SION COLLEGE LIBRARY: BERKELEY COLLECTION

Catalogues of the Library of George Berkeley (1626/7-1698), 1st Earl of Berkeley, at Durdans, near Epsom, Surrey. The collection was formed at Durdans by Sir Robert Coke, M.P. (1587-1653). It was given to Sion College by his nephew George Berkeley, 1st Earl of Berkeley, in 1682, although part of the collection was not received at Sion College until 1699, following Berkeley's death. See E.H. Pearce, 'Sion College and Library' (Cambridge, 1913), pp. 258-260. Pearce believed that although Berkeley made the gift in 1682 he retained the whole collection at Durdans during his lifetime. However Pearce quotes a letter from William Beveridge as President of Sion College, [recorded in the College minutes on 3 May 1682], thanking Lord Berkeley in these terms: 'you have freely bestowed the best and most usefull part in present and the rest by will...', suggesting the collection was received in at least two stages. In his will, dated 21 September 1698 (proved 19 December 1698), Berkeley charged his son, the executor, as follows: 'I doe desire you to take care to send the remainder of the bookes in my house at Durdence to Sion Colledge in London to the Divines there to ffullfill my promise to them' (National Archives PROB 11/448/420, copy in Lambeth Palace Library as MS Facsimile 15). One Sion manuscript (L40.2/L23), with the remains of an armorial binding of Sir Edward Coke, father of Sir Robert Coke, was certainly at Sion College by 1697 when recorded by Edward Bernard ('Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliae et Hiberniae', vol 2, item 4077). Also William Reading, writing in 1724, stated that it was 'the rest of the books' which were brought to Sion in 1699 (William Reading, 'The history of the ancient and present state of Sion College', pp. 36-37). These books were received at Sion College between 21 March 1698/9 and 17 April 1699, when the governors of the College perused the books and made catalogues of them; duplicates were disposed of to Bateman, a bookseller, for £28 (London Metropolitan Archives, Sion College Court Minutes vol A, pp. 515-531). The Sion College Book of Benefactors (L40.2/E 63 pp. 97-103) records the Berkeley acquisition in a single entry under the year 1682. However this entry (which lists 555 works, comprising 150 in folio, 213 in quarto, and 192 in octavo, including a work published in 1694) was written up retrospectively by William Reading (Librarian 1708-44) and perhaps does not represent the entire acquisition. The books to be transported from Durdans to Sion College in 1699 were said to number '300 folios and a competent number of smaller books' (Pearce, p. 260). Reading also noted Berkeley provenances in his printed catalogue of Sion College Library published in 1724; some of the books thus recorded do not appear in his list in the Book of Benefactors. There appears to be no list of the Berkeley manuscripts, although some (Sion L40.2/E43, E44, E46, F1, L12) are identifiable by book labels or are recorded as having Berkeley provenance in Reading's catalogue; in addition L23 has the remains of a Coke binding. Other manuscripts not in Sion College in 1666 (see the catalogues made by John Spencer following the Fire of London, Sion L40.2/E58/1-2) but acquired by 1697 (as recorded by Edward Bernard in his 'Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliae et Hiberniae', vol 2, items 4065-4132) are likely to have come from the Berkeley collection as the only major acquisition by Sion College in these years. These comprise Sion L40.2/E1, E2, E23 (Chaucer, sold 1977, which has Cooke and Berkeley ownership inscriptions), E25, L2, L4 or L5, L6, L21 (Suetonius, sold 1977), L28 (Bestiary of Humfrey Duke of Gloucester, sold 1977). Sion L40.2/E62/1 'The Catalogue of the Books in Durdens Librarie. Made by James Du Moulin Dr of Physick. Begun Septembre 27th and compleated the 5th Octobre 1667' (title on front cover). At p. 1 is a further title: 'A catalogue of all the books in the Library at Durdens. Anno 1667'. Titles of books are recorded, often without the names of authors. No dates of publication are recorded. On James Du Moulin, see G.C.R. Morris, 'On the identity of Jaques Du Moulin, F.R.S. 1667', in 'Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London', vol 45, 1991, pp. 1-10. pp. 1-9. 'Divinitie bookes', folios. 261 titles. pp. 10-17. 'Divinitie bookes', quartos and octavos. 237 titles. pp. 18-22. 'Mathematick and physick bookes', folios, quartos, octavos and duodecimos. 118 titles. pp. 22-35. 'Greeke bookes, poets and oratours', folios, quartos, octavos, duodecimos and sextodecimos. 402 titles. p. 36. 'Philosophie bookes', folios. 20 titles. pp. 36-43. 'Historie bookes', folios, quartos, and octavos. 216 titles. pp. 44-55. 'Law books and others of sundrie sorts', folios, quartos, octavos and duodecimos. 374 titles. With a note: 'Besides yet severall small bookes in 16mo'. pp. 56-60. 'French bookes, histories and others', folios, quartos, and octavos. 140 titles. With a note: 'Besides other small bookes in 12mo and 16mo'. pp. 61-62. 'English poems and playes', folios, quartos, and octavos. 53 titles. With a note: 'Besides other small bookes in 12mo and 16mo'. pp. 63-64. 'Italian and Spanish bookes', folios, quartos, and octavos. 53 titles. With a note: 'Besides other small bookes in 12mo and 16mo'. At p. 64 is a note: 'Summe of all the bookes contained in the above writen catalogue is, first there are in folio of severall sciences 601, and of others in 4to and 8vo to the number of 1075. So in all they come to the number of 1676'. [The total is in fact 1,874, plus some unrecorded 12mos and 16mos]. 1 vol. Limp vellum binding, 303 x 195 mm., tooled in gold. Paper leaves, 64 pp. Sion College book label pasted inside front cover: 'E Bibliotheca Durdenensi Honoratiss: D: Georgii Com: de Berkley'. The foot of pp. 29-30 is torn away, with the loss of one title. On the inside of the rear cover is a note: '3 Nove. 1681. Lady Lucy was in the Library'. Sion L40.2/E62/2 'Catalogus librorum in Bibliotheca Durdenensi' (title at f. 2r). Undated, but including loan records suggesting that it was in use in 1683 and 1690, probably at Durdans. Titles of books are recorded, often without the names of authors. Dates of publication are rarely recorded for the theological books (ff. 2-5), but are regularly given for the remainder (ff. 8-11). Almost all date from before the death of Sir Robert Coke in 1653; exceptions are two books published in 1657 and 1670 (f. 9r). Approximately 920 titles are recorded; large sections of the collection recorded in the catalogue of 1667 appear to be no longer present. At f. 1v. are notes added in another hand: 'Note: That all those bookes which have the letter S either before or after them, are removed to Sion College'. 'Note: That half the manuscripts and all the mapps in folio except Mercator's Atlas and Speed's Theatre of Great Britain, are removed to Sion College, although they are not marked in the catalogue'. f. i. A blank flyleaf. f. 1r. Notes of books borrowed from the Library by William Cave [1637-1713], 25 July 1683, and Thomas Williams 2 Dec. 1690. Above is an erased inscription, seemingly another loan record, in faded pencil: 'Dr Cave Gothofredi ... 26 April 1681' [not in Cave's hand], followed by a further date 12 Oct. 1681. ff. 2r-5v. [Cases] A-P2. 'Libri theologici', folios, quartos and octavos. ff. 6r-7r. Blank. f. 7v. A note, in the same hand as the notes at f. 1v: 'Note: That from Q to V2 inclusively are all removed to Sion College'. ff. 8r-10v. [Cases] Q-W3. 'Greek books, poets and orators', folios, quartos and octavos. f. 11r-v. [Cases] X-Z. 'Mathemat. and Physick', folios and quartos. ff. 12-13. Blank. 1 vol. Bound within covers of marbled paper, 314 x 205 mm. Paper leaves, i, 13 ff. Sion L40.2/E62/3 A catalogue of books, arranged alphabetically by authors. Incomplete: authors A-S only. c.1700. Although sizes are not given in every case, the books appear to be quartos, octavos and duodecimos only. The whole catalogue would have contained a total of approximately 1,000 titles. Catalogued at Sion College and included as part of Sion L40.2/E62 on the assumption that the volume is a catalogue of the Berkeley collection. However the catalogue includes a small number of works received by Sion College from other benefactors (eg. at f. 3r are listed three works by Peter Allix, given by him c.1688, as recorded in the Book of Benefactors p. 104). The catalogue is in the hand of a Sion College Librarian, probably William Nelson, Librarian 1682-1704, as found in Sion L40.2/E113, an author catalogue of Sion College Library. The present catalogue may have been a supplement to it. After the loss of all the small unchained printed books in the Fire of London in 1666, the Berkeley benefaction was the only significant increase in the Library before 1700. The present catalogue is therefore substantially, if not entirely, a catalogue of books of Berkeley provenance. It includes a number of books published after the death of Sir Robert Coke in 1653; the latest is dated 1690 (f. 37v). The catalogue probably records one section of the collection only; a note at f. 1r: 'In archivis inhitio' may represent its location within Sion College Library. Folios (and some quartos) at Sion were kept in the chained section of the Library, while smaller books were kept on closed access, 'in archivis'. A further alphabetical catalogue in the same hand, seemingly of another section of the collection, recording approximately 500 titles, is L40.2/E114. 1 vol. Bound within paper covers, 320 x 210 mm., c.2000. Paper leaves, 41 ff.

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