St John's College U.5*

Catalogue of books given by John Newcome. Latin and English, 1766.

 

'Catalogue of Dr Newcome's books Ii.' John Newcome (d. 1765) studied at St John's, taking his BA in 1704-5. He was elected to a Fellowship in 1707 and subsequently received the degrees of MA (1708), BD (1715) and DD (1725). In 1727, Newcome was elected Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity, and in 1735 he succeeded to the Mastership of St John's. He held both offices until his death in 1765. Newcome collected incunabula and his collection came to St John's on his death. His books are now shelved in class Ii in the Upper Library.

A note at the beginning of the catalogue reads, 'Pretiosa haec ac pulcherrima nascentis Typographiae monumenta, benevolo erga Collegium Divi Johannis Evangelistae Cantabr. (quod per annos triginta sedulo rexerat) animo, dono dedit Joannes Newcome pro Domina Margareta S.T.P. G.A. protobibl. 1766.' G.A. stands for George Ashby (1724-1808), antiquary and Fellow of St John's. Ashby continues, 'Many of these books were part of Lord Oxford's most noble collection, & were bought by Dr Whalley Mr. of Peterhouse of Osborn at some of his sales subsequent to the grand one, as appears by the original prices, in some at least, being alter'd'.

The catalogue lists sixty items. Each entry gives details of author, title, imprint, and format. References are made to Mattaire's Annales typographici and to the catalogue of the Harleian library. The compiler also notes any prices that appear in the volumes. The list is annotated with classmarks in two later hands.

At the end of the catalogue is a note recording the movements of what is now MS F.19 viz its removal from the Librarian's room in June 1785 to be placed with Newcome's books and its subsequent placing in the manuscripts cupboard. Loose in the back of the volume are short lists recording the gift of Persian manuscripts from Nathaniel Atcheson in 1816 (Browne 1422-4, 1427), of a manuscript from Hastings Robinson in 1817 (I.42), and of a manuscript and two printed books bequeathed by Sir Isaac Pennington in 1817 (K.40, Uu.1.1, Uu.7.5).

Manuscript extra information

325 x 205 mm. 21p + blanks, 3p loose at end. Paper; one watermark bearing the motto 'Pro Patria', another a crown with GR below; margins ruled in red on the rectos. The catalogue is in the hand of George Ashby; some of the classmarks are in the hand of Frank Cherry (sub-librarian 1876-88); the other annotators have not been identified. Binding: red cloth spine; marbled paper covers; kept within green cloth-covered boards.