Chapter 1

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[Transcriber's Note:

This text is intended for users whose text readers cannot use the "real" (Unicode/UTF-8) version of the file. Characters that could not be fully displayed have been "unpacked" and shown in brackets:

[oe], [OE] ("oe" ligatures)

In the printed book, line breaks in the Congreve catalogue were shown as virgules or slashes / (the "shilling marks" described in the editor's Introduction). The breaks have been restored in this e-text, omitting the / but retaining any hyphens. Book sizes printed with superscript "o" have been rendered as 4to, 8vo, 12mo. Other superscripts, including a few books written as 8^vo, are shown in braces: 8{vo}, 2{3} edn.

Bracketed periods [.] were printed with small subscript brackets. They occur whenever a catalog entry ends with an abbreviation ("Tom.", "Vol.", "papr."); the final period was supplied by the editor in most of these entries. Under the headings of _Forma_, _Editio_, _Theca_ (size, edition, case number), sets of four unspaced dots .... were added by the transcriber to indicate an empty column.

Variations and inconsistencies match the original, including:

--Variation between [oe] and oe, æ and ae. --Dashes and hyphens. In general, four dashes ---- represent a single long line; other combinations are groups of distinct hyphens. --Spacing within entries in the _Editio_ column. --Dots and ellipses other than the .... sets noted above.

It was assumed that errors in the Catalogue itself, and inconsistencies in quotations from original printed works, were reproduced from their originals. Typographical errors, whether corrected or unchanged, are listed at the end of the e-text.]

THE LIBRARY OF WILLIAM CONGREVE

The Library of

WILLIAM CONGREVE

_By_ JOHN C. HODGES

_University of Tennessee, Knoxville_

New York

The New York Public Library

1955

Reprinted, with additional illustrations, from the _Bulletin_ of The New York Public Library of 1954-1955. Printed at The New York Public Library.

The Library of William Congreve

INTRODUCTION

When William Congreve died in 1729 he left a collection of books which his old friend and publisher, Jacob Tonson, described (in a letter preserved at the Bodleian) as "genteel & well chosen." Tonson thought so well of the collection that he urged his nephew, then his agent in London, to purchase Congreve's books. But Congreve had willed them to Henrietta, the young Duchess of Marlborough, who was much concerned with keeping intact (as she wrote in her will) "all Mr. Congreaves Personal Estate that he left me" in order to pass it along to her youngest daughter Mary. This daughter, said by gossip to have been Congreve's daughter also, married the fourth Duke of Leeds in 1740, and thus Congreve's books eventually found their way to Hornby Castle, chief seat of the Leeds family in Yorkshire.

There apparently most of Congreve's books remained until about 1930, when the eleventh Duke of Leeds sold his English estates and authorized Sotheby's to auction off "a Selected portion of the Valuable Library at Hornby Castle." Among the 713 items advertised for sale on June 2, 3, and 4, 1930, were ten books containing the signature of William Congreve. These ten, along with a few others that have been discovered here and there with Congreve's name on the title page, and nine books published by subscription with Congreve's name in the printed list of subscribers, made a total of some thirty-odd books known to have been in Congreve's library. These, we may presume, were but a small part of the Congreve books which had been incorporated with the Leeds family library in 1740.

_Finding and Identifying Congreve's Book List and His Books_

Among the voluminous papers of the Leeds family now stored in the British Museum, the Public Record Office, and several other depositories in England are at least a half-dozen manuscript lists or catalogues of Leeds books. In one list from the middle of the eighteenth century appear a few of the books known to have been in Congreve's library. The same is true of lists dated 1810 and 1850. But it is impossible to use any of these to determine exactly which of the books had once been Congreve's. Fortunately another manuscript list proves to be not a combination of Congreve and Leeds books but a separate catalogue of Congreve's private library. This list, herewith printed, was found by the editor in an English county depository, the Yorkshire Archaeological Society in the City of Leeds.

Let us see why we may accept this list as Congreve's and not simply another catalogue of Leeds family books--as the librarian of the Society had classified it. In the first place, it was found among the Leeds papers, in one of the sixteen boxes of manuscripts brought away from Hornby Castle shortly before it was torn down about 1930. Among the same papers, interestingly enough, is a copy of the marriage settlement (on the original parchment) whereby Mary Godolphin brought to the Leeds family the books which she had inherited through her mother from Congreve. The list was just where a Congreve document might have been expected. In fact, the list was discovered incidentally while the Leeds papers were being searched as the most promising place to find Congreve letters. Not a single letter to or from Congreve was to be found, perhaps because the gossip to the effect that Mary was the natural daughter of Congreve had caused the family to destroy or mutilate documents bearing his name. Congreve's copy of Terence (Number 595 in the list) is a good illustration. On the title page the signature "Will: Congreve" was once entirely blotted out by the same ink that wrote "Leeds" at the side. But the two centuries that have since passed have caused the Leeds ink to fade and thus show very distinctly the clear, black signature of the dramatist. As for Congreve's 44-page manuscript book list, evidently it was too useful to destroy--too valuable a record of the fine collection acquired by the Leeds family. So the list was kept, but the identifying title at the head of the list was crossed out except for its opening word "Bibliotheca." Although the name following that word is illegible for the average reader, one who knows what to look for can still trace out "Gul:{mi} Congreve, Armigeri" (see frontispiece).

We do not, however, need to depend on this reading to prove that the manuscript lists the books of William Congreve, Esquire. All the proof needed is to be found in the list itself. The 659 items bear dates between 1515 and 1728, with fourteen entries for 1728, the last year of Congreve's life. The list includes every one of the works, and the exact edition of it, for which Congreve is known to have subscribed, such as Rowe's translation of Lucan's _Pharsalia_ (1718) and Bononcini's _Cantate e Duetti_ (1721). Furthermore it includes the identical edition of each book said by the Sotheby catalogue for the Leeds Sale of 1930 to bear the signature of Congreve.

But the most convincing proof that the list could have belonged only to Congreve is provided by three quarto volumes, each with Congreve's signature on the title page, bound together as one volume. This volume, as described by the Sotheby catalogue for the Leeds Sale, was made up of (1) Dryden's _Of Dramatick Poesie_, 1684; (2) Horace's _Art of Poetry_, made English by the Earl of Roscommon, 1684; and (3) _The Rehearsal_, 1687. In other words, the three separate quartos had been specially bound together to form a unique volume, one to be found only in Congreve's library. This same unique volume appears as item Number 406 in the manuscript list, where it is described as one of the "Miscellanies bound together," consisting of "Dryden's Essay on Dram. Poetry, Horace's Art of Poetry by ye E. of Roscommon, and the Rehearsal"--the identical three quartos described in the Sotheby catalogue.

In June, 1930, while the "Selected" books from the Leeds library were being sold at Sotheby's in London in a three-day sale (referred to hereafter as the Leeds Sale), the "remaining contents" of Hornby Castle were auctioned off by Knight, Frank, and Rutley at old Hornby Castle in Yorkshire in a seven-day sale (referred to hereafter as the Hornby Castle Sale). The books, which made only a minor part of the latter sale, were all auctioned off on the sixth day. These books were catalogued as Lots 1097 through 1294, with from 2 to 430 books in a single lot, making a total of about 7,475. Only a very small fraction of these were mentioned by title in the printed catalogue, and nothing was said about signatures on title pages. But among those mentioned appear twenty-one of the exact editions in Congreve's list: Numbers 37, 71, 158, 161, 168, 172, 233, 270, 288, 343, 380, 467, 492, 493, 499, 500, 516, 533, 543, 620, 652. Among the "Selected" books catalogued for the Leeds Sale appear sixty-one of the exact editions in Congreve's list: Numbers 4, 10, 42, 55, 76, 79 (or 80), 96, 97, 98, 152, 160, 178, 179, 182, 183, 184, 207, 208, 234, 257, 258, 262, 281, 283, 292, 342, 360, 367, 406, 413, 421, 423, 427, 441, 442, 444, 451, 455, 458, 460, 462, 463, 465, 502, 507, 518, 529, 534, 536, 542, 544, 553, 558, 566, 579, 592, 639, 641, 649, 651, 656.

Since Congreve's books had been incorporated with the Leeds library in 1740, we can understand how eighty-two of the identical editions in the list could turn up in sales of Leeds books in 1930. Most of the eighty-two exact editions named (and many of the thousands of unnamed books) in these sales were probably once Congreve's. The fact that Sotheby's catalogue mentions the Congreve signature in only ten books suggests that he usually failed to write his name in his books. Sotheby lists most of the books for which Congreve is known to have subscribed, and yet no mention is made of a Congreve signature in any of them. Nor does any signature appear in the special edition of Rowe's Shakespeare (Number 544 in the list) now in the Folger Shakespeare Library and almost certainly once Congreve's.

But other books besides the ten mentioned by Sotheby's were signed by Congreve. One example is Sotheby's item Number 532 (Congreve's Number 518), which was sold to McLeish and Sons and then to E. S. de Beer, Esq., before the unmistakable signature of the dramatist was noted. Another example is Congreve's Number 501, which was in the Hornby Castle Sale and bears the true signature, "Wm: Congreve." Especially significant is a letter to the editor dated August 20, 1949, from Her Grace Katherine, Duchess of the tenth Duke of Leeds, stating that many years ago she had herself "made a great hunt for any books at Hornby Castle bearing the signature of Congreve," had found "numbers" of them, and had made a full catalogue with the aid of "Mr. Charles Whibley, the writer & bibliophile." Unfortunately this catalogue has been lost. If it is ever found, it will be an interesting record of autographed Congreve books held together by one family for nearly two centuries. But the catalogue could not include all the items on the Congreve list since, as we have seen, the dramatist evidently owned many books in which he failed to write his name.

In the twenty-odd books known to have been autographed by the dramatist, the signature is commonly "Will: Congreve," but the surname is sometimes preceded by "W," "Wm," "Willm," "Gul," "Gulielmi," or "Gulielmus." One of Congreve's books (Number 236 in the list) preserved in the Yale Library uses both "W: Congreve" and "Gulielmus Congreve" in different signatures. None of the signatures should be accepted as that of the dramatist until the handwriting is verified, for "William" has long been a common Christian name in the Congreve family. In 1700 there were living no fewer than five Congreves bearing this name, all descended from the same grandfather. One of these was Colonel William Congreve (1671-1746) of Highgate, a cousin of the dramatist, whose papers have been confused with those of the dramatist in many sales as well as in many American libraries. The colonel usually signed "Will:" as did the dramatist, but the two cousins formed the "W" in strikingly different ways. The colonel rounded the first upper prong of this letter and brought the middle prong to only little more than half the height of the other prongs; the dramatist sharpened the first prong and brought the middle prong fully up to the height of the others.

Since the present Duke of Leeds reports that he no longer has books bearing Congreve's signature, we may presume that they were largely, if not fully, disposed of in the two sales of 1930 and are now widely scattered. Books with Congreve's signature are preserved at the Yale Library (Congreve's Numbers 236, 262, 441), at the Library of the University of Tennessee (Numbers 119, 595), at the Morgan Library (Number 289), at the Boston Public Library (Number 192), at the Brotherton Library of the University of Leeds (Number 541), and in the private libraries of E. S. de Beer, Esq., (Number 518) and the Reverend J. F. Gerrard (Number 371). The editor of this work will be grateful for information concerning the location of other volumes bearing the true signature of William Congreve (1670-1729). Such volumes will be doubly interesting if annotated in the dramatist's handwriting. Some of the books were thus annotated, according to Jacob Tonson, in his letter of 27 January 1728/29 (a few days after Congreve's death), to his nephew, Jacob Tonson, Junior: "His [Congreve's] collection of Books were very genteel & well chosen. I wish you should think them worth your buying; I think there are in [these] books several notes of his own or corrections & everything from him will be very valuable."

_Editing and Printing the Book List_

The manuscript list consists of 659 entries arranged in rough alphabetical order on forty-four pages in a sort of journal approximately seven by eleven inches in size. The normal entry gives the name of the author (for perhaps three-fourths of the entries), the short title, the format, the place and date of publication, and sometimes the publisher. And finally, after most of the items appears the "Theca" or shelf number--one of 33 shelves on which Congreve arranged his books at his lodgings in Surrey Street, London.

The list is set down in three distinct hands. That no one of these is Congreve's need not surprise us since Congreve had very defective eyesight during the last half of his life. An adequate income from government posts enabled him at this period to employ a secretary, perhaps the "young Amanuensis" that he speaks of in writing to Pope about 1726. That was the year, it seems, when the bulk of the list--587 of the 659 items--was made out. The year is indicated by the fact that this hand enters titles of books published through 1725 but none later. After each alphabetical group a space is left as if for additions, and into these spaces a distinctive second hand has made thirty-one entries, including some as late as 1727 but none later. Then follow forty-one entries by a third hand, including four for 1727 and fourteen for 1728 but none later. Entries by the third hand are probably for books added to the library during Congreve's final illness. It is interesting to note that none of the entries in this last hand are followed by a "Theca" or shelf location, an omission indicating that by the time these titles were entered, the library had been moved from the original quarters in Surrey Street. Perhaps the young Duchess, owner of the books after Congreve's death, had already moved them to her house in St. James's--and possibly the hand is that of her secretary.

A small cross is marked before most of the 659 items--before all but fifty-eight (or thirty-seven, when allowance is made for duplicates). Perhaps these crosses were used in connection with an inventory taken in 1729 when the books were inherited by the young Duchess of Marlborough, or in 1740 when the books were incorporated by marriage settlement into the Leeds library. The thirty-seven items then missing (as indicated by the lack of a cross in Congreve's list) were Numbers 27, 29, 54, 97, 109, 110, 127, 136, 169, 196, 217, 227, 246, 249, 275, 307, 350, 373, 393, 417, 432, 438, 439, 492, 494, 517, 520, 529, 530, 531, 532, 590, 591, 598, 605, 653, and 658. The two books that had been lent to "Ld. Hervy" (see Congreve's Number 81) and to the Duchess of Marlborough (see Number 372) were in place at the time of the inventory, and each was duly acknowledged by a cross. An additional larger cross surrounded by four dots appears before eleven items (Numbers 36, 65, 120, 232, 256, 283, 298, 303, 462, 484, and 516) to indicate books sent--so the librarian says in a marginal note--to the Duchess of Leeds. These larger crosses could not have been made, of course, before 1740.

Congreve's book list is here edited and printed for the first time. After the 659 numbers, which are supplied by the editor to facilitate cross references and indexing, the 659 items of the list are printed with spelling, capitalization, and punctuation as in the manuscript. Occasional raised letters, such as the "r" in "Mr." and the "e" in "ye," are brought down into the line. The great variety of dots and dashes used to indicate shortened titles are consistently eliminated. Underscored words are printed in italics. The line breaks in the manuscript are indicated by shilling marks (/). In the manuscript many of the "Theca" numbers have been written over older numbers (indicating, no doubt, a shifting of the books to different shelves). Most of the older numbers are illegible, and only the newer, more legible numbers are printed. The occasional use of brackets in the manuscript (as in Numbers 120, 121, 157, 166, 167, and 238) makes impractical the editorial expansion in brackets of such abbreviations as "p" in No. 9 (for "par") and in No. 180 (for "per"). The thirty-one entries by the second hand and the forty-one by the third hand (Numbers 34, 35, 36, 70, etc.) are designated by the first line of the annotation.

In the paragraph following each item from the manuscript list, the editor attempts to give the author's name (with dates of his birth and death), to fill out the short title somewhat when it seems interesting or helpful in identification, and to show the place of publication, the name of the publisher, the year of publication, and the format. The letters "V" (for "U") and "I" (for "J") are usually given the English equivalents. Otherwise the short title follows the spelling and punctuation of the title page of the copy examined (usually a copy in one of the key libraries), with capitalization for only the first word of the title and for proper names.

The line immediately below this paragraph is reserved for the number, if any, in the _Short-Title Catalogue_ (abbreviated "STC" for the period ending 1640 and "Wing" for the later period) and specialized bibliographies; and for a short list of libraries in which a copy of the exact edition may be consulted. Then follows, for some items, a second paragraph of pertinent editorial comment.

All the items in Congreve's list have been identified, at least tentatively. There is most uncertainty, perhaps, about Numbers 114, 368, 375, and 412. Besides these, twenty others, though well enough known in some edition, have not been found in any library in the identical edition of Congreve's list: Numbers 9, 30, 113, 129, 130, 197, 210, 217, 240, 271, 277, 296, 323, 345, 366, 376, 435, 569, 578, and 637. Furthermore, Numbers 160, 185, 211, 379, 394, 567, and 647 present difficulties perhaps due to errors on the part of the person making the manuscript entry.

It will be noticed that forty or more of the items have not been found in the format given by the manuscript list. This discrepancy may be explained, at least in part, by the tendency of the makers of the list to judge the format merely by size. For example, a large duodecimo (Number 528) is called an octavo, while many small octavos (Numbers 159, 346, 378, 516, etc.) are called duodecimos. The discrepancies involve chiefly the smaller volumes. Not a single folio volume is involved.

The finding lists of libraries (where copies of the exact editions in Congreve's list may be consulted) have been arranged geographically, including usually one European library and several American libraries located from New England to the Pacific Coast. The ideal has been to find a copy in each of seven key libraries: the British Museum (Europe), Harvard (New England), The New York Public Library, the Folger Shakespeare Library, and the Library of Congress (Middle Atlantic), the Newberry Library (Middle West), and the Huntington Library (West). The editor has checked Congreve's list with the catalogues of the seven key libraries, except for The New York Public Library and the Newberry Library, where the checking was done by members of the respective library staffs.

Occasionally an ideal distribution in the seven libraries is found, as for Numbers 10, 23, 42, 44, 88, 90, 99, and 100. Whenever an edition is not available in the key library, an effort has been made to find it in another library of the region. For books not at the British Museum, references are made to the Bodleian, the Bibliothèque Nationale, or other European libraries. Books not at Harvard are most frequently found at Yale or the Boston Public Library. Those not at the Huntington Library are frequently at the nearby William Andrews Clark Memorial Library.

Of the American libraries in the finding lists, exclusive of the key libraries, the editor has examined practically all editions cited at the Boston Public Library, the Yale Library, and the Clark Library. Other American libraries are, for the most part, cited on the authority of the Union Catalog of the Library of Congress. Of the European libraries, exclusive of the British Museum, the editor has examined practically all editions cited at libraries in Paris, Brussels, The Hague, Leiden, Amsterdam, Florence, Rome, Oxford, and Cambridge, and at the various legal and medical libraries in London. Other English libraries are cited on the authority of the National Central Library, London.

In Congreve's list about sixty-two of the 659 entries are cross references or else duplicate entries. On the other hand, some entries account for more than a single title. Numbers 405-408, for example, include a total of twenty-six titles. There are approximately 620 separate titles in the list. Of these 620, about 481 (78 per cent) may be found in the British Museum, 338 (55 per cent) in the Harvard Library, 192 (31 per cent) in the Library of Congress, 188 (30 per cent) in The New York Public Library, 186 (30 per cent) in the Huntington Library, 184 (30 per cent) in the Newberry Library, and 148 (24 per cent) in the Folger Shakespeare Library. At the Bodleian may be consulted about thirty-four titles not in the British Museum; and at the Bibliothèque Nationale, about thirty-seven titles in neither the British Museum nor the Bodleian. At Yale there are about sixty-eight titles not at Harvard; and at the Clark Library, about forty-seven titles not at the Huntington.

_Using Congreve's Book List_