De Gulden Passer. Jaargang 36

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Plantiniana in the Brotherton library university of Leeds
by Colin Clair
(London)

Edward Allen Brotherton was born on April 1, 1856. He was raised to the peerage as Baron Brotherton of Wakefield in 1929, and died on October 21, 1930. For many years Member of Parliament for Wakefield, Mayor of Wakefield in 1902-3, Lord Mayor of Leeds in 1913-14, and a Freeman of both cities, Lord Brotherton was a munificent donor to many charities and public institutions.

In 1927 he gave £100,000 to provide for the University of Leeds the splendid building which now bears the name of the Brotherton Library, and in his will he bequeathed a further sum of £100,000. His private library, now known as the Brotherton Collection, was presented to the University in 1935, ‘in trust for the nation’. It then contained some 35,000 printed books and pamphlets, 400 manuscripts, 4,000 deeds and 30,000 letters, and since then has been considerably augmented by gifts and purchases.

One item in this collection is of special interest to readers of De Gulden Passer: a travelling library of the 17th century. This portable library consists of 43 small volumes contained in an oak case made to resemble a folio volume, and the catalogue, written in three columns, in gold on a blue background, appears on the inside of the lid. Of the 43 volumes, no fewer than 27 are from the Leyden press of Raphelengius.

The original owner of this library has not been identified with any certainty, but it bears a remarkable likeness to a similar travelling library in the British Museum, which is known to have been the property of Sir Julius Caesar, Master of the Rolls in the

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reign of James I. In the Brotherton Library example the name of the Roman Julius Caesar heads the middle column of the catalogue, and as this is the only name written in capitals, there is reason to assume that this portable library also belonged at one time to Sir Julius Caesar, or was presented by him to a friend. Later in the 17th century it seems to have passed into the hands of John Madden, who had his arms painted on the inside of the lid in place of those of the original owner.

The books from the Officina Plantiniana contained in this travelling library are, in respect of 22 of them, duplicates of those contained in the travelling library of Sir Julius Caesar. The other five are:

Seneca.	Libelli quinque... Accesserunt Iambi... ex Catone. Danielis Heynsii.	1601^(1)
Cicero.	De officiis... cum eiusdem opusculis addi solitis.	1610^(2)
Virgil.	Opera	1612^(3)
Ovid.	Metamorphoseon libri XV	1612^(4)
Ovid.	Heroidum epistolae...	1612^(5)

(1) L. ANNAEI / SENECAE / PHILOSOPHI / DIVINI / Libelli quinque, quinque, quorum seriem / versa pagella indicabit. / Accesserunt Iambi morales aliquos / ex Catone. / DANIELIS HEYNSII, / GANDENSIS. / [device] / Ex Officina Plantiniana, / APUD CHRISTOPHORUM RAPHELENGIUM / Academiae Lugduno Bat. Typographum, CIƆ.IƆ.CI., pp. 109, [6], [1, blank].

(2) [Within an irregular two-line border] M. TVLLII / CICERONIS / DE / OFFICIIS / LIBRI TRES: / Cum eiusdem opusculis / addi solitis. / [orn.] / Ex [sic] Officina Plantiniana / RAPHELENGII, / M.DCX. pp. 461, [19].

(3) PVBLII / VIRGILII / MARONIS / OPERA. / [device] / EX OFFICINA PLANTINIANA RAPHELENGII, CIƆ.IƆ.CXII., pp. 335, [1, blank].

(4) PVB. / OVIDII / NASONIS / METAMORPHOSEON / LIBRI XV. / [device] / EX OFFICINA PLANTINIANA / RAPHELENGII, CIƆ.IƆ.CIII., pp. 286, [2, blank, i.e. sig. SS8].

(5) PVB. / OVIDII / NASONIS / HEROIDVM / EPISTOLAE. / Amorum LIB. III. / De arte amandi LIB. III. / De remedio amoris LIB. II. / [device] / EX OFFICINA PLANTINIANA / RAPHELENGII, / CIƆ.IƆ.CXII., pp. 255, [1, blank].