Part 23

The record of the life of the late Sir Edward Augustus Bond is one of steady unbroken success, so quiet and uniform as almost to conceal the credit to which he is entitled as a man of original mind and a vigorous innovator and reformer. Born on December 31, 1815, the son of a clergyman and schoolmaster at Hanwell, he entered the Record Office at seventeen, and there, under the tuition of Sir Thomas Hardy and the Rev. Joseph Hunter, laid the foundation of his extensive palæographical acquirements. Having obtained a thorough acquaintance with mediæval hand-writings, so far as this is attainable from English and French records and charters, he passed in 1837 to the more varied and extensive field afforded by the British Museum, where continuous experience made him a master of palæography in every department. The sudden and much regretted death of Mr. John Holmes in 1854 made Bond Assistant-Keeper of Manuscripts sooner than could have been anticipated, and in 1867 he succeeded his chief, Sir Frederic Madden, as head of the department. During thirty years he had been known as an exemplary and diligent official, who enjoyed the confidence and esteem both of his immediate superior and of the head of the Museum, Sir A. Panizzi; yet few were prepared for the sweeping and vigorous measures by which, within a few years, he reorganised his department, reformed many defects which had been allowed to creep in, did away with the extraordinary mass of arrears which he found existing, and brought the work up to the high standard of regularity and efficiency which it has maintained ever since. Concurrently with these reforms, he executed the classified index of MSS. which has proved of such essential assistance to students, and performed a service, felt far beyond the precincts of the Museum, by the foundation of the Palæographical Society, whose selections of authentic facsimiles from MSS. of varied character in separate libraries may be said to have made palæography an exact science. Their value was evinced in the celebrated controversy respecting the date of the Utrecht Psalter, in which Bond took the leading part. This, however, was about the only occasion on which he came prominently before the public. His modesty and reserve kept him almost unknown beyond his own department; it was a genuine surprise to the world and to himself when, in 1878, he succeeded Mr. Winter Jones as Principal Librarian. The appointment had been looked upon as the appanage of Sir Charles Newton, at that time the most conspicuous officer of the Museum, and he might undoubtedly have filled it, if a brief experience as Mr. Jones's deputy of its arduous and engrossing nature had not made him decline it as incompatible with his cherished archæological pursuits.

Sir Edward Bond's career as Principal Librarian repeated the history of his keepership upon a larger scale. As before, he was inflexibly diligent in his attention to routine duties, and boldly original when an emergency arose requiring special action. He saw that the time had come for the introduction of electric lighting into the Museum, and achieved this invaluable improvement in the face of many discouragements. The enormous bulk of the catalogue threatened to drive everything else out of the Reading Room. Sir Edward Bond first curbed the evil by introducing print for the accession titles, and then induced the Treasury to consent to the printing of the entire catalogue, a vast undertaking now on the verge of completion. His openness of mind was shown in no respect more forcibly than in his prompt appreciation of the sliding-press, an idea altogether new to him. An ordinary official would have hesitated, objected, and deferred action until some other institution had shown the way. Sir Edward Bond no sooner saw the model than he adopted the invention, and won the honour for the Museum. In his time the separation of the Natural History departments from the Bloomsbury Museum was consummated, and the White Wing erected with its newspaper rooms and admirable accommodation for the departments of MSS. and prints and drawings. The facilities for public access to the Museum were greatly extended under him. Of the many important acquisitions made in his term of office, the Stowe Manuscripts were perhaps the most remarkable. He retired in 1888, among the most gratifying testimonies of the respect and affection he had won for himself. His manner had been thought cold and reserved, and such was indeed the case; but the better he was known the more apparent it became that this austerity veiled a most kind heart and a truly elevated mind, far above every petty consideration, and delighting to dwell in a purely intellectual sphere. After his resignation he spent upwards of nine years in an honoured and dignified retirement. He had been made a C.B. while Principal Librarian, and his last days were solaced by the bestowal of the higher distinction of K.C.B., which ought indeed to have been conferred much sooner. He died at his house in Bayswater on January 2, 1898, two days after completing his eighty-second year.

As a palæographer, whose life had been spent among MSS., Sir Edward Bond could not be expected to take the same warm interest in the Library Association that may reasonably be looked for in a librarian chiefly conversant with printed books, but he well understood the duty in this respect imposed upon him by his office as Principal Librarian, and evinced this by presiding over the London meeting of 1887. He married a relative, Miss Caroline Barham, daughter of the famous author of the "Ingoldsby Legends." Lady Bond survives her husband, and he has left five daughters, all married. He wrote no independent work, but edited the _Statutes of the University of Oxford_, the _Trial of Warren Hastings_, and several books for the Hakluyt and other Societies, besides contributing numerous memoirs to the _Transactions_ of his own special creation, the Palæographical Society.

FOOTNOTES:

[335:1] Contributed to _The Library_, May 1898.

INDEX

Abbas the Great, Shah of Persia, wishes to introduce printing into Persia, 119

Africa, question as to first introduction of printing into, 123

Aldrich, Stephen J., of the British Museum, an authority on incunabula, 208

Ancina, Bishop, his integrity, 169

Antequera Castro, Joseph, author of a book printed in Paraguay, 133

Baber, Rev. H. H., his Museum catalogue, 85; his plan for an improved catalogue, 90

Bailey, J. B., on subject indexes to scientific periodicals, 225

Beresford, General, prints proclamations in Buenos Ayres, 136

Bethnal Green Library, its contrivance for the accommodation of books, the prototype of the British Museum sliding-press, 267

Bible, the foundation of the system of classification adopted at the British Museum, 212

Blades, William, his "Enemies of Books," 283-287

Bond, Sir Edward Augustus, K.C.B., Principal Librarian of the British Museum, his services to the British Museum Printed Catalogue, 15; his negotiations with the Treasury, 65, 73, 94; memoir of, 335-339

Bonifacius, Joannes, author of the first book printed by Europeans in China, 121

Bradshaw, Henry, 209

British Museum Catalogue, how far a model for other catalogues, 7

Canevarius, Antonius, collector of books and amateur of bindings, 164-166

Carlisle, Nicholas, 312

Cary, Rev. Henry, 295

Classed indexes to Museum Catalogue, how to be made, 106

Classification of Books on the shelves of the British Museum, Library, 211

Clemente Patavino, early Italian printer, 201

Cole, Sir Henry, 84, 109

Collins, C. H., Esq., of Edgbaston, advocates a classified index of scientific papers, 22

Colophons of the early printers, 197-209

Cordier, M. Henri, Chinese bibliographer, 121

Crestadoro, Mr., advocates dictionary catalogues, 46

Cutter, C. W., his report on catalogues, 46; his cataloguing rules, 48

Dewey, Melvil, on the decimal system of classification, 80

Douglas, Professor R. K., Keeper of Oriental Books and MSS., his catalogue of the Museum collection of maps, 15; supervises catalogue of accession titles, 74

Duarte y Quiros, founder of a college at Cordova, La Plata, 134

Dury, John, 175-190, _passim_

Edwards, Edward, 320

Electric Light in British Museum, 253, 254

Ellis, Sir Henry, his Museum catalogue, 85

Ewart, William, M.P., founder of free public libraries in Great Britain and Ireland, 36

Fire, protection of libraries against, 258-261

Fortescue, G. W., Keeper of Printed Books, his subject indexes to British Museum catalogue, 10

Foscolo, Ugo, 289

Gallus, Udalricus, early Italian printer, 203

Garcia da Horta, author of the second book printed by Europeans in India, 118

Grand, G. F., author of the first book printed in South Africa, 125

Grenville, Right Hon. Thomas, 292, 294

Heidelberg Library, pillaged and partly restored, 187, 188

Hervey, Lord, and Conyers Middleton, 191-193

Horne, Rev. T. H., his project for a classed catalogue, 89

Howe, William, bushranger, book relating to him the first printed in Australasia, 125

Jenner, Henry, assistant in the Library of the British Museum, his share in the introduction of the sliding-press, 267; rewarded by the Treasury, 268

Johnstone, Mr., procures Mr. Winter Jones an appointment in the British Museum, 313

Jones, Giles, author of "Goody Two Shoes," 305

Jones, John Winter, Principal Librarian of British Museum, memoir of, 304-324

Labbe, Father, his travels in La Plata, 130

Leão, Gaspar de, Archbishop of Goa, author of the first book printed by Europeans in India, 117, 118

Lignamine, Joannes Philippus de, early Italian printer, 153

Macedo, Antonio, his _Theses rhetoricæ_, 123

Mayhew, Henry M., assistant in library of the British Museum, his invention of the pivot-press, 272

Mazarin, Cardinal, formation of his first library, 166

Medina, Señor Jose T., on first European printing in China, 120; on South American bibliography, 128-140, _passim_

Middleton, Conyers, delay in publication of his "Life of Cicero," 190-195

Murray, Dr., his great English Dictionary, 20

Naudé, Gabriel, collects books for Cardinal Mazarin, 166-168

Newton, Sir Charles, K.C.B., favours printing Museum catalogue, 94

Nicholson, E. W. B., Bodley's Librarian, founder of the Library Association of the United Kingdom, 3, 37

Nicius, Erythræus, 162-173, _passim_

Oddi, Muzio, his ingenuity, 171

Panizzi, Sir Anthony, K.C.B., Principal Librarian of the British Museum, his services to the British Museum, 35, 36; undertakes printing of Museum catalogue, 69, 90-92; memoir of 288-303

Paper, fine, manufacture of, in England, 191-196

Peranda, Cardinal, 171

Photography, advantages of its introduction as an official department of the British Museum, 16, 17, 85, 86, 234-252

Podianus, Prosper, a mighty book-hunter, 168-170

Pollard, Alfred William, on the title-page, 198

Poole's Index to Periodicals, 9

Ribeiro dos Sanctos, Portuguese bibliographer, 118

Roscoe, William, 290

Ruiz de Montoya, Antonio, author of books printed in Paraguay, 133

Rye, William Brenchley, Keeper of Printed Books, his services to the classification of the Museum Library, 211

Rylands, Mrs., her public spirit, 25

Sande, Eduardus de, author of the second book printed by Europeans in China, 120

Sainsbury, William Noel, his calendar of the papers of the East India Company, 119

Satow, Sir Ernest Mason, K.C.B., on printing in Japan, 121, 122

Scientific Papers, subject indexes to, 225-233

Serrano, Father Jose, his translation of Father Nieremberg into Guarani, the first book printed in Paraguay, 131, 132

Sliding-Press, the, at the British Museum, 262-271

Sparrow, Mr., locksmith at the British Museum, 267, 271

Spira, the brothers, early printers at Venice, 149, 203, 205

Stevens, Henry, of Vermont, his paper on Photo-Bibliography, 16, 239; memoir of, 325-334

Sweynheym and Pannartz, early printers at Rome, 143, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152

Telautographic writing telegraph, 256

Telegraph, writing, advantage of introduction of, into Reading Room of British Museum, 254, 257

Thompson, Sir E. M., K.C.B., on use of blotting paper in the Middle Ages.

Universal Catalogue projected by Sir Henry Cole, 83, 84, 109-114

Venetian book-trade, 153, 156

Vera, Juan de, first printer in the Philippines, 122

Virgo, Mr., his ingenuity, 266, 279

Watts, Thomas, Keeper of Printed Books, British Museum, advocated printing the catalogue in 1855, 15; founder of the system of classification followed at the British Museum, 211

Whitelock, General, prints proclamations in Monte Video, 137

Wolfenbuttel Library, 189

Yapuguai, Nicolas, author of books printed in Paraguay, 133

Zaehnsdorf, Mr., bookbinder, his device for the protection of books against fire, 259-261

THE END

Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO. Edinburgh & London

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES

Variations in spelling and hyphenation remain as in the original.

Ellipses match the original.

The following corrections have been made to the original text:

Page 152: publication is greatly lowered.[original has a comma]

Page 172: the Rome of the seventeenth[original has "seventeeth"] century

Page 321: the staunch[original has "stanch"] persistence with which

Page 341: Bible, the foundation of the system of classification[original has "classifiation"] adopted

Page 342: Photography, advantages of its introduction[was split across a line break without a hyphen] as an official department of the British Museum, 16, 17,[original has a semi-colon] 85, 86,[original has a semi-colon] 234-252

Page 343: Thompson, Sir E. M., K.C.B., on use of blotting paper in the Middle Ages, 171[original has a period instead of a comma and page number is missing]