Origins
The papers of Edward Alleyn held in the College Archive contain several interesting documents relating to the origins of the Library including a list of books in his own hand and a note of the books left to the College after his death. Alleyn was a modest patron of the arts, purchasing paintings and sculptures for the College and for his own house. He is also known to have purchased a number of books including a copy of Shakespeare's Sonnets. His accounts show that in 1619 he purchased John Minshea's Ductor in Linguar: The guide into the (eleven) Tongues, (London, 1617) for twenty-two shillings (the cost shared with John Harrison, Chaplain and first Usher of the College). Googe's The Whole Art and Trade of Husbandry was purchased for five shillings, whilst for the boys he bought a dictionary for ten shillings and two Grammars for one shilling and ten pence.
The books left to the College by Alleyn are recorded in the Dulwich College
Register 1616-1757, a fascinating account of the early history ofthe Foundation
containing the names of the Collegiates and recording baptisms, marriages and
burials in the Chapel. The items listed, mostly historical, devotional and theological,
are:
Liues Historyes
Plinyes Historyes
Stowes Chroni
Andrious ffauines Chro of ye whole world
A History of ye Roman Emperors
Musculus his common places
Brightman upon ye Reuelation
Buchanans Scottish History
Morall Poll and military discourses
Pellican on ye Psalmes
The Comforter
The loue of ye soule
Virgill in English
The trewnesse of Christian Religion
Justines History in English
A French History
Carletons Jurishdiction
Coopers workes
Parœus in Romanos
Peraldi Summa
Caluni Institutiones
Dictionarium Poeticum
Sharpij cursus Theologiæ
Parœj Corpus Theologiæ
Aust Meditationes
Aust Confessiones
Two later entries in the Register from 1634 and 1636 listing the books left
at the departures of David Fletcher and Simon Mace show that some
of these items had already gone missing.
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There are no records of the full contents of the College Library from 1636 until James Hume's Catalogue of 1729. The number of books held in the College increased considerably during this period from a mere 21 at the departure of David Fletcher to 1083 as recorded by Hume. The College records hold some clues as to where at least some of these volumes originated.
At his death, the Reverend John Skingle, First Fellow 1649-1658, left
more than 500 books in his study. A full list of these is contained in the Alleyn
Papers, Vol VI. ff. 53 - 56. The list was made in the presence of Skingle's
brothers who are recorded as having received the books along with a number of
household goods. A close reading of the inventory of Skingle's library reveals
a number of titles also listed in Hume's later catalogue and it is a possibility
(though by no means a certainty) that at least a small number of Skingle's books
were left at the College.
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In 1686/7, the actor and book shop proprietor, William Cartwright, bequeathed his collection of pictures and books to the College. Cartwright's father had been a friend of Alleyn and a fellow actor. There is no list of the volumes that he left but references in Bafford's Guide to the Libraries of London (c. 1700) and Lyson's Environs of London (1792-6) both mention a collection of plays given by him. Young in his History of Dulwich College (1889) states that there is a "strong probability" that the College's Shakespeare First Folio formed part of the Cartwright collection. A manuscript believed to be in Cartwright's hand discovered in June 2002 within the binding of Simon Pelegromius's Sylva Synonymorum lists a number of volumes including a Shakespeare folio, Mercator's Atlas, Hakluyt's Voyages, Purchas His Pilgrimes, three volumes of Ben Jonson and Camden's Britannia. This may be a contemporary proof to link Cartwright with these items. |
The contents of the bequest of the Reverend Job Brockett, First Fellow from 1701 to 1705, are more certain being listed in the Alleyn Papers. He left more than 100 volumes to the College consisting mainly of sermons, Bible commentaries and the works of the saints. A 1527 edition of Erasmus's Adagia is one of the highlights of his collection.
Catalogus ex dono Rev Job Brockett, Coll.Dul.Soc., Jan.2, 1705.
[Alleyn Papers, Vol. VI. f.155]
