and b do not begin until p. 7i(a) and p. 8i(b); they are then arranged in a regular numerical order unlike the scattered entries on earlier pages. The same is true for
62 entries with press-mark z, which begin on p. 58, for entries with press-mark y 44 onwards, which begin on p. 66, and for entries with press-mark D, which begin on p. 81. So far all the books I have seen with Sloane's date of acquisition and press- marks a, b, y (from y 44), z and D, whose numbers correspond to entries in pp. 1-85, were acquired in 1693. On the other hand, books bearing the other press-marks listed above were acquired at dates varying from 1682 to 1693. It seems most probable therefore that, just as the list of MSS. 1-188 was compiled to include all manuscripts collected up to 1694, so the entries for books on pp. 1-58 of his catalogue were intended as a complete listing of Sloane's library holdings up to 1693. Assuming that Sloane lettered his presses in alphabetical order, his original scheme for distributing press- marks can be reconstructed as follows: A, B, C (folios), d, e, f (quartos), g, h (octavos, etc.), i (quarto), k, 1, m, n, o (octavos, etc.), P (folios), q, r (quartos), s, t, u, x, y (octavos, etc.). These letters, each of which then covered on average about 150 items, sufficed for all the books collected up to the time that the scheme was first devised; Sloane afterwards found it necessary to add other letters, beginning with D (folios), z (quartos), and a and b (octavos, etc.) in order to accommodate his rapidly expanding hbrary. From p. 58 onwards entries were made for books as they were acquired and this accession order was maintained throughout the remainder of the catalogue. New press-mark letters were added from time to time, but eventually the only way in which further expansion was possible was by adding more numbers to existing lettered sequences which often came to include thousands of items.^^ By the time of the compilation of the first section of his catalogue Sloane had acquired rather more than 3,000 printed books and about 25 manuscripts. By 1698 the number of manuscripts had grown to over 300; the corresponding increase in the number of printed books is more difficult to assess but a conservative estimate would suggest a total of about 10,000 volumes. Although Sloane's first purchases of books were undoubtedly motivated by a practical desire to augment his knowledge of medicine and botany he was an early victim to the insidious mania of book-collecting for its own sake and the scope of his purchases was soon limited only by the depth of his pocket.^^ Success in his chosen profession enabled him to spend more and more on his library but It remains surprising that a busy and fashionable physician, with strong practical interests in botany and other branches of natural science, found time not only to select and purchase so many books but also to devise and maintain an efficient catalogue Our present extensive knowledge of the growth of the other outstanding English library of Sloane's time, that of Robert and Edward Harley, Earls of Oxford, was made possible by the painstaking work of their librarian, Humfrey Wanley. Sloane was his own librarian for many years and when he finally employed others for the task he ensured that they continued to build on his foundation. Even if he had not been pre-eminent in so many other spheres, Sloane would deserve commemoration for this alone. APPENDIX A
List of Sloane's MSS. 1-298, taken from Sloane MS. 3972C, pp. 86 et seqq., with his descriptions in an abridged form. The A, B, C numbering introduced by Scheuchzer is supplied in canted brackets after the original number. Wherever possible each MS. has been identified and given its present Sloane number, and where Sloane has noted the date of acquisition and the price within the manuscript these have been added. A concordance of present Sloane MS. numbers with Sloane's own numbers is given in Appendix B (pp. 81-4 below).
MS. I
71 MS. 143 73 MS. i8i 75 MS. 218 [MSS. 26g-J4 are listed on p. ig3. The sume numbers are repeated for different MSS. on pp. igj, 2tj as follows]: MS. 269 MS. 275 80 APPENDIX B Concordance of present Sioane MS. numbers with Sioane's own MS. numbers i 298. Present Sloane MS. numbers are given First. 1 = 1 41 = 44 2 = 2 42 = 45 3 = 4 43 = 46 4 = 5 44 = 47 5 = 6 45 = 48 6 = 7 46A, B = 49 7 = 8 47 = 50 8 = 9 48 = 51 9=10 49 = 52 10= II 50 or 1070 = 53 II = 12 51 = 54 12=13 52 = 55 13 = 14 53 = 56 14, fols. I 26 =15 54 = 57 fols. 27-85 = 17 55, fols. I 2 = 58 15 = 18 fol. 3 = 254 16 = 19 fols. 4-8 = 270 bis 17 = 20 fols. 9 20 = 276 18 = 21 56 = 59 19 = 22 57 = 60 20 = 23 58 = 61 21 =24 59 = 62 22 = 25 60 = 63 23 = 26 61 = 64 24 = 27 62 = 65 25 = 28 63, fois. 1-34 = 66 26 = 29 fols. 36-57 = 68 27 = 30 fois. 58 69 = 67 28 = 31 fois. 70-123 = 69 29 = 32 64 = 70 30 = 33 65 = 71 31 =34 66 = 72 32 = 35 67 = 73 33 = 36 68 = 74 34 = 37 69 = 75 35 = 38 70 = 76 36 = 39 71 = 77 37 = 40 72, fols. 1-60 = 89 38 = 41 fois. 61-85 = 88 39 = 42 fois. 86-118 = 87 40 = 43 fois. 119-62 = 84 81 72, fois. 163-80 = 83 119 = 135 fois. 181-204 = 82 120 = 133 fois. 205-12 = 80 121 = 136 fois. 213-16 = 79 122, fois. I-167 = 137 fois. 233-58 = 78 fois. 168-85 = 139 fols. 186-217 = 140 fois. 218-24 =141 76 = 86 fols. 225-54 = 142 95, fois. 1-97 = 91, 92 fois. 98-126 = 96 124, fols. 1-42 = 144 fois. 127-42 = 99 fols. 43-58 = 145 fois. 143-57 = 100 126 = 147 fois. 158-70 = 104 127 = 148 fols. 171-210 = 106 128 = 149 fols. 221-68 = 123 129 = 150 96 = 93 131 = 152 97 = 94 132 = 153 98 = 95 133 = 154 99 = 97 134 = 155 100 = Q8 135 = 156 101 = IOI 136 = 157 102 = 102 137 = 158 103 = 105 138 = 159 104 = 107 139 = 160 105, fols. 1-7 = 108 140 = 161 fols. 8-34 = 109 141 = 162 fols. 35-65 = IIO 142 = 163 fols. 66-100 =113 143, fois. 1-20 =151 106 = III fois. 21-76 = 164 107 = 114 144 = 165 108 =115 145 = 167 109 =116 146 = 168 no, fols. 1-23 = 117 147 = 169 fols. 24-60 =118 148 = 170 fols. 61-70 = 119 149 = 171 fols. 71-88 = 120 150 = 172 fols. 89-148 = 121 fols. 149-51 = 122 152 = 174 112 = 125 153 = »75 113, fols. I-122 = 126 154 = 176 fols. 123-4 = 127 155 = 177 114 = 128 157 = 179 158= 180 115 = 129 159 or 1749 = 181 117, fols. 1-4 = 131 160 = 182 fols. 5 26 = 134 161 = 183 118 = 132 82 162 = 184 211 = 232 163 = 185 212 = 233 164 = 186 213 = 294 165 = 187 214 = 295 166 = 188 215 = 296 167 or 3919 = A 876 (first Sloane number 216 = 297 assigned) 217 = 298 168 = 189 218 = 234 169 = 190 219 = 235 170 = 191 220 = 236, 237 171 = 192 221 = 238, 239 172 = 193 222 = 240 173 = 194 223 = 241 174 = 195 224 = 242 175 = 196 225 = 243 176 = 197 226 = 244 177 = 199 227 = 245 178 = 200 228 = 246 179A, fois. I 48 = 198 229 = 247 fol. 49 = 201 230A = 248 180 = 202 231, fois. 1-13 = 255 182 = 204 fois. 14-15 = 255 bis 183 = 205 fois. 16-29 = 257 185 = 207 232 = 249 186 = 208 234B = 251 187 = 209 235 = 252 188 = 210 237 = 253 189 = 211 360 = 256 '90 = 212 362 = 258 191 =213 363, fois. 1-8 = 259 192 = 214 fois. 9-17 = 260 193 = 215 fois. 18-37 = 261 = 216 fois. 38 41 = 262 = 217 fois. 42-8 = 263 = 219 fois. 49-54 = 265 = 220 fois. 55-71 =266 199 = 221 fois. 72-80 = 267 = 222 fois. 81-93 = 268 = 223 fois. 95-9 = 274 = 224 364 = 264 204A-D = 225 442 = 269 bis 206A, B = 227 551 =271 bis 207 = 228 552 = 272 bis 208 = 229 553 = 273 bis ^°9 = 230 554 = 274 bts 210 = 231 555 = 275 83 557 = 277 566 = 288 558 = 278 567 = 289 559 = 279 568 = 290 560 = 28o 570 = 292 561 = 281 571 = 293 562, fois. I-I2 = 282 610 = 103 fois. 13-17 = 283 783B = 166 563 = 284 1070 = 53 564 = 285 1719 = 178 565, fois. 1-20 = 226 1749 = 181 fois. 21-61 = 271 2401 = 3 fois. 62-9 = 273 3252 = 250 fois. 70-105 = 286 3919 = A. 876 fois. 106-53 = 287 4029 = 138 u = L. O _c « E — 3 C C (3- U c/3 00 cu IS 3c c o o .o O (A OO oo sC - o "' r2 c/i o vi ^ C/i C/5 o. <*5 >.-• w— U < 3 .« s ^*- -> ^ ca c I sO O OO oo sO u •- 2 c — e ui 2 •> fl (A •El u g •=.2 11 X od. E^ ^2 - phv s t^ fl 2 ^< zQ o o. 3 W I C C I 8 JC a £ ^ O CA 3 w O a. V fl a. a. 3 U C J" o c .2 u fl jy o 2 ^ 3 c o o E fl "^ iJ U !r fl H I 3 o o E = • ri s a. c ,c a •£ c B.S c bCi _:^ o . 4* "O U c d ,o _ "fl :^ 'E 1/1 ati o o ^ c • lA 1 * fl E 3 1- >3 3 u il l a o I C "E. •^ cd 2 .E o .« > a. n ^2 w lU O ^^ E C N ti. : fl o _O sO o. lA (A c u U fl c C 3 fl ^ u a. ^ I/; 3"STd 3 -a c ;nt o U CJ O .x: > N o ~ B> i« =-» H H O 00 r E k. en E w 3 ? c c w en o oo oo pj oo „ oo c/} 2 - en o - 2c/) 3. en CQ U E S U E U o 2 U oa o NO SO oo OO OO NO so O U fl 1/1 c u IA [^ e u o S X) bb V e/i 2 S 3 be c UJ 3 vi Q. •*cn .2 ^^ r- o n ;is en o bb c H UJ o o >, ^ o MS . u "^ u > c rnin g IA "*- fl r^ a — i.h- (A u a. o bO a o- o .E g Day t o e/) grim i •S:^ fl .- oo c U 7- > o en pi l e/j Z z<^t c = 5b O • c ..o - fl lett e « 3 ts -5 o •- fl \^ P C o c fl lA IA ^ I 1 i5 "~ 1.2 IS 'c o ^ IU "^ o 1 = NO 15 o , T3 lU k, i i-s HI " O fl ^ Q . ^ 3 Q n bc fl 4j = O. k, o u 5 bC • |» V U w tfT O 3 C IA .^ UJ S k jf .y bb o. c . o 'M : •Bit s u •-• n a i ^ fl ,2 .5 11 u o — II •« I • E ^"fl ^i "^ fl U y «= S =* E f • >-. QJ & « c "SI SC -O - J3 T3 O -c o II IS > NO O o 5; =» - o. C/) oo U oNoC [ ^1 86 1 J. S. Finch was the first to recognize Sloane these documents in Sloane's catalogue shows press-marks in the books themselves (cf. his that Warner's doubts were unfounded. article 'Sir Hans Sloane's Printed Books', The 12 In 1958 J. E. Dandy published a catalogue of Library, 4th series, xxii {1942), pp. 67-72). In them in The Sloane Herbarium. An annotated 1978 J. L. Wood published his discovery of a list of the Horti Sicci composing it, taking the catalogue of medical books kept by Sloane in a descriptions from titles and labels which were copy of Lindemus renovatus,, 1686, in 'Sir Hans still attached to the items, in the belief that the Sloane's Books', Factotum, no. 2 (1978), pp. 15- original catalogue bad disappeared. In fact the 18. I am very grateful to Mr Wood for providing horti sicct entries survive in Sloane's catalogue trie with a collection of references to books with with the exception of the entries missing from Sloane press-marks which has been the source 3972C referred to in n. 7. of most of the examples used to develop the 13 I hope in a later article to give a detailed account argument on pp. 62-3 of this article. I should of the history of Sloane's library after 1698. also like to thank Professor T. A. Birrell for his 14 For an account of how difficult it may be generous help, particularly for information on to identify single items because of this re- items recorded in sale catalogues marked by numbering, see my article 'Bagford and Sloane', Sloane. British Library Journal, ix (1983), pp. 53-4. 2 Some Sloane manuscripts or extracts from them, 15 The transfer of the pages to Charles Morton, mostly drawings and maps, were set aside and Keeper of Manuscripts, took place in July 1758, not included in the first Museum re-numbering: as can be seen from notes by Matthew Maty, they were later numbered as Additional MSS. Keeper of Printed Books, and Samuel Harper, 5018-5027 and 5214-5308. A few others were Assistant Keeper, in 3972C, passim. On 2 April dispersed amongst other Museum Departments 1763 (wrongly given in the MS. as 1762) Morton before the setting up of the British Library. wrote in his 'Diary & occurrence book of the 3 For an account of how it was possible to identify British Museum affairs' (Add. MS. 45871, fol. this as a catalogue kept by Sloane see my article 14''): 'The Sloanian Manuscripts are described 'Sloane's codes: the solution to a mystery'. & entered in a large Catalogue together with the Factotum, no. 7 (1979), pp. 13-18. printed Books, in the order in which they were 4 The exact date when Sioane made the last entry purchased by Sir Hans, & ranged according to is not known, but a book published in 1687 is their Sizes, upon his shelves . . . Most of the listed on fol. 105'". leaves containing these entries have been taken 5 Fol. 114^' is in fact the first page; the book was out of the Catalogues of printed books, & are misbound upside down in the nineteenth century bound together: & some remain behind, to be and afterwards foliated that way. transcribed. . . .' In his Report to the Trustees, 6 The first page of present vol. IV is numbered dated 24 April 1764 (loc. cit. fol. 42^) Morton 860 and not 880, as appears on the spine. wrote: 'The several articles relating to the Sloan- 7 Pp. 1968-70, which must have contained entries ian Manuscripts have been transcribed from for horti sicci 218-73, have been missing at least the Catalogue of printed books; & the articles since 1888. relating to the printed books have been tran- 8 Cf. Wanley to Sloane, 12 October 1701, Sloane scribed from amongst the Manuscripts, by Mr MS. 4038, fol. 252. Nelson; by whose assistance an index also has 9 John Gaspar Scheuchzer, born in Switzerland, been made to the Sloanian manuscripts; & the 1702. He died in Sloane's house, 10 April 1729. Catalogue thereof is now complete.' Morton had 10 Stack's notes on his verification of Sloane's referred earlier (fol 25^) to 'Mr. John Nelson library may be found in Sloane MS. 4019, amanuensis to the late Dr. Ward'; Madden was passim. therefore wrong (3972B, fol. 2^) in supposing 11 In his introduction to the Index to the Sloane that Dr John Ward, who died in 1758, had Manuscripts (London, 1904) G. F. Warner re- himself copied the entries. The index referred ferred to the 'hundred and sixty-eight docu- to by Morton is in 3972A, fois. 6-38. ments which go by the name of the Sloane 16 3972B begins with a transcript of p. CCCLXV Charters, but the provenance of which is some- of Sloane's catalogue the first item being MS. what doubtful'. The inclusion of entries for 709 (later A. 183), which was rc-numbered as Sloane MS. 662. The whole volume has been 27 The list of Sloane's manuscripts which is given given a modern foliation but the original page in E. Bernard's Catalogi manuscrtptorum Anglie numbers are clearly visible on the leaves which (Oxford, 1697), part 2, pp. 251-5, comprises were transferred from Sloane's catalogue. Sloane's MSS. 1-188 plus the un-numbered 17 Cf. his note 'What Catalogue' against the copy- MS. later designated A. 876. There are some ist's reference to items 'in the Catalogue'. Sloane minor alterations from the order of 3972C MS. 3972A, fol. 67^ (e.g. MSS. I and 2 are transposed) and the 18 The copies are not dated, but are written in a MSS. numbered from 175 onwards are dis- mid-eighteenth-century hand. tributed according to their size amongst the 19 The work is arranged in alphabetical order of folios, quartos, and octavos. The division into authors' forenames with an index of surnames 264 items (8736-999) is not found in Sloane's in vol. VIII. catalogue although it is based on his descrip- 20 Presumably the 'eight quarto volumes' amongst tions of the separate articles contained in the his catalogues referred to by Sloane in his will manuscripts. (cf. J. S. Finch, op. cit., p. 69). The present 28 In addition to the entries for manuscripts listed binding of the work is modern. See Ultee, p. 15 in Appendix C, 3995 also contains entries for above, for Sloane's intention to publish a revised five other manuscript items. Two of these are version of this work. now in the Department of Printed Books: (i) 21 Finch, op. cit. If the remainder of Sloane*s 'Fernelii consilia with a M.S. of Smiths Francof. catalogue had been made available to him he 1593 in 8'*—IS. od.' (fol. 96^), now ii65.d.3. would have found the entry for the Browne sale with Sloane's press-mark k.99. (r. Lmd. renov., catalogue on p. 1135. There are many other p. 578) and date of acquisition 1682 (is.); (2) marked catalogues which can be identified as 'Antidotarium Romanum cum notis MSS & having belonged to Sloane, and a study of them another MS. 8"—is. od' (fol. 30M, the first item would be a prerequisite in any attempt to of which is now 777.a.6 with Sloane's press- reconstruct Sloane's Library. A facsimile of mark h 26 (v. Lind. renov., p. 1069) and date Sloane's copy of the catalogue of the sale of the of acquisition 1686 (6d.). This volume was library of Sir Thomas and Dr Edward Browne, numbered MS. C. 961 by Scheuchzer and was ed. J. S, Finch, has recently been published afterwards Sloane MS. 3577. A third item, (Leiden, Sir Thomas Browne Institute, 1987). 'Fernelii universa medicina cum vita auth. MSS. 22 Sometimes he noted the price only, as may be Francof. 1592—2s. od.' (fol. 113O, had been seen from several examples in Appendix A. The bought by Sloane at Richard Smith's sale, 15 possible reason for this practice and why it was May 1682 (Libri medici in folio, lot 26). The dicontinued is discussed in 'Sloane's codes' (see printed part was disposed of by the British n. 3 above). Museum as a duplicate and the manuscript life 23 The decipherment of this code is described in of Fernelius is the present Sloane MS. 1054. I 'Sloane's codes'. have not been able to identify the remaining two 24 Some books were disposed of by Sloane himself; items: (i) 'Fentons manuscripts—is.od.' (fol. cf. J. S. Finch's account of his donations to the 10^); and (2) 'A Manuscript of receitts—3d.' Bodleian Library, op. cit., p. 71, n. 2. (fol. 21"^) which may have been 'C 116 Receipts 25 I am glad to be informed by Mr E. King, MS.', entered in 3972C, p. i, and which Stack Curator in the British Library, that a programme failed to find in 1740. of listing Sloane books as they are identified on 29 The date of acquisition is known from Sloane's the shelves has recently begun. annotation in MSS. 190, 192. 193, 196-8, 200, 26 The date of acquisition (Old Style) is known 201, 202, 204, 207, 209, 210, 212-14, 216, 220, from Sloane's annotation in MS 1-6, 9, 10, 14, 221-4, 226 (acquired in 1694); 227-34, 236-51, 15, 17-29, 21-32, 34, 35. 37, 39'4f', .S4, 58-60, 253-61, 264, 265, 267, 268, 269 his, 271. 273 62, 63, 65, 67, 69, 70, 73, 75-8, 80-9, 91, 92, (acquired in 1696); and 271-3, 277, 292 (ac- 94-100, 102-11, 113-15. »i7> '*8, 120-2, 128, quired in 1697). Many manuscripts from the 129, 133-6, 138, 139, 148-50, 157-63, 166, 167, library of Francis Bernard (d. 1698) are listed 168, 170-4 (acquired in 1693), and 7, 8, 11, 12, between MSS. 295 and 588 inclusive. 55, 64, 66, 68, 71, 123 (acquired in 1694). 30 He was still finding such items as late as 1697 when an entry for a manuscript acquired in 1691 resemble any that I have seen in Sloane's was inserted as MS. 291. catalogue, this leaf is possibly the only surviving 31 How the books were arranged in Sloane's library fragment of an early finding aid. is not altogether clear. Some kind of shelf list Sloane was not a patron of fine bookbinders and would have been needed for finding the printed preferred to use his resources to acquire as many books. Sloane MS. 4019 contains a single leaf books as possible. A group of manuscripts in (fol. 178') with the following calligraphically sumptuous bindings was acquired by him before written title: 'A Table/ shewing/ the Place of 1694 (see MSS. 47-52 in Appendix A) but these each Book in my Library/ wherein to be Noted; probably came to him through his friendship /That the Books whose Numbers are accom- with the widowed Duchess of Albemarle. Four panied with a Letter of the Alphabet and another of them, MSS. 49-52, were dedicated to Christ- Number (and w*^'^/ in the whole amount to 678) opher Monck, 2nd Duke of Albemarle, who are/ Books added, since the last Adjustment died in 1688 in Jamaica, where Sloane had thereof/ 1693.' Although the hand does not accompanied him as his physician.