CHAPTER VIII 

 THE LIBRARY, RELICS, PORTRAITS, BUSTS, AND MEDALS 



THE LIBRARY 



AT the beginning of its existence the Royal Society proceeded to form 

 a library. 1 In 1667, at the instance of John Evelyn, Mr. Henry Howard 

 (afterwards sixth Duke of Norfolk) presented the Society with ' The Library 

 of Arundel House, to dispose thereof as their propriety, desiring only that in 

 case the Society should corne to faile, it might return to Arundel House ; and 

 that this inscription Ex dono Henrici Howard Norfolciemis might be put 

 upon every book given them 1 . 'The Society received this noble donation 

 with all thankfulnesse, and ordered that Mr. Howard should be registered as 

 a benefactor.' 2 



This Library was not removed from Arundel House until the winter of 

 1678-9, shortly before the demolition of that building. It was then 

 transferred to Gresham College, which, as stated in Chapter I, was the home 

 of the Society down to 1710. A catalogue was drawn up by William Perry, 

 a Fellow of the Society, and ordered to be printed. This catalogue, which 

 was published in 1681, was made to comprise, in separate lists, the other 

 books in the possession of the Society, which included those bequeathed by 

 Mr. George Ent, 3 and those presented by their authors and others. 



The Arundel House Library was a valuable collection of both printed books 

 and manuscripts. Some of the MSS. were reputed to have come originally 

 from the famous library which King Mathias Corvinus had formed at Buda- 

 Pest, passing thence in later years into the possession of Bilibald Pirckheimer 

 of Nuremberg. Pirckheimer died in 1530, leaving a large library. A century 

 later this library came into the possession of Thomas, Earl of Arundel, the 

 famous collector, who purchased it during his embassy to Vienna in 1636. 

 Many of the books still in the Society's possession contain Pirckheimer's 

 bookplate designed by Albert Diirer. The Arundel House Library is 



1 De Sorbiere, who visited the Society at Gresham College ill 1663, refers to the beginning 

 of a library (' Voyage en Angleterre ' (1664), p. 87). He was one of the two foreigners 

 elected as original Fellows of the Royal Society (see p. 45 note and Chronological List 

 of Fellows). 



1 Journal Book, January 2, 1666-7. 



3 Not to be mistaken for Sir George Eut, M.D., one of the original Fellows of the 

 Society. 



