The Philobiblon of Richard de Bury | Page 2

Bishop's Books.
In the Philobiblon, Richard de Bury frankly and clearly describes his
means and method of collecting books. Anyhow his object was clearly
not selfish. The treatise contains his rules for the library of the new
College at Oxford--Durham College (where Trinity College now
stands)--which he practically founded, though his successor, Bishop
Hatfield, carried the scheme into effect. It is traditionally reported that
Richard's books were sent, in his lifetime or after his death, to the
house of the Durham Benedictines at Oxford, and there remained until
the dissolution of the College by Henry VIII., when they were
dispersed, some going into Duke Humphrey's (the University) library,
others to Balliol College, and the remainder passing into the hands of
Dr. George Owen, who purchased the site of the dissolved College.[3]

[3] Mr. J. W. Clark puts the matter as follows:--"Durham College,
maintained by the Benedictines of Durham, was supplied with books
from the mother-house, lists of which have been preserved; and
subsequently a library was built there to contain the collection
bequeathed in 1345 by Richard de Bury" (The Care of Books, p. 142).
Mr. Thomas points out that De Bury's executors sold at least some
portion of his books; and, moreover, his biographer says nothing of a
library at Oxford. Possibly the scheme was never carried out. In the
British Museum (Roy. 13 D. iv. 3) is a large folio MS. of the works of
John of Salisbury, which was one of the books bought back from the
Bishop's executors.
Unfortunately, the "special catalogue" of his books prepared by
Richard has not come down to us; but "from his own book and from the
books cited in the works of his friends and housemates, who may
reasonably be supposed to have drawn largely from the bishop's
collection, it would be possible to restore a hypothetical but not
improbable Bibliotheca Ricardi de Bury. The difficulty would be with
that contemporary literature, which they would think below the dignity
of quotation, but which we know the Bishop collected."
Early Editions of the Philobiblon.
The book was first printed at Cologne in 1473, at Spires in 1483, and at
Paris in 1500. The first English edition appeared in 1598-9, edited by
Thomas James, Bodley's first librarian. Other editions appeared in
Germany in 1610, 1614, 1674 and 1703; at Paris in 1856; at Albany in
1861. The texts were, with the exception of those issued in 1483 and
1599, based on the 1473 edition; though the French edition and
translation of 1856, prepared by M. Cocheris, claimed to be a critical
version, it left the text untouched, and merely gave the various readings
of the three Paris manuscripts at the foot of the pages; these readings
are moreover badly chosen, and the faults of the version are further to
be referred to the use of the ill- printed 1703 edition as copy.
In 1832 there appeared an anonymous English translation, now known
to have been by J. B. Inglis; it followed the edition of 1473, with all its
errors and inaccuracies.

Mr. E. C. Thomas' Text.--The first true text of the Philobiblon, the
result of a careful examination of twenty-eight MSS., and of the
various printed editions, appeared in the year 1888:
"The Philobiblon of Richard de Bury, Bishop of Durham, Treasurer and
Chancellor of Edward III, edited and translated by Ernest C. Thomas,
Barrister- at-law, late Scholar of Trinity College, Oxford, and Librarian
of the Oxford Union. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, & Co."
For fifteen years the enthusiastic editor--an ideal Bibliophile--had
toiled at his labour of love, and his work was on all sides received with
the recognition due to his monumental achievement. To the great loss
of English learning, he did not long survive the conclusion of his
labours. The very limited edition of the work was soon exhausted, and
it is by the most generous permission of his father, Mr. John Thomas,
of Lower Broughton, Manchester, that the translation--the only
trustworthy rendering of Richard de Bury's precious treatise--is now,
for the first time, made accessible to the larger book-loving public, and
fittingly inaugurates the present series of English classics. The general
Editor desires to express his best thanks to Mr. John Thomas, as also to
Messrs. Kegan Paul, for their kindness in allowing him to avail himself
of the materials included in the 1888 edition of the work. He has
attempted, in the brief Preface and Notes, to condense Mr. Thomas'
labours in such a way as would have been acceptable to the lamented
scholar, and though he has made bold to explain some few textual
difficulties, and to add some few references, he would fain hope that
these additions have been made with modest caution--with the
reverence due to the unstinted toil of a Bibliophile after Richard de
Bury's own