CHAPTER I

HISTORIANS, CATALOGUES, AND COLLECTIONS

SECTION 1.- THE HISTORIANS

The student of history should be able to recall without effort the names of the principal historians of his chosen field. With the names should be associated in his memory the important works of those historians, and of these works the scope and value should be known. As study becomes more intensive and the field of research narrower or more thoroughly explored, his bibliography of the subject should attain a comprehensiveness that includes all available material.

Bibliographies are too often mere collections of names, series of titles which form a catalogue whose value varies with the knowledge possessed as to each item. Such insufficiency of equipment more often results from lack of a true conception on the part of the student of his needs than from unwillingness to gain the requisite knowledge.

The most extended and minute knowledge of authors and their works is incomplete - is, we may say, of little worth -unless it includes a valuation of the items of evidence which bibliography furnishes. This appraisement must be the work of the student himself, and by his success must be measured his understanding of history. To acquire the power of correctly gauging the weight of this or that historian is by no means easy; but it is not impossible. The work of critics and essayists will give views worthy of most respectful consideration; but such work is too often special pleading, and in the last instance the student must, as did the critic, investigate for himself the personality, the environment, and the opportunities of the writer whose work is under examination. Until a knowledge of these is gained, even a study of original materials fails to reveal the meaning and purport of history.

I

BOSTON, JOHN (b. -; d. 1410): Catalogus Scriptorum Ecclesia.

II

Valuable for its account of the libraries of England in the fourteenth century. Of slight worth in accounts of individual authors. The Catalogus has been reprinted in part in No. VII. Boston is the first of the English Bibliographers.

LELAND, JOHN (b. 1506; d. 1552): De Rebus Britannicis Collectanea, ed. T. Hearne. Oxford, 1715. Reprinted London, 1770. - Commentarii de Scriptoribus Britannicis, ed. A. Hall. Oxford, 1709. — (A continuation of De Rebus, etc.)

III

Leland has been called "the Father of English Antiquaries." He was the librarian of Henry VIII., and as "King's antiquary" was commissioned to search for records and manuscripts in all cathedrals, colleges, abbeys and priors of England. He was successful in his search, and his works, of which the two principal ones are noted above, are of great value. Although Boston (No. 1) antedates Leland, yet the latter's work was the first important English contribution to bibliographical knowledge and was the foundation for future publications of similar character.

BALE, JOHN (b. 1495; d. 1563): Illustrium Majoris Britanniæ Scriptorum, hoc est, Angliæ, Cambria ac Scotia, Summarium. First published Ipswich, 1549. Then in several editions at London. Notably the first ed. 1559. under title Illustrium Majoris Britanniæ Scriptorum Catalogus, a Japheto sanctissimi Noah filio ad An. Dom. 1559.

IV

Bale was educated in the Catholic faith. He became a Protestant and a most zealous partisan. His life was a stormy one, and his writings reflect the bitterness engendered by the religious controversies in which he was actively engaged. Despite his bias and bitterness against all writers not of his faith, his work is yet of great value because of the minuteness with which it describes Protestant writers not elsewhere mentioned.

PITS, JOHN (b. 1560; d. 1616): Relationum Historicarum de Rebus Anglicis, Tomus primus. Paris 1619. This work is also known as De Illustribus Angliæ Scriptoribus. This is the fourth volume of Pits' work. The first three volumes have never been published. The manuscript is at Verdun, in the library of the collegiate church.

V

Pits was a violent Catholic partisan. His work furnishes the antithesis to that of Bale (No. III.) It is marred by the same suppressions, exaggerations and misrepresentations in favour of the Catholics as occur in the work of Bale in behalf of the Protestants. But the book is of value for its careful and comprehensive accounts of Catholic writers and their works.

CAVE, WILLIAM (b. 1637; d. 1713): Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Historia Litteraria a Christo nato usque ad Sæculum XIV. First published 1688. The best edition is that of the Clarendon Press, 1740-1743. This contains many additions by Cave and a continuation by Wharton and Grey bringing the work down to 1517.

VI

The work is in the main trustworthy. (See contra, Leclerc, in Bibliothèque universelle.) Cave was careful, accurate, and able to avail himself of existing sources. The volume is of especial value in its field of Church History.

WARE, SIR JAMES (b. 1594; d. 1666): De Scriptoribus Hiberniæ. 1639.

VII

The first of the great bibliographies of Irish History. It is fair, but limited in scope and lacking in detail. Superseded by No. VII.

TANNER, THOMAS (b. 1674; d. 1735): Bibliotheca Britannico-Hibernica. London, 1748, ed. D. Wilkins.

"On all questions connected with the early literature of our nation, Tanner's Bibliotheca, notwithstanding its many omissions, defects and redundancies, is still the highest authority to which the inquirer can refer." See Hardy in No. VIII. The Bibliotheca is based on original research, and yet due regard was paid to the work of Leland, Bale and Pits. For details regarding later historians consult Allibone, S. A., Critical Dictionary of English Literature, with supplement by J. F. Kirk; Lee's Dictionary of National Biography, and other cyclopædic works.

SECTION 2.

CATALOGUES OF SOURCES

Catalogues of Sources are indispensable to the student. Their uses are varied. The student who is acquainted with the name of an author or editor turns to the catalogues for

an enumeration of his works, their contents, and a synopsis of particulars regarding editions, times and places of publication, and reviews, comments, and criticisms; or the name of the work is taken as a basis of research and the same results are obtained. Again, the investigator may desire to obtain an estimate of the critical value of a work, in a condensed form and apart from the point of view of essays and reviews. Lastly, the student may desire to gain a knowledge of the literature upon a given subject, and this is to be found in the catalogues. I have below given references to the most useful works in this field; but the student should supplement these and keep abreast of current literature by reference to the Annual Annotated Bibliography of English History, edited by W. D. Johnston. This has been published in both card and pamphlet form by the American Library Association. It will henceforth be found in the Annual Report of the American Historical Association. Knowledge of the valuable contributions upon present historical questions may be obtained by reference to Poole and Fletcher's Index to Periodical Literature, and also to the Cumulative Index.

The student, however, must not rest content with these sources of information. They will serve for the preparation of the skeleton bibliography, the construction of which should always precede serious historical investigation; but this framework must be clothed from the references to be found in footnotes and bibliographical lists attached to works upon his chosen field. Information thus obtained is more directly referred to its proper place, and assigned its exact value and application, than is possible in any general catalogue.

VIII

HARDY, THOMAS DUFFUS: A Descriptive Catalogue of Manuscripts relating to the History of Great Britain and Ireland. Published 1862-1891 in the Rolls Series (No. XXXI) in 3 volumes. Vol. I (2 pts.), --1066; Vol. II, 1066-1200; Vol. III, 1200-1327. Vol. I, pt. 2, contains a catalogue of printed source material up to date of publication.

This catalogue is of the greatest value. It furnishes in concise form a mass of indispensable data. It is, and must for years remain, the basis of bibliographical study in early English history. A supplement to Vol. I, Part 2, is needed, but the student can without difficulty supply the break from 1862 to this present date.

IX

WATT'S BIBLIOTHECA BRITANNICA: A General Index to British and Foreign Literature, ed. R. Watt. Edinburgh, 1824.

X

This catalogue is a mine of information. It is indexed by authors and subjects.

LOWNDES, WILLIAM THOMAS (b. 1800; d. 1843): The Bibliographer's Manual of English Literature, ed. H. G. Bohn. London, 1864.

ΧΙ

This series (II vols. 12mo) is of great value. Its scope is indicated by the sub-title: "An Account of rare, curious, and useful books, published in or relating to Great Britain and Ireland, from the invention of printing; with biographical and critical notices, collations of the rarer articles and the prices at which they have been sold in the present century." The appendix volume is especially useful; it contains "An Account of books issued by literary and scientific societies and printing clubs; books printed at private presses; privately printed series; and the principal literary and scientific serials."

THE ENGLISH CATALOGUE of Books published from 1835 to January 1863. Comprising the Contents of the London and the British Catalogues, etc., etc. London, 1864.

XII

This series has been continued to date. Although it leaves much to be desired, it is invaluable. Its appendix continues the work of Lowndes (No. X) in cataloguing publications of learned societies. It thus bridges the gap between Lowndes and the Official Year Book of the Scientific and Learned Societies, which was begun in 1884. The scope of this series is shown by the sub-title of its continuations: "An Alphabetical List of Works published in the United Kingdom and of the Principal Works published in America. With dates of Publication, Indications of Size, Price, Editions and Publishers' names." For earlier record of printed books see the catalogues of Maunsell (1595) A Catalogue of certaine books (1631), London (1658), Clavell (16661695), Bent's General Catalogue (1786), London Catalogue (1811-1855) continued by No. XI. See also The American Catalogue.

GROSS, CHARLES: Bibliography of British Municipal History, including Gilds and Parliamentary Representation. Published in Harvard Historical Studies, 1897.