By 1752 only twenty
volumes noted in the inventory of 1506 were left at
Exeter.[6]
[1] Building accounts in C. A. S. (N.S.), 8vo. ser. iv. 296.
[2] Oliver, 366-375.
[3] Between 1385 and 1425 the bishops were giving books to Exeter
College, Oxford.
[4] Oliver, 359, 360, 366-375.
[5] List in Oliver, Lives, 376; C. A. S. (N.S. ), iv. 306 (8vo.
ser.).
[6] Oliver, 376.
Besides the Exeter Book, one other very ancient and
valuable manuscript is preserved in the Cathedral: this is
the part of the Domesday Book referring to Devon, Cornwall,
and Somerset, which is probably not much later in
date than the Exchequer record. Two ancient book-boxes
are also to be found there. These are fixed in a sloping
position by means of iron supports embedded in the pillars.
The late Dr. J. W. Clark was led to believe them to be
intended for books by finding a wooden bookboard nailed to
the inside bottom of one of the boxes. For the protection
of the book each box has a cover, which does not seem ever
to have been fastened: a reader would raise the lid when
he wanted to use the manuscript, and close it before he
went away.
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