Hi there.
I thought this may be of interest to some of you.
In my hometown of Melbourne a local Barrister, Dr. John Emmerson QC, has bequeathed his magnificent collection of antiquarian books estimated at over 8 million dollars (not that items like this need necessarily have a price placed upon them) to the Sate Library of Victoria.
Following is an extract from one of the reports but I would encourage you to click on the below links.
Professor Paul Salzman, from La Trobe University, said only the British Library and the Bodleian Library in Oxford have books and documents that rival the Emmerson collection.
"It's going to take historians a long time to work their way through this material because there is so much of it," Professor Salzman said
"What you are getting is the primary materials about the civil war itself, the eventual capture, trial and execution of Charles I, right down to minute detail that was being published and distributed pretty much as the events took place."
Other notable books included the first illustrated edition of Milton's famous poem Paradise Lost published in 1688.
There was also the first collected, printed edition of John Donne's poetry and what is believed to be a rare first edition of Death's Duel, the last sermon Donne preached before his death in 1631.
Early editions of Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe and Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels were also part of the collection.
One of the most striking books is a copy of Richard Hooker's The Laws of Ecclesiastical Politie (1635) thought to have been owned by Queen Henrietta Maria, King Charles' wife.
The Victorian State library said it would take up to five years to properly catalogue the Emmerson collection.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-...by-king-charles-i-donated-to-victoria/6393386
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-16/the-john-emmerson-collection-five-rare-books/6395636
Best of all a number of books will be put on permanent display for the public in the library's famous domed reading room. In case you've forgotten what it looks like here's our local reading room. I'll be there this weekend...
I thought this may be of interest to some of you.
In my hometown of Melbourne a local Barrister, Dr. John Emmerson QC, has bequeathed his magnificent collection of antiquarian books estimated at over 8 million dollars (not that items like this need necessarily have a price placed upon them) to the Sate Library of Victoria.
Following is an extract from one of the reports but I would encourage you to click on the below links.
Professor Paul Salzman, from La Trobe University, said only the British Library and the Bodleian Library in Oxford have books and documents that rival the Emmerson collection.
"It's going to take historians a long time to work their way through this material because there is so much of it," Professor Salzman said
"What you are getting is the primary materials about the civil war itself, the eventual capture, trial and execution of Charles I, right down to minute detail that was being published and distributed pretty much as the events took place."
Other notable books included the first illustrated edition of Milton's famous poem Paradise Lost published in 1688.
There was also the first collected, printed edition of John Donne's poetry and what is believed to be a rare first edition of Death's Duel, the last sermon Donne preached before his death in 1631.
Early editions of Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe and Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels were also part of the collection.
One of the most striking books is a copy of Richard Hooker's The Laws of Ecclesiastical Politie (1635) thought to have been owned by Queen Henrietta Maria, King Charles' wife.
The Victorian State library said it would take up to five years to properly catalogue the Emmerson collection.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-...by-king-charles-i-donated-to-victoria/6393386
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-16/the-john-emmerson-collection-five-rare-books/6395636
Best of all a number of books will be put on permanent display for the public in the library's famous domed reading room. In case you've forgotten what it looks like here's our local reading room. I'll be there this weekend...
