Cultures of collecting

Studies of private libraries and their owners invariably talk about ‘book collecting’—is this the right terminology? After summarizing our broadly held understanding of the evolution of bibliophile collecting from the eighteenth century onwards, this chapter considers the extent to which similar behaviours can be detected (or not) in the seventeenth, drawing on the material evidence of bookbindings, wording in wills, and other sources. Do we find subject-based collecting, of the kind we are familiar with today, as a characteristic of early modern book owners? Some distinctions are recognized in ways in which medieval manuscripts (as opposed to printed books) were brought together at this time. The relationship between libraries and museums, and contemporary attitudes to them, is explored. The concluding argument is that ‘collecting’ is a careless word to use in the seventeenth-century context; just as we should talk about users rather than readers, we should use ‘owners’ rather than ‘collectors’ as the default term, unless there is evidence to the contrary.

Books for use and books for show

We may believe that books should be bought to be read and studied, but there is plentiful evidence, through human history, of people being mocked for owning books more for display and self-image. This chapter looks seriously and systematically at motivations for book ownership in the seventeenth century, recognizing that there is a range of attitudes between textual utility and the valuing of books for their aesthetic or luxurious qualities. Bookbindings, bookplates, heraldic markings, wills, and other kinds of evidence are drawn on, through various case studies, to show that for most people a mixture of approaches was probably involved—that we should think more in terms of a matrix than a linear spectrum. Book historians may define the history of reading as the key interface to be explored between books and people, but this is too narrow a focus if we really want to understand why people owned books.

Introduction

Summary statistics are given for the distribution of private libraries across different professional backgrounds, considered in the context of work which has been done in this field, and assumptions which are commonly made (but which need to be challenged). The chapter considers methodological approaches to private library history, and describes those underpinning this book. The broader national context within which book ownership history should be considered is set out. The content (and exclusions) of the book are more fully described, with reference to other relevant work, and the limitations created by our imperfect evidence base are acknowledged.

Books for the common man

The best-documented private libraries are typically those of the educated, professional, or wealthy classes in urban centres, but there is plentiful (if scattered) evidence of widespread ownership of books across society more widely. This chapter examines this, using particular examples such as Bibles, where inscriptions and other annotations testify to these kinds of ownership patterns. The annotations in a book owned and used in rural Cumbria in the seventeenth century are described. The tendency for books to circulate within geographical localities, and to move from better-off households to poorer ones, is observed. Relevant recent scholarship in this field is acknowledged and summarized.

Libraries for the studious, professional, and wealthy

Describes in more detail the kinds of libraries typically formed by academic or professional people, or by members of the gentry and aristocracy; these constitute about 90 per cent of the evidence base of documented book owners of the seventeenth century. Trends in size over time, and in the kinds of books typically found in these kinds of libraries, are explored, based on a number of case studies. The wider European context is considered. A broad spread of subjects is commonly found in seventeenth-century libraries of any size, with a gradual increase in the proportion of British-published material as time progresses. It is very common to find significant proportions of theological or devotional books, most obviously in clerical and academic libraries, but also (if in smaller proportions) in the houses of the landed classes.

Physical spaces and book formats

This chapter provides an overview of our knowledge of ways in which books were stored in homes during the seventeenth century, drawing on existing scholarship and on evidence from contemporary images and archival sources. The evolution of domestic library spaces is considered, and ways in which books were displayed as well as stored. This chapter also discusses the importance of recognizing the cheaper and more temporary formats in which many books were bought and used during this period, using rare surviving concentrations of stitched pamphlets (e.g. at the Plume Library) to supplement the evidence provided by early sale catalogues.

Women and books in the seventeenth century

A summary account of women’s book ownership patterns during the seventeenth century. Although much work is now ongoing to understand the extent of female book ownership and reading in the early modern period, the documentary record is unbalanced. This chapter brings together many kinds of evidence—contemporary lists, inscriptions, bookplates, bindings, inscriptions, wills—to provide an overview of women’s book ownership during the seventeenth century. Women interfacing with books was widespread, not restricted to the closets of gentry ladies, and cultural historians keen to see women’s reading as controversial or subversive are overstating the case. Subject coverage of women’s libraries is explored, noting the high proportion of devotional and English language material typically found, alongside a wider range of books which may be also be associated with women.