Before this, Bishop Werfrith, to
whom we have referred before as a helper of King Alfred,
had sent to Worcester the Anglo-Saxon version of Gregory's
Cura Pastoralis; the very copy of it is now in the Bodleian
Library.
[1] Reliquary, vii, II (Floyer).
Such were perhaps the beginnings of the library of
Worcester Cathedral. We cannot but think that a collection
of books was formed slowly and steadily here, as in
other foundations of the same kind, although actual records
are scanty and meagre. In over forty of the manuscripts
now at Worcester are inscriptions on fly-leaves stating where
they were procured: sometimes the price is given. The
dates of these inscriptions run from about 1283 to 1462,
or later.[1] "In 1464," writes the Rev. J. K. Floyer, in his
article entitled A Thousard Years of a Cathedral Library,
"we first hear of a regular endowment for the acquisition of
books. Bishop Carpenter made a library in the charnel
house chantry, and endowed it with L 10 for a librarian.
The charnel house was near the north porch of the
Cathedral, and stood on or near the site of the present
Precentor's house.
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