Dinsmore Documentation presents Classics of American Colonial History
| Author: | Wright, Thomas Goddard. |
| Title: | Literary Culture in Early New England, 1620-1730. |
| Citation: | New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press; London: Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press, 1920. |
| Subdivision: | Chapter II |
| HTML by Dinsmore Documentation * Added December 14, 2004 | |
| ◄ Chapter I Directory of Files Chapter III ► |
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ALTHOUGH the Pilgrims, as has been said, came from the lower ranks of society, and although they endured years of hardship from their first interrupted attempt to leave England until they were finally established in Plymouth nearly twenty years after, they were not without books. William Brewster, for example, left at his death in 1643 a library of nearly four hundred books,1 and the old soldier, Miles Standish, left about fifty.2 Among the latter are such interesting items as:
- The History of the World
- Turkish History
- A Chronicle of England
- The History of Queen Elizabeth
- The State of Europe
- Bariff’s Artillery
- Caesar’s Commentaries
- Homer’s Iliad
- The Swedish Intelligencer
- The French Academy
- The Country Farmer
- Calvin’s Institutions
Brewster’s library is more interesting as well as larger. The fact that many of the books were published after 1620 shows that the cares of colonial life and the distance from book-stalls did not prevent the continued acquisition of books,—the steady acquisition, if we may be allowed to draw any conclusion from the fact that in his library every
1 Massachusetts Historical Society, Proceedings, 2d Series, v. 37.
2 New England Historical and Genealogical Register, v. 337.
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year from 1620 to that of his death, with the exceptions of 1639 and 1641, is represented.3 The following partial list will show the more literary tone of this collection:
Camden, Britain Camden, Remains Smith, J., Description of New England Bacon, Advancement of Learning Bacon, Declaration of Treasons of the Earl of Essex Raleigh, Prerogative of Parliament Machiavelli, Princeps Richardson, On the State of Europe The Swedish Intelligencer 1632 Cornwallis, Essays of Certain Paradoxes Prynne, Anti-Arminianism Prynne, Looking-Glasse for all Lordly Prelates Rainolds, The Overthrow of Stage Plays Hakluyt, Principal Navigations Wither, G., Works Dekker, T., Magnificent Entertainment given to King James, March, 1603, with speeches and songs delivered Adventure of Don Sebastian [?] Messelina (perhaps Nathaniel Richard’s The Tragedy of Messalina,) acted by the company of His Majesty’s Revels, 16404 Herring, Latin poem in honor of James I Hornby, Scourge of Drunkenness (verse) Rich, R., Newes from Virginia, 1607 (verse) Johnson, R., Golden Garland of Princely Pleasures Brathwait, The Description of a Good Wife (verse) Smith, Commonwealth of England and Government Thereof Lodge, T., Translation of the works of Seneca Cawdrey, Treasurie of Similies Keckerman, Systema Geographicum
3 Massachusetts Historical Society, Proceedings, 2d Series, v. 37.
4 Ibid., v. 37. If the identification of Messalina is correct, this and Dekker ’s Magnificent Entertainment are the earliest evidences we have of the existence of the drama in New England libraries. Another play, Roxana Tragedia, is mentioned in the John Harvard library.
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Rathbone, Surveyor Norden, Surveyors Dialogue Standish, New Directions . . . . for Increasing Timber
Governor Bradford left a library of about eighty volumes, including, in part, the following.5 It is regrettable that so many were uncatalogued.
Very few of the Pilgrims were without books. The inventories of estates filed among the Wills in the Plymouth Colony Records give proof of this. Of over seventy inventories examined in the first two volumes of the Wills, only a dozen failed to make specific mention of books, and among these were some whose entire estates, including house and land, clothes and tools, amounted to only twenty-five or thirty pounds. Such people, among them single men who had evidently come to the new colony with almost nothing, probably uneducated, would not be likely to possess books in a frontier town even today. In many cases the books mentioned are very few, the exact number being hidden under such phrases as: “bookes,” “all his bookes,” “3 bibles and other books.” Inasmuch as “all his bookes” were valued at only eighteen shillings,6 and “3 bibles and
5 Mayflower Descendant, ii. 232.
6 Plymouth Colony Records, Wills, i. 31. Estate of John Bryant. In these volumes the numbers refer to sheets, not pages. Up to one hundred, and in a few cases beyond that, the sheets are numbered 11, 21, 31, or 651, 661, 671, when [footnote continues on p. 28] we would use 1, 2, 3, or 65, 66, 67. I have changed uniformly to the modern system.
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other books” at six pounds,7 the phrases are of little value in estimating the possible number. That even so small a collection as “1 bible, 1 book catechism, 1 book Practice of Christianity” was itemized8 would seem to show their respect for the mere presence of a book. The valuation helps little to estimate the number where only value is given. Brewster’s library of 400 volumes was appraised at £42.19.11,9 which would give an average of ten books to the pound; but William Gibson’s “1 bible and 10 other books” at £00.06.00,10 and Thomas Pryor’s “1 great bible 1 smale bible and 50 other bookes” at £01.10.00,11 give a different ratio.
It is not possible, then, outside of a few lists in addition to those given, to estimate the number of books in the homes of the Pilgrims; but the following details will give some indication.
| Name | Year | Total Inventory | Books | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steven Deans | 1634 | £ 87.19.06 | £ 0l.00.00 | |
| Thomas Pryor | 1639 | 22.07.06 | 01.10.00 | |
| Nathaniel Tilden | 1641 | 200.00.00 | 05.00.00 | |
| John Atwood | 1643 | 186.14.00 | 09.00.00 | |
| John Jenney | 1644 | 108.03.03 | 01.03.06 | |
| William Brewster | 1644 | 150.00.07 | 42.19.11 | |
| Edward Foster | 1644 | 42.03.00 | 06.00.00 | |
| Love Brewster | 1650 | 97.09.01 | 05.12.04 | |
| Nicolas Robbins | 1650 | 38.19.09 | 02.14.00 | |
| Henry Smith | 1651 | 149.16.00 | 01.00.00 | |
| William Thomas | 1651 | 375.07.00 | 08.05.00 | |
| John Hazell | 1651 | 165.19.00 | 04.06.00 | |
| William Hatch | 1652 | 95.03.04 | 01.10.00 | |
| Judith Smith | 1650 | 120.06.00 | 01.00.00 | |
| Henry Andrews | 1653 | 330.16.00 | 02.00.00 |
7 Ibid., i. 60. Estate of Edward Foster.
8 Ibid., i. 29. Estate of William Palmer.
9 Ibid., i. 53-59.
10 Ibid., i. 35.
11 Ibid., i. 34.
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| Robert Waterman | 1653 | £ 78.00.00 | £ 01.04.00 |
| John Lothrop (Rev.) | 1653 | 72.16.06 | 05.00.00 |
| Ann Atwood | 1654 | 24.0003 | 07.00.00 |
| William Phillips | 1654 | 78.08.00 | 01.00.00 |
| William [torn] | 1654 | 157.09.00 | 01.10.00 |
| James Pilbeame | 1655 | 48.05.10 | 01.10.00 |
| Elizabeth Pole | 1656 | 188.11.07 | 02.00.00 |
| Miles Standish | 1656 | 358.07.00 | 11.13.00 |
| John Gilbert | 1657 | 200.00.00 | 02.00.00 |
| William Bradford | 1657 | not given | 15.00.00 |
| Park Chittenden | 1676 | 156.08.05 | 01.14.00 |
| John Miles (Rev.) | 1683 | 260.00.0 | 050.00.00 |
Where titles are itemized they are in most cases devotional or theological. In the inventory of Samuel Fuller, 1633, of the twenty-six given by title, but three are non-religious: a book on government, one on husbandry, and a “dixionary;” a volume of “notable things” might belong to either class.12 There are also “other bookes” to the value of one pound. The inventory of John Atwood includes “Acts and Monuments” in three volumes, a history, Prynne’s “Historio [sic] Mastix,” and divers other books to the value of three pounds.13 Ann Atwood possessed two of Prynne’s works, unnamed, two French books and a French Testament, and “four and fifty smale bookes at 6d the piece.”14 John Hazell had Josephus and two history books.15 Governor Thomas Prince owned, among books to the number of 187, valued at £13.18.08 in a total estate of £422.00.00, Laud’s “Conference with Fisher the Jesuit,” Prynne’s “Account of Laud’s Trail,” Morton’s “New England’s Memorial,” and the “Essays” of Sir William Cornwallis.16
Books and libraries were much more common among those who settled in the neighborhood of Boston and in
12 Ibid., i. 22.
13 Ibid., i. 47.
14 Ibid., i. 124.
15 Ibid., i. 101.
16 F. B. Dexter, Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, xviii. 143.
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Connecticut. Each minister had at least a small library, and some who were not ministers had excellent collections of books, as, for example, John Winthrop, Jr., who, according to his father’s Journal, had in New England, in the year 1640, a library of over 1000 volumes.17 Two years later the father, Governor Winthrop, was probably one of the magistrates who collectively gave to Harvard books to the value of £200;18 and about 1660 he gave to Harvard’s library some forty volumes more.19 The best example of the kind of library which the colonists brought with them is John Harvard’s, which made a substantial part of his bequest in 1638 to the college then being built in Cambridge. As Harvard had been in the colony but a year, he could not have added many books to those he had with him upon arrival. Although naturally largely theological or expository, this collection contained a considerable number of books of a literary nature, as the following selected list will demonstrate:20
17 Journal, ii. 18. “Mr. Winthrop the younger, one of the magistrates, having many books in a chamber where there was corn of divers sorts, had among them one wherein the Greek testament, the psalms and the common prayer were bound together. He found the common prayer eaten with mice, every leaf of it, and not any of the two other touched, nor any other of his books, though there were above a thousand.” It seems probable that these represented only a part of the library of John Winthrop, Jr. It does not seem likely that a man who prized books as he did would have left valuable books in a storeroom in which grain was kept.
18 Chaplin, Life of Henry Dunster, p. 78. See pp. 40 and 41, below.
19 Life and Letters of John Winthrop, ii. 438. College Book III, 32.
20 Harvard Library, Bibliographical Contributions, No. 27, 1888, p.7. [Revised by A. C. Potter, Catalogue of John Harvard’s Library, Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, xxi: 190-230. 1919. Ed.] His library contained over 300 volumes.
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The colonists, then, were not unfurnished with books when they arrived; and there is much evidence that their libraries were constantly increased by shipments from England.
21 This may be Chapman’s translation, a copy of which was in the Harvard library in 1723. Bibliographical Contributions, No. 27, p. 10.
22 By W. Alabaster. In five acts and verse. Given at Cambridge. Published 1611.
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Isaac Johnson was scarcely in New England before John Humfrey wrote to him from England,
I have sent you those new bookes that are lately come out, Dr. Ames’ Cases to Mr. Governor23 which I purpose to send you by the next, & now Dr. Sibs’ Bruised Reede & Mr. Dike of Scandals to you.24
Henry Jacie wrote to John Winthrop, Jr., in January, 1631,
A book of the Northern Star (by Dr. Goad) was sent you to go herewith.25
Edward Howes wrote to John Winthrop, Jr., November 9, 1631,
The bookes Mr. Gurdon hath fetcht away, and the Luna is at your service; soe is [sic] both the books & Sol, & quodcunque sub sole habet, vel habebit me, tuum.26
The next year he wrote:
I havinge sent some bookes to James Downinge . . . . beinge incited thereunto by his father; . . . . I sent your honored father a booke of bookes among those to J. D.27
. . . & that your worthy father, with all my louinge frinds may reead at large the workinge of our God in these latter dayes, here I haue sent you the Swedish Intelligencer which speakes wonder to the world; withall I haue sent you your Archymedes and an Almenack, with a booke or two of other newes besides.28
Here in closed you shall find a booke of the probabilities of the North West passage.29
I have sent Mr Samford the Instrument and sight ruler the Germaine bespoke for him, together with a booke to teach the
23 Mr. Governor is John Winthrop, Sr.
24 Winthrop Papers, i. 4. December 9, 1630.
25 Massachusetts Historical Society, Collections, 3rd Series, i. 241.
26 Winthrop Papers, i. 472.
27 Massachusetts Historical Society, Collections, 3rd Series, ix. 243. April 3, 1632.
28 Winthrop Papers, i. 477. 1632.
29 Ibid., p. 480. November 23, 1632. This book was by Howes himself. The copy inscribed by him is in the collection of the Massachusetts Historical Society.
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use thereof, namely Smyths Arte of Gunnery at folio 58 there the same Instrument is to be seene; I have likewise sent him Nortons Practise of Artillerie chosen by the Germaine for him; and alsoe diverse platformes of the latest invented forts and fortifications: For new bookes I writt to you of Dr Fludds works and sent you a cattalogue of them by Mr Hetherley; there is a booke lately come out of mathematicall conclusion and recreations, which I bought purposely for you, but Mr Saltonstall hath borrowed it . . . . albeit I have sent you two other bookes vizt Malthus Fireworks, and the Horizontall Quadrant full of new devices; which I present to your kind acceptance.30
The same year F. Kirby wrote to the younger Winthrop at various times:
For the Catalogue of bookes from Frankfort I have sent you that of the Autumnall mart 1631. the next is not to be had the third not yet come by reason of Contrary wind, but I shall send it God willinge by the next ship. . . . . I have now received all your mony of Edward Howes which maketh in all 4li. 12sh. for the bookes and carriage of them.31
With this I enclose the Catalogue of the last vernall mart, the last autumnall is not yet to be had32
I have sent you heer inclosed the Catalogue of the Autumnall mart 1632. all the former I have sent before.33
In the years that follow Edward Howes continued to send books.
. . . in a bundle of clothes for your cosen Mary . . . . you shall find from him a cattalogue of the last marte bookes; and from your poore frind an exact and large and the latest discouery of the North West passage, made by a painful) and industrious gent., Capt. James, as a remembrance of my obliged loue.34
I haue bin held in hand at Mr. Fetherston’s shop by his men,
30 Massachusetts Historical Society, Collections, 3rd Series, ix. 255. March 18, 1632-3.
31 Ibid., p. 249. November 25, 1632.
32 Ibid., p. 252. December 3, 1632.
33 Ibid., p. 260. March 26, 1633.
34 Winthrop Papers, i. 487. June 22, 1633.
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euer since 8ber,35 to be furnished with all those bookes you writt for, and now am forced to buy them where I can find them.36
The bookes I haue sent you, March, 1634.
2 Catalogues of printed bookes.
li. s. d. Dr. Fludds Macrocosme in 2 volumes 1 10 0 Isagoge Phisico Magico &c. 0 1 6 Petrus Galatinus de Arcanis Catholicæ veritatis 0 10 0 Phillippi Grulingij Florilegium 0 2 0 These are parte of them you writt for.
I haue here alsoe sent you a few others, which if you like not, I pray send them againe, or any of them.
Mercurius Rediuiuus per Norton 0 2 6 The Rarities of Cochin China 0 1 0 Wingates Logarithmes 0 4 6 An English Grammer 0 1 0 The Gunners Dialogue 0 2 0 Bedwells Messolabium 0 1 0 The rest I cast in to the bargaine, for you and your fancie to make merry withall.37
The bookes you writt for, I haue not mett with them as yet at the shopps where I haue bin.38
One consignment of books to the elder Winthrop may have failed to reach Boston. Robert Ryece wrote to him, January 17, 1636,
I wrotte vnto you the 17 of Maye laste, accompanied with a boxe of boocks, which I sente by my brother Samuell Appleton, to be convayed to hym for you. . . . . I do feare . . . . that the schippe with the passengers, mooche stuffe & goods, are all perished by the waye.39
There is no further record of this.
35 October.
36 Winthrop Papers, i. 496. March 29, 1634.
37 Ibid., i. 497.
38 Ibid., i. 506. April 14, 1639.
39 Ibid., i. 394.
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The London Port Books give other evidence of the shipment of books to Boston.
xvj Februar 1633[-34] In le Mary and John of London .
j chest bookes.
Quinto Aprilis 1634 . . . . In le Elizabeth and Dorcas . . . . ij packes made clothes and bookes vj trunckes apparell and bookes for prouision for the passengers.40
Others than the Winthrops were receiving books from England, although unfortunately most of the records of these shipments have been lost. President Dunster’s father wrote to him, March 20, 1640-1, “Your brother Thomas remembers his love, and hath sent you two dozen of almanacks.”41 Henry Jacie wrote March 6, 1647-8, “I have sent to Mr. Cotton or Mr. Wilson a book for the Governors, of the present proceeds between the King & Parliament.”42 The colonists seem to have been able to get books fresh from the English presses. Roger Williams wrote in a letter which, although undated, undoubtedly belongs to the year 1650, “The Portraicture [Eikon Basilike], I guesse is Bp. Halls, the stile is pious & acute, very like his, & J. H. subscribes the Epitaph.”43 And on February 15, 1654-5, he wrote of two books published in 1653, “We allso here that 2 of Mr. Dells bookes were lately burnt at the Massachusetts, (possibly) containing some sharpe things against the Presbyterians & Academians, of which I brought ouer one cald the Triall of Spirits.”44
At least one comprehensive library was brought over for
40 Massachusetts Historical Society, Proceedings, xlvii. 179, 183. Both shipments were consigned to John Winthrop, Sr.
41 Chaplin, Life of Dunster, p. 22. It must be remembered in connection with his item that the almanac was in better esteem then than now, being the sole convenient handbook of scientific information, often containing useful tables of varied information besides the usual astronomical calculations and astrological prophecies, the latter often rhymed.
42 Winthrop Papers, i. 465.
43 Ibid., i. 282 and note.
44 Ibid., i. 291. He returned from England in the summer of 1654.
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sale in the early days, for Cotton Mather records with pride the fact that although the learned Dr. William Ames was prevented by death from coming in person to America, his library did come.45 A later historian says,
Harvard College being built, a Foundation was laid for a Publick Library . . . . The first Furniture of this Library was the Books of Dr. William Ames, the famous Professor of Divinity at Franequer.46
The return to England of a number of ministers during the Puritan regime undoubtedly deprived the colony of several libraries, but in some cases the libraries were retained in New England. Samuel Eaton, returning in 1640, gave to New Haven his library of over 100 volumes, including the following books:47
A few years later John Eliot wrote,
And for my self I have this request (who also am short enough
45 Magnalia, i. 236.
46 Neal, History of New England, i. 202. It is not quite clear whether the historian means to imply that this purchase was made before Harvard left his library to the college, or was the first addition after that. If the gratuity granted to Mrs. Ames by the Colony in 1637 was a partial return for the library of her husband, that library preceded the books from Harvard’s estate and formed the foundation of the Harvard library. See Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, xvii. 210, and page 40 note 62, below. The Ames library was almost entirely theological or philosophical.
47 Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, xviii. 138.
48 It is interesting to note that this product of the Virginia colony, and the finest piece of literary work which the first century of colonization produced, reached the northern colony within fifteen years, if Eaton had the complete edition.
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in books) that I might be helped to purchase my brother Weld his books, the summe of the purchase (34 li.) I am loth they should come back to England when we have so much need of them here.49
The books were purchased for him in 1651 by the Corporation for New England.50 Herbert Pelham, who returned to England in 1649, mentioned in his will (he died in 1676) “all other Brass, Beding, and Linnin with all my Books and other Utensills and moveables which I have in the Massachusetts Bay.”51 The Rev. Thomas Jenner, returning to England about 1650 because of trouble with the churches, was “compelled by poverty to sell his library, which seems to have been bought for Harvard College.”52
Libraries were not limited to the studies of ministers, for Lion Gardiner wrote to John Winthrop, Jr., in 1650, in reference to the obtaining of a pastor for the small settlement of which he was leader,
Att present wee ar willing to giue this man you writ of 20li. a year, with such diat as I myself eat, til we see what the Lord will do with vs; and being he is but a yong man, hapily he hath not manie books, thearfore let him know what I have. First, the 3 Books of Martters, Erasmus, moste of Perkins, Wilsons Dixtionare, a large Concordiance, Mayor on the new Tstement; Some of theas, with othar that I have, may be vcefull to him.53
When William Tyng, merchant, died in 1653, leaving the largest estate recorded up to that time (totaling £2774.14.04), part of the estate comprised, according to the inventory, “Books as per schedule valued at 010 00 00.”54 The schedule
49 Massachusetts Historical Society, Collections, 3rd Series, iv. 128.
50 New England Historical and Genealogical Register, xxxvi. 371.
51 Ibid., xviii. 175.
52 Ibid., xix. 247, and Maine Historical Society, Collections and Proceedings, 2d Series, iii. 293 ff.
53 Winthrop Papers, ii. 59.
54 Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, xiii. 289.
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lists nearly one hundred books, mostly in quarto, including the following:55
The will of Nicholas Busby, September 10, 1657, bequeathed
vnto my two Sonns John Busby & Abraham, my printed bookes, in manner following;
to John
- all my Phisicke bookes, as Glendall practice,
- Barrowes method,
- Dutch Phisicke & garden of health
- Mr Coggans treatis, and
- the Dialogue of Phisicke Surgery, with
- Plinnys Naturall Hystory
55 New England Historical and Genealogical Register, xxx. 432.
56 Probably an error for Gerarde’s.
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Vnto Abraham,
- my bookes of Divinitie, vizt.
- Mr Perkins
- Mr Willet sinops and Comentary on the Romans, & Mr [sic] Hieroms two bookes;
as for the rest of my bookes of divinities, or Hystory, my desire is, they may Loveingly & Brotherly devide them betweene except the three Bibles.57
Governor Thomas Dudley, dying the same year, left a small but interesting collection of books, including in part:58
While individual libraries were slowly growing by importations and gifts from England and, from as early as 1647,
57 New England Historical and Genealogical Register, viii. 279.
58 Ibid., xii. 355.
59 This is perhaps the most curious item in all the lists of colonial books. It would cast much light upon colonial culture if we could know how he came to own such a volume, and whether he ever read it. The latest edition he could have had is that of 1561.
60 The last three items are typical of the vagueness of many of the comparatively few book records preserved. Complete lists would add much to our knowledge.
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by purchase in the shop of Hezekiah Usher,61 the Harvard College library was also growing from its beginning in the Ames library and the 320 volumes left by John Harvard.62 Roger Harlakenden, dying in 1638, willed “to the librarye ten pownds & all my books wch are not usefull for my wife.”63 The first notable increase was the gift by the magistrates in 1642 of books from their own libraries to the value of £200.64 If the appraisal of William Tyng’s library of nearly 100 volumes at £10 were any criterion,65 this must have meant a great addition; but doubtless a majority of these books were large and expensive theological folios, which would proportionately lessen the number of books added. There was still need for many more books, for we find President Dunster writing in 1645,
Seeing the public library in the College is yet defective in all manner of books, specially in law, physics, philosophy, and mathematics, the furnishing whereof would be both honorable and profitable to the country in general and in special to the scholars, whose various inclinations to all professions might thereby be encouraged and furthered; we therefore humbly entreat to use such means as your wisdom shall think meet for supply of the same.66
I have found no record of any results from this plea.
61 In 1647 Usher is referred to in Aspinwall’s Notarial Book as “Hezekiah Usher of Boston, bookseller.” (Littlefield, Early Boston Booksellers, p. 67.) Samuel Danforth’s Almanac for 1647 bears the imprint, “Cambridge printed by Mathew Daye; and to be sold by Hezekiah Usher, at Boston.” (Thomas, History of Printing, i. 48 note.)
62 Mr. Julius H. Tuttle, of the Massachusetts Historical Society, thinks that it may be inferred that the gratuity to Mrs. Ames from the General Court was in recognition of the use of the Ames library by the students of Harvard, and that a somewhat similar grant to the widow of the Rev. Jose Glover may indicate that his library was also used by the college just as his printing press was established in connection with it. (Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, xiv. 65, 66 note.)
63 New England Historical and Genealogical Register, ii. 182.
64 Chaplin, Life of Dunster, p. 78.
65 See p. 37, above.
66 Chaplin, Life of Dunster, p. 80. The letter was addressed to the Commissioners of the United Colonies of New England.
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But books were being added by gifts both at home and from England. Joshua Scottow, of Boston, presented “Henry Stephen his Thesaurus in foure volumes in folio” with a curious proviso.67 Sir Kenelme Digby, scientist and man of letters, in spite of his leanings toward Catholicism, twice sent books to the young Puritan college,68 perhaps influenced
67 Chaplin, Life of Dunster, p. 79. The proviso follows. “Thes prsents witnesse, that wheras Joshuah Scottow, of Bostō, marcht, hath of his owne free accord procured for the library of Harvard Colle[ge] Henry Stephen his Thesaurus, in foure volumes in folio, and bestowe[d] the same thereon: it is on this condic¯on, and wth this p[ro]mise following that if ever the said Joshuah, during his life shall have occasion to use the said booke, or any parcell thereof, he shall have free liberty thereof, and accesee thereto: and if God shall blesee the said Joshuah wth any child or childrē that shal be students of the Greeke tongue, the the said bookes above specifyed shalbee unto them delivered, in case that they will not otherwise be satisfyed wthout it.” Dated October 28, 1649. Thus were books esteemed! It might be assumed from this that Scottow, although there is no record that he was a university man, read Greek; if not, why should he reserve such a privilege? He certainly knew French, for he translated The Rise, Spring and Foundation of the Anabaptists, or Re-baptized of our Time. Written in French by Guy de Brez, 1565. . . . . And Translated for the use of his Countrymen, by J. S. [Joshua Scottow] Cambridge: Printed, and to be Sold by Marmaduke Johnson. 1668. (Green, Early American Imprints in Massachusetts Historical Society, Proceedings, 2d Series, ix. 424.)
A later item, undated, in the College Records shows that he availed himself of his reserved privilege. (College Book I, 260.)
“Recevd of Mr Vryan Oakes prs[ident] ye above Expressed Thesaurus in foure volumes accrding to Condition above: upon the demand of my sonn Thomas Scottow I say received pr me this 30th of August
Josh: Scottow”
Irian Oakes was president, acting or official, from 1675 to 1681. As in 1682 Cotton Mather includes a copy of this Thesaurus in a list of books which he had purchased from the duplicates in the Harvard Library, either the Scottows soon returned their set, or two others were presented to the library. (Ms. list in Mather’s handwriting in possession of the American Antiquarian Society.) Thomas Scottow graduated from Harvard in 1677.
68 Winslow, New England’s Salamander Discovered. 1647. Massachusetts Historical Society, Collections, 3rd Series, ii. 117. “As for Doctor Childe hee is a gentleman that hath travelled other parts before hee came to us, namely Italy; he woke the degree of Doctor in Physick at Padua. . . . . Hee comes [to New England] a second time, and not onely bestoweth some bookes on the Colledge, as Sir Kenelme Digby and many others commendably did. . . . .”
In 1654 Hugh Peter wrote from London to John Winthrop, Jr., “I haue sent you 2 peeces of black stuffe . . . . all by the hand of Mr. Norton of Boston, in a great chest of bookes sent agayne by Sir Kenelme Digby, who longs for you here.” (Winthrop Papers, i. 116.)
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by his acquaintance with John Winthrop, Jr.69 There are two references in the College Records to Sir Kenelme’s gifts. In College Book I there is a list of seventeen titles, mostly church fathers, given by him in 1655.70 In College Book III, p. 31, under the date 1659, are mentioned several gifts to the college, the first item being “Sr Kenelme Digby gave to sd Colledges Library, as many books as were vallued at Sixty pound.” It is impossible to tell whether this refers to both gifts together, or to the more recent.
The other gifts recorded with Sir Kenelme’s are:
Sr Thomas Temple Knight. gave two Globes a Caelestiall & Terrestriall to sd Colledge.
Mr Thomas Graves gave some Mathematicall Books towds the furnishing of the Library.
Mr Ralfe ffreck gave to sd Library Biblia Polyglotta.
Mr John ffrecks gave some Books to the vallue of ten pounds.
Mr John Winthrop gave toward ye furnishing sd Library many choice books to the vallue of twenty pounds.
Sr Richard Daniel Knight gave many books to the Library.
Two undated book-lists in College Book I record other gifts.71 One is a list of twenty titles given by Richard Bellingham. The other is a list of thirty-five titles given by Peter Bulkeley, perhaps at his death in 1658, but probably earlier, as it is not mentioned, as one might expect it would be, in the 1659 list with Sir Kenelme Digby’s. Two other men are known to have contributed during this period,
69 See end of note 68, above. Sir Kenelme wrote to John Winthrop, Jr., from Paris, January 26, 1656 n. s., “I beseech you present my most humble thankes to the President and fellowes of yr college for the obliging Letter they haue bin pleased to send me. So small a present as j presumed to make them, deserued not so large a returne.” (Massachusetts Historical Society, Collections, 3rd Series, x. 16.) Other letters among the Winthrop Papers testify to the correspondence between the two. See i. 116, ii. 588, 593; Massachusetts Historical Society, Collections, 3rd Series, i. 183. See also p. 66 ff., below.
70 Harvard Library, Bibliographical Contributions, No. 27, p. 13.
71 Ibid., pp. 13, 14.
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Dr. Robert Child72 and Ezekiel Rogers.73 In the inventory of college property made December 10, 1654, at the time the college was settling accounts with Dunster, who had just resigned as president, the “library & Books therin” were “vallued at” £400.74.
Before the Harvard library was a quarter century old it had a rival in a public library in Boston. Robert Keayne, merchant, suggested in his will, dated August 1, 1653, the erection of a town-house (apparently a combination of a town hall and a neighborhood house) which should contain a market, a library and a gallery, rooms for divines and scholars, for merchants, for strangers, and so on, should his estate prove large enough to provide sufficient funds above his bequests to his family. Of his own books, “all English none Lattine or Greeke,” his son and wife were to take their choice “whether Divinitie, Hystory, or Milletary;” the rest were to be looked over by John Wilson and John Norton, who were to choose out for his town-house library all fit books, selling any others. The will further provided that if the town-house was not built the books were to go to Harvard.75 As the estate was not quite large enough, a sum of £300 was raised by subscription and the building begun in 1657.76 Unfortunately there are no more records of this library for fifteen years, either in regard to nature, size, or growth; but it is an indication of the culture of the place that such an institution was in existence thus early in the history of the colony, and partly built by the people themselves. Of its subsequent history more will be said later.77
During these years there were some losses of books by
72 See p. 41 note 68, above.
73 New England Historical and Genealogical Register, v. 125, and p. 44, below.
74 College Book III, p. 41.
75 New England Historical and Genealogical Register, vi. 90. The will, the abstract of which covers eleven pages of the Register, the will itself covering 158 pages of the original record of Suffolk County Wills, gives striking evidence of the originality and individuality often found among the dissenters and Puritans.
76 Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, xii. 120.
77 See pp. 132 ff. and 179 ff., below.
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fire. Stephen Bachiler wrote to John Winthrop, May 18, 1644, “I haue had great losse by fire, well knowne, to the vallue of 200li., with my whole studdy of bookes.”78 In 1651, on the evening of his third wedding, Ezekiel Rogers lost his house and entire library by fire.79 In 1666 the Bradstreet house at Andover was burned. Simon Bradstreet thus records the loss in his diary:
July 12, 1666. Whilst I was at N. London my fathers house at Andover was burnt, where I lost my books. . . . . Tho: my own losse of books (and papers espec.) was great and my fathers far more being about 800, yet ye Lord was pleased. . . . . to make up ye same to us.80
There may have been other losses of which record is lost;81 but in general there was a steady increase in the number of books in New England. Simon Bradstreet’s reference above to the making up of the lost books, and the fact that Ezekiel Rogers, having lost his entire library in 1651, at his death in 1660 was able to bestow upon Harvard College “his books wherewith he had recruited his library, after the fire, which consumed the good library that he had brought out of England,”82 including Latin books valued at
78 Winthrop Papers, ii. 107. The phrase “whole studdy of bookes” would seem to imply a considerable library.
79 Winthrop Papers, ii. 205 note. New England Historical and Genealogical Register, v. 124.
80 Ellis, Works of Anne Bradstreet, lxi.
81 The house of Herbert Pelham, first treasurer of Harvard, was burned in December, 1640. Mr. Downing’s house was burned in April, 1645, with a loss of household goods to the value of £200. The same week the house of John Johnson of Roxbury was totally wrecked by a fire and the explosion of gunpowder stored therein. (Winthrop’s Journal, passim.) At the burning of Springfield by the Indians in 1674, “thirty-two houses, and amongst the rest, the minister’s with his well-furnished library, were consumed.” (Magnalia, ii. 565.) The library of William Blackstone, formerly of Boston, was destroyed during King Philip’s War, when his house at Lonsdale, R. I., was burned by the Indians, shortly after his death. There were some 160 books in the collection. The house of Increase Mather was burned on November 27, 1676. (Massachusetts Historical Society, Proceedings, 2d Series, xiii. 373-374.)
82 Magnalia, i. 412.
45
£47 and some of his English books to the value of £26,83 demonstrate both the possibility and the fact of considerable book-buying within forty years of the founding of Boston. Although John Johnson’s house was wrecked by fire and explosion in 1645, in 1647 he possessed books which Richard Mather was glad to borrow.84 The church in Hartford, inviting Jonathan Mitchel to succeed Thomas Hooker, who died in 1647, as pastor, promised that they would “immediately upon his acceptance of their invitation, advance a considerable sum of money, to assist him in furnishing himself with a library.”85 The books were evidently to be procured in Boston before he left for Hartford. Thomas Mayhew, writing to John Winthrop, Jr., of his son, Thomas Mayhew, missionary to the Indians of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, who was lost at sea in 1657 while on his way to England, said, “He allso hath had of the Commissioners in all, besides his books, 160li., his bookes were 371i., as I take it.”86 It is not clear whether books to that value had been sent from England, or whether the money had been sent to buy books in Boston. In either case there is evidence that the colonists found it possible to procure books in considerable numbers.87
Books, largely gifts, continued to come from friends in England. John Winthrop, Jr., wrote to Robert Child, March 23, 1648-9,
I am glad to heare of those bookes coming forth, Paullin and
83 Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, xii. 49.
84 See See p. 44 note 81, above, and p. 57, below.
85 Magnalia, ii. 88.
86 Winthrop Papers, ii. 35.
87 Although Hezekiah Gay, who died in 1669, seems to have had but two books to will (”give my mother, Mr. Burrowes’ Book and my sister Whiting that new book concerning Thomas Savage,” New England Historical and Genealogical Register, xlviii, 324,) one of them had been published within a year: Gods Justice Against Murther, or the bloudy Apprentice executed. Being an exact . . . . relation of a bloudy murther committed by one T. Savage . . . . in Ratcliffe upon the maid of the house his fellow servant. London, ,668. Cf. Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, xx. 237-239.
46
Propugnaculi Fabri, and Helmonts workes, but how to be certaine to procure thẽ I know not, except you please to doe me the favour to send for thẽ where they are to be had, and desire Mr Peters, or my brother in my name to lay out the price for me. . . . . I desire also yt in high Duch, Glauberus, if you approve of it, and one more I desire you earnestly to procure for me; that is Vigineere des Cyphres wch you know is to be had at Paris; . . . . I would have one in this country before the impression be quite worn out.88
Stephen Winthrop wrote from England in 1649 to his brother, John Winthrop,
. . . . ye rest voted the triall of the King, who is since beheaded, . . . . but I canot inlarg to pticuler, passingers & bookes will informe best. I shall send my father some.”89
Richard Saltonstall wrote to President Dunster from England where he was visiting,
This enclosed booke I must entreate you to accept insteade of such lines as I should have added.90
Roger Williams wrote, February 21, 1656,
Sir Henry Vane being retired to his owne private in Lincolnshire hath now published his observations as to religion, he hath sent me one of his books.91
John Eliot wrote to Mr. Hord, October 8, 1657,
. . . . likewise I did receive a smal packet of books from Mr. Jessy according to Mr. Jessy’s appointment.92
John Davenport wrote to the younger John Winthrop, August 19, 1659,
88 Winthrop Papers, iv. 41. “Vigineere des Cyphres” is the Traité des Chiffres of Blaise de Vigenère.
89 Ibid., p. 209.
90 Massachusetts Historical Society, Collections, 4th Series, ii. 194. The letter is undated, but marked as received May 15, 1651.
91 Ibid., 3rd Series, x. 19.
92 Massachusetts Historical Society, Proceedings, xvii. 246. Mr. Hord was treasurer of the Corporation for Spreading the Gospel among the Indians. Mr. Jessy was a minister in Southwark, England.
47
I have received letters & bookes, & written papers from my ancient & honored freinds Mr. Hartlib, & Mr. Durie, wherein I finde sundry rarities of inventions. . . . which I long for an opportunitie to communicate to your selfe. . . . They are too many to be transmitted unto you by passengers.93
The next year he wrote, July 20,
Sir, I humbly thanck you for the Intelligence I received in your letters, and for the 2 weekly Intelligences, which Brother Myles brought me.94
A few days later he wrote again (August II),
Mr Hartlib. . . . hath sent also sundry wrightings, and bookes, some to your selfe, some to me. . . . Mr Drury also hath sent some papers and bookes to the 2 Teaching Elders at Boston, and to me.95
Samuel Hartlib wrote to John Winthrop, Jr., in 1661,
. . . . Mr. Davinport, to whom I cannot write for the present, but have sent him by these ships a smal Packet directed to his name with a Book or two of the Bohemian Ch-Government, & some Prophetical Papers. . . . Some weekes agoe I sent you the Systeme of Saturne with all the Cuts, being Mr. Brereton’s gift. . . . Hevelii Selenographia in fol. with excellent Cuts is no more to bee had. . . . Mr. Morian promised to send mee for you all the Glauberian Tracts with some other wch are counted truer Adepts.96
In the same letter in which he urged John Winthrop, Jr., to write a “philosophical letter” to the Royal Society,97 Henry Oldenburg, Secretary of the Society, wrote,
The Bearer hereof will doubtlesse give you the use of ye printed
93 Winthrop Papers, ii. 504. For Mr. Hartlib see p. 70, below.
94 Massachusetts Historical Society, Collections, 3rd Series, x. 36.
95 Ibid., p. 38.
96 Massachusetts Historical Society, Proceedings, 1st Series, xvi. 212. It should be noted that this one letter mentions three different people as sending books to New England.
97 See p. 72, below.
48
History of ye R. Society;98 by wch you will find what progres they have made hitherto . . . . I presume to transmit you some of the Transactions I monthly publish.99
He wrote again in 1669,
My letter, recommended to ye sd Stuyvesand [Peter] for you, was accompanied wth an Exemplar of the History of ye R. Society, and wth some of the Philosophicall Transactions. . . . . I send you herewth a Printed paper, wch contains ye predictions of Mr Bond for the variations of ye Needle for several years to come . . . you will take notice . . . how the variation varies in New England.100
John Eliot wrote in 1670 to Robert Boyle of “that worthy gift, which your honour is pleased to bestow upon me, viz. Pool’s Synopsis, or Critica Sacra.”101 Presumably these are but chance records saved and indicate what must have been a general custom.
Books constantly came in with visitors or settlers from England, sometimes against the will of the government of the Colony. Upon the introduction of certain Quaker books, the General Court voted, August 22, 1654:
It is ordred, that all & euery the inhabitants of this jurisdiction that haue any of the bookes in their custody that haue lately bin brought out of England vnder the names of John Reeues & Lodowick Muggleton . . . . & shall not bring or send in all such bookes now in their custody, to the next magistr˜, shall forfeit the sume of ten pounds for euery such booke that shalbe found. . . . .102
William Baker, brought before the Middlesex Court in 1657, denied the possession of any Quaker books, saying that he disliked those which he had seen and had burned
98 By Bishop Sprat.
99 Massachusetts Historical Society, Proceedings, 1st Series, xvi. 230. Dated October 13, 1667.
100 Ibid., p. 239. Received May 6, 1669.
101 Massachusetts Historical Society, Collections, 1st Series, iii. 177.
102 Massachusetts Records, iii. 356.
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them.103 In 1662 action was brought against Captain Robert Lord for bringing in Ann Coleman of the “cursed sect,” who “came furnished wth many blasphemous & hæretticall bookes, which she had spread abroad.”104
Reference to the wills and inventories of the time (some of which have already been quoted) shows not only the presence of many collections of books, large and small (chiefly the latter), but a keen appreciation of their value. Edward Tench, of New Haven, died in 1640, leaving a library of 53 volumes, appraised at £12.10.00 out of a total estate of £400.105 John Tey, in 1641, ordered his books to be kept for his son in the hands of “Mr. Eliote, Teacher of Roxburye.”106 John Oliver, the same year, mentioned among his possessions books and geometrical instruments.107 In 1644 Israel Stoughton willed
to sonne Israel one fourth part of smale Library, & vnto John another fourth pt, & unto Wm the other halfe, for his incouragmt to apply himself to studies . . . . Provided also, concerning the Bookes, that my wife retaine to her vse during life what she pleaseth, & that my daughters chose each of them one for theire owne, that all may haue something they may call theire ffathers.108
George Phillips, minister of the church at Watertown, died July 1, 1644, leaving a “study of bookes” valued at £71.9.9.109 William Brinsmade, in 1647, left to his son all his books.110 In the same year Thomas Hooker left books appraised at L300.111 John Cotton’s will, dated November 9, 1652, states,
103 Middlesex Court Records, i. 145. Quoted in Duniway, Freedom of the Press, 37 note.
104 Massachusetts Records, iv. part 2, 55. Duniway, Freedom of the Press, p. 37 note.
105 Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, xviii. 137.
106 New England Historical and Genealogical Register, ii. 105.
107 Ibid., iii. 266.
108 Ibid., iv. 51.
109 Mullinger, The University of Cambridge, iii. 176 note 3.
110 New England Historical and Genealogical Register,
111 266, 267. Palfrey, History of New England, ii. 45.
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My books I estimate to ye value of 150 l. (though they cost me much more) and because they are of vse only to my two sonnes, Seaborne & John, therefore I giue them unto them both, to be devided by equal portions.112
John Ward wrote in his will, December 28, 1652,
My bookes I doe give to Thomas Andrews of Ipswich, and allso my chirurgery chest and all that is now in it.113
John Lothrop, of Barnstable, who died August 10, 1653, left his books to his children, in order of age, as they might choose, the rest to “bee sold to any honest man whoe can tell how to make use of them.”114 Books were mentioned in the will of Thomas Rucke, Jr., about 1653.115 Daniel Maud, of Dover, N. H., wrote in his will, January 17, 1654,
what few books I have I leave [to my successor] for the use and benefit of such a one as may be fit to have improvement, especially of those in the Hebrew tongue; but in case such a one be not had, to let them go to som of the next congregation as York or Hampton: except one boke titled “Del [illegible] wch I woul have left for Cambridge library, and my little Hebrew bible for Mr. Brock.116
In the inventory of the estate of Nathaniel Rogers, pastor at Ipswich, taken August 16, 1655, books were listed at £100 out of a total estate of £1497.117 Peter Bulkeley bequeathed the following books, April 14, 1658:118
to Sonne John, Mr. Cartwright upon the Rhemish testament & Willets Sinopsis to Sonne Joseph, Mr. Hildersham upon the one & fiftieth psalme
History of the Councell of Trent in English
Cornelius Tacitry [!] in English
Mr. Bolton on Gen. 6
112 New England Historical and Genealogical Register, v. 240.
113 Ibid., xxii. 32.
114 Ibid., v. 260.
115 Ibid., v. 295.
116 New England Historical and Genealogical Register, v. 241.
117 Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, iii. 232.
118 New England Historical and Genealogical Register, x. 167.
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[to others] Dr. Twisse against the Arminians
Mr. Rutherfords treatise upon the woman of Canaan
Mr. Rutherfords upon the dying of Christ
Rutherford upon John 12
Mr. Cooper on the 8th chapter to the Romans
Mr. Dike on Jeremiah 17thto Sonne Edward, All Piscators Commentaries on the bible
Dr. Willett on Exod. & Levitt. on Sam. 1. 2. & on Daniell
Tarnovius in 2 vollums upon prophetas minores
Dr. Owen, against the Arminians . . . .
One part of the English anotations upon the bible, the other part to be to my Son Gershom
Mr. Aynsworth notes upon the 5 books of Moses & upon the psalmes.
Bulkeley’s library was appraised at £123.119 In 1658 Ralph Partridge left a collection of 420 volumes valued in his inventory at £32.09.00.120 The library of John Norton, according to the inventory of April 24, 1663, contained 159 books in folio, valued at £187.19, and 570 smaller books valued at £112.1, or a total value of £300.121 The same year Samuel Stone left books valued at £127.122 John Wilson, in 1667, wrote in his will,
To my son, John Wilson, I give all my old Bookes and my new Bookes lately bought of Mr. Usher or of any others in New EngIand.123
119 Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, xviii. 140.
120 Ibid., p. 141.
121 New England Historical and Genealogical Register, xi. 344.
122 Palfrey, History of New England, ii. 45.
123 New England Historical and Genealogical Register, xvii. 343. Other wills might be quoted in this connection, from Edward Holyoke’s, 1658, referring to a considerable library, “As for my books and wrightings, I giue my sonn Holyoke all the books that are at Linn . . . . and the bookes I haue in my study that are Mr Beanghans works I giue him . . . . and my dixinary . . . . and A part of the New testament in Folio, with wast paper betwin euery leafe, and the greate mapps of geneolagy,” (Ibid., ix. 345), to such as John Coggan’s careful bestowal of his single book: “My booke of Martires I giue vnto my sonne Caleb, my dau. Robinson & my dau. Rocke, the Longest Liuer of them, to enjoy the [footnote continues on p. 52] same wholly”—in the meantime they were to divide it as they best could. (Ibid., ix. 36). Many wills simply mention books, from which no deductions as to size can be made; but the almost general reference to books in the wills emphasizes the reverence in which they were held.
52
The library of John Davenport was inventoried in 1670 at £233.124
One excellent indication of the kind of library to be found in the colonies toward the end of this period is given in a manuscript list of his books made out by Increase Mather in 1664, from which the following titles are selected:125
Milton Defence of Smectymnuus Milton defensio Populi Anglicani Fuller Lives of Fathers Fuller Lives of Englands Worthyes Herbert Poems126 Camden [No title given; probably Britannia] Camden Remaynes Verulamus de Augmentis scientiarum Februn [?] Body of Chymistry Alstedii encyclopædia Child History of Waldenses Prideux Introduction to History de Laet America descriptio Sands his Traveles Purchases Pilgrimage . . . . . Rerum Anglicarum Scriptores post Bedam Bacon Natural History Howes History of England Mortons History of New England Raleigh The Prerogative of Parliaments Buttons Pryns and Bastwicks Trial . . . . . Sr. H. V[ane’s] Trial
124 Palfrey, History of New England, ii. 45.
125 Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, xx. 280.
126 In the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, xxvii. 347, A. E. Cutler records his ownership of the third edition of Herbert’s “Priest to the Temple; or, the Country Parson,” London, 1675, which contains the dated Latin autograph of Increase Mather: Crescentius Matherus, 1683. This cannot be the same volume as the one in the 1664 list; evidently he had two volumes of Herbert’s poems in 1683, or had given away the earlier one.
53
. . . . . Against Actors showing of stage plays Josephus His works { Juvenal et
Persiuscum Lvbini Commentar. Plautus Senecæ Tragæd. Sophocles Tragæd. Poetæ Minores Demosthenes Orat. Horatius Ovidii Amorum Libri Æsopi Fabulæ Lucani dialog. Grotius de imperio Majestatis Verstegan English Antiquities
Another interesting list of books is that given in the inventory of the estate of Thomas Grocer, “stranger,” who died in Roxbury February 2, 1665. Grocer was a London trader who had dealt with Barbados. The books may have been his private library but were more likely brought as a venture, even though the lack of duplicates among the itemized books might seem to support the first theory. The books mentioned by title number 202; 384 books of various sizes are given as a single item, with a value of £28.16.00, and similarly “120 sticht bookes” are valued at £1. Among the titles given the following are of interest:127
127 Ford, The Boston Book Market, p. 71 ff.
54
It is impossible to prove that the colonists had as large libraries as their contemporaries in England, or as they themselves would have had if they had remained in England; but the evidence given above would seem to show that the early settlers did not suffer for books, either old or new, since the good libraries they brought with them were constantly increased by importations. Furthermore, the comparative nearness of the various settlements made it possible for the colonists to increase their range of reading by borrowing, or to assist their friends by lending. Such libraries as that of John Winthrop, Jr., were almost circulating libraries. The following extracts from colonial letters are characteristic.
I vmblie pray you that when you haue perused the followinge treatise, that you will restore it to mee againe.128
Lent to Mr. Williams, 18. 8, my blew manuscr˜., my relac˜on, the brevt of Cambridge, Nath. Wiggins Reasons, & the printed relation of the Martyrs.129
I have therefore bene bold to send you the Medulla and the Magnalia Dei.130
By this bearer . . . . I received your booke, & had by the same returned it, but that I desire to reade it ouer once more, finding it pleasant & profitable, & craue the sight of any other of that subiect at your leasure, kindly thancking you for this inclosed.131
128 John Blackleach to John Winthrop, 1637. Winthrop Papers, ii. 149.
129 Thomas Lechford, Note-Book, p. 4. 1638. Mr. Williams is probably Roger Williams. The numbers give the date, October 18th.
130 Roger Williams to John Winthrop, Jr., 1645. Massachusetts Historical Society, Collections, 3rd Series, ix. 268.
131 Roger Williams to John Winthrop, Jr., 1649. Winthrop Papers, i. 267.
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He [Mr. Caukin] tells me of a booke lately come ouer in Mr. Pynchon’s name, wherein is some derogation to the blood of Christ. The booke was therefore burnt in the Market place at Boston, & Mr. Pynchon to be cited to the Court. If it come to your hand, I may hope to see it.132
Dr. Choyse hath none of the bookes mentioned in your note.133 I pray you to read & returne this Jew. I haue allso an answere to him by a good plaine man, expounding all which the Jew takes literally, in a spirituall way: & I haue (in a discourse of a Knight (L’Estrange) proving Americans no Jewes) another touch against him . . . . 134
My deere Frend,—I had yours, and truly doe loue you hartily, though I haue bin some tymes troubled at my busines having no returnes, & you selling my house for 20l, & lending out my bookes & things & sending home nothing to mee.135
I send you, by this bearer, such books of Intelligence, as were sent me.136
I would now (with very many thanks) have returned you youre Jesuits maxims but I was loath to trust them in so wild a hand, nor some tidings which I have from England.137
Deare Sr,—I have herewith sent you two of a sort of those bookes I promised you; to the intent you may reserve one by you, and yet pleasure your freinds either by loane or gifte with the other. I have also sent you the dementions of a furnace hearth. But I can not at present find the booke it is in, it being packed away in some trunke amongst other things. I shall mynd it, and send it to you by the first opportunity . . . . 138
132 Roger Williams to John Winthrop, Jr., 1650. Ibid., i. 285.
133 John Davenport to John Winthrop, Jr., evidently in reply to a request for certain books. 1654. Ibid., ii. 488.
134 Roger Williams to John Winthrop, Jr., 1654-5. Ibid., i. 291.
135 From Hugh Peter, then living in England, to Charles Gott, deacon of Salem, evidently his agent. This library was circulating too freely to satisfy its owner! 1654. Winthrop Papers, i. 116.
136 John Davenport to John Winthrop, Jr., 1654-5. Massachusetts Historical Society, Collections, 3rd Series, x. 7.
137 Roger Williams to John Winthrop, Jr., 1655-6. Ibid., p. 11. The “wild hand” indicates that an Indian was the bearer.
138 Richard Leader of Piscataway to John Winthrop, Jr., 1655. Massachusetts Historical Society, Proceedings, 2d Series, iii. 192.
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Sir) I thanck you for the 2 bookes you sent me to peruse, which I am reading dilligently.139
I am much obliged vnto your Worshipp that at last you were myndfull of me, & sent the boke soe much desyred by goodman Staythrop, by which I haue gott much satisfaction.140
More workes of the same, I would gladly see . . . . I pray you parte not with my booke.141
. . . . many thancks for . . . . the Almanack, which I had not seene before, though, since my receite of yours, the president of the Colledge sent me one.142
The booke concerning bees, which you desired, I now send you, by John Palmer, & with it 3 others, viz., 1. An Office of Address, 2. An Invention of Engines of Motion, 3. A Discourse for divisions & setting out of Landes . . . . I shall add unto them a 4th booke in 8°, called Chymical, Medicinal, & Chirurgical Addresses. These are a few of many more which are sent to me. I hoped for an opportunity of shewing them to you here, & shall reserve them for you til a good opportunity.143
Sir, I humbly thanck you for the Intelligence I received in your letters, and for the 2 weekly Intelligences, which Brother Myles brought me.144
I shall send the an answer to John Nortons booke . . . . if I cann procuer it.145
I make bold wth you to transmitt by your hand to Colonell Temple those books [illegible] wch you will receive heerwth (want of fitt artists heere must be my excuse that they appeare in that dessolate forme); they were sent me before winter, from the great intelligence of Europe, Mr Samuell Hartleb, a Germã
139 John Davenport to John Winthrop, Jr., 1655. Massachusetts Historical Society, Collections, 3rd Series, x. 14.
140 Jonathan Brewster to John Winthrop, Jr., 1656. Winthrop Papers, ii. 72. The book referred to is one on alchemy.
141 Jonathan Brewster to John Winthrop, Jr., 1656. Ibid., ii. 78, 81.
142 John Davenport to John Winthrop, Jr., 1659. Massachusetts Historical Society, Collections, 3rd Series, x. 23.
143 John Davenport to John Winthrop, Jr., 1659. Winthrop Papers, ii. 509.
144 John Davenport to John Winthrop, Jr., 1660. Massachusetts Historical Society, Collections, 3rd Series, x. 36. The Intelligence is probably the London Intelligencer.
145 William Coddington to John Winthrop, Jr., 1660. Winthrop Papers, ii. 287.
57
gentlemã, as conteinig something of novelty. That they are yet in sheets may have this convenience, that, being divers distinct relations, the Governr, Mr Wilson, & Mr Norton (if there be any thing worth their notice), or any other friends he please, may have the pvsall of some p˜ts [illegible] whiles the other parts are reading.146
I humbly thank your Worship for your last present, vizt those printed papers of Intelligence referring to the philosophical transactions of the Royall Society of the Virtuosi: I did according to your order to me acquaint Mr Danforth of Roxbury and others with them; the communication thereof renders us all, but especially myself greatly indebted unto your Honour.147
In connection with this, mention must be made of the list in his own handwriting of 90 books borrowed by Richard Mather from John Johnson and William Parks of “Rocksbury,” January 10, 1647-8. These are all theological except “Seneca his works.”148
Additional information in regard to books owned or read by the early settlers may be gained from a study of their references to or quotations from books. Ezekiel Rogers, in his epitaph on Thomas Hooker, written about 1647, wrote the following:149
|
America, although she do not boast Of all the gold and silver from that coast, Lent to her sister Europe’s need or pride; (For that repaid her, with much gain beside, In one rich pearl, which Heaven did thence afford, As pious Herbert gave his honest word;) . . . . |
The reference is evidently to the passage in Herbert’s
146 John Winthrop, Jr., to Thomas Lake, 1661. Ibid., iv. 73.
147 Thomas Shepard to John Winthrop, Jr., 1669. Massachusetts Historical Society, Collections, 3rd Series, x. 71.
148 Massachusetts Historical Society, Collections, 4th Series, viii. 76. Johnson and Parks were both laymen, and yet had libraries of theological books, at least, from which as prominent a minister as Richard Mather found it worth while to borrow books in considerable numbers! See p. 45, above.
149 Magnalia, i. 351.
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“Church Militant” beginning at line 235, which refers to the Puritan movement toward America.150
Governor Bradford, in his polemical writings, quotes authorities freely, and sometimes cites authors or volumes which are not mentioned in the extant lists of his own library or any contemporary Plymouth library. Such names may furnish a clue to the identity of some of the uncatalogued books in his library. The following are quoted, some more than once.
[Whittingham?] A Brieff discours off the troubles begonne at Frankford . . . . 1554.151 Baylie, R. A Dissuasive from the Errors of the Time, 1645. Cotton, Answer to Mr. Baylie Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History Fulke, On Romans the xi. Robinson, J., Apology Robinson, J., A Justification of Separation Speed, Cloud of Witnesses Taylor, The Liberty of Prophesying, 1647.152 Anderton, L., The Triple Cord, or a Treatise proving the Truth of the Roman Religion, 1633. Bale, John, Acts of English Votaries Barnes, R., On the Keyes Beza, Confessions Bullinger, Not stated Burton, H., A Vindication of Churches commonly called Independent, 1644 Calvin, Not stated . . . . Centuries of Madgeburg Fox, Abridgment of Acts and Monuments Gillespie, G., Aaron’s Rod Blossoming, 1646 Grosthead, R., Not stated
150 See p. 137, below.
151 Quoted in the Introduction to the Ecclesiastical History of the Church at Plymouth.
152 The references in this group are quoted in “A Dialogue, or the sum of a Conference between some Young Men born in New England and sundry ancient men that came out of Holland and Old England, Anno Domini 1648.”
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Gualter, R. On Acts Guicciardini, History of the Wars of Italy [?] An Harmony of the Confessions of Faith, 1643 Jacob, H., Attestation Jewell, J., Not stated Mantuanus, Quotes poetry Peter Martyr, Commonplaces Mornay, Philip, Mysterie of Iniquity Mornay, Philip, Fowre Books of the Institutions Pareus, Commentary on Revelation, 1644 [?] The Reasons presented by the Dissenting Brethren against certain Propositions, 1648 Serres, J., Generall Historie of France, 1624 [English edition] Socrates, Church History Symson, P., Historie of the Church Tindall, W., Not stated Vives, Lud., Edition of Augustine’s De Civitate Dei Whetenhall, Discourse on the Abuses in the Church of Rome Whitgift, An Answere to a certain Libell Whittaker, Not stated Willett, A., Commentary on Jude.153 Richard Mather quoted the following:154
Bullinger, Decad. 5, Serm. 9. Ames, Cases of Conscience, 1. 4, C. 28. Q. 1. Alsted, Encyclopædia, p. 25 Alsted, de Casibus, c. 8. reg. 3, memb. 12 Calvin, Institutions, (Several) Martin, Loci Communes, Clas. 4, c. ii. Q. 14
153 References in this group are quoted in “A Dialogue or 3d Conference, between some yonge-men borne in New-England; and some Ancient-men, which came out of Holand and Old England concerning the church.” This was probably written in 1652. It is noticeable that many of these books, the dates of which I have added in the list, were published after the Pilgrims came to America, and that some were used by Bradford within a year or two of the time of publication. It is evident that even in Plymouth, which had no bookseller, and was in general far behind Boston in culture, books fresh from the press were not unknown. See pp. 25 and 26, above.
154 Mather Papers, p. 74.
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Musculus, Loci Connotes, de Cœna Mead, Inst. Loc. Pareus, On 2 Corinthians, 11: 26 Zepper, de Polk. Eccles. L. 1, c. 14
Anne Bradstreet in her poems referred to various writers:
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To whom the old Berosus155 (so much fam’d) His Book of Assurs monarchs dedicates.
No Phoenix pen, nor Spencers poetry, Nor Speed’s nor Cambden’s learned History156
If Curtius be true in his report157
He that at large would satisfie his mind, In Plutarch’s Lives his history may find.158
Which makes me now with Sylvester confess, But Sidney’s Muse can sing his worthiness.159 |
References to DuBartas, author of the “Divine Week,” and to Sylvester, who turned DuBartas’ poems into English, are frequent in her poems, one of which is “In Honour of DuBartas.” According to J. H. Ellis, who edited her poems, much of her historical material was taken from Raleigh’s “History of the World”; his evidence is satisfactory.160
Nathaniel Morton, in his “New England’s Memorial,” occasionally drew upon history for illustrations, giving in each case his authority and generally the page reference. Authors cited include Carion, Languet, Peter Martyr, Pliny, Purchas, and Socrates.
155 The Works of Anne Bradstreet in Prose and Verse, edited by J. H. Ellis, p. 317. Berosus, a Babylonian historian of about 260 B. C., was probably met by Mrs. Bradstreet in the pages of Raleigh’s History.
156 Ibid., p.358. Camden’s Annales Rerum Anglicarum . . . . Regnante Elizabetha was published in 1615. English versions appeared in 1625 and 1635. Speed’s History of Great Britain was published in 1623.
157 Ibid., pp. 257, 265. Quintus Curtius, Roman Historian.
158 Ibid., p. 297.
159 Ibid., p. 349. In An Elegie upon that Honourable and renowned Knight, Sir Philip Sidney, she has much to say of his work as a poet.
160 Ibid., pp. xlvii-xlix.
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It would seem, then, from the foregoing evidence, that, as the colonists brought with them many good libraries, constantly added new books, and supplemented their own libraries by borrowing freely from their neighbors near and remote, they were not without the means of culture and had access to a moderate amount of real literature. It must be remembered that we possess only fragmentary records of private life in the colonies; more comprehensive records would almost certainly give added proof of the possession of books and libraries. It seems fair to assume that, although the colonists were at a disadvantage in this respect compared with their English contemporaries who lived in or near London or either university, they were under no greater handicap than if they had been living in some remote place in the north or west of England.
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