1. fol. 157a held
Jan. 25, 1555-56 to sell the benches and desks "herein; so
that being strips stark naked (as I may say) continued so
till Bodley restored it."[5] The only cheerful reference to
this period is that by Wood, who tells us some friendly
people bought in a number of the manuscripts, and
ultimately handed them over to the University after the
library's restoration.[6] But of all the books given by the
Duke of Gloucester only three are now in the Bodleian,
and only three others in Corpus Christi, Oriel, and
Magdalen. The British Museum possesses nine; Cambridge
one; private collectors two. Six are in France:
two Latin--both Oxford books--and three French manuscripts
in the Bibliotheque Nationale, and one manuscript
at the Bibliotheque Ste. Genevieve. The Ste. Genevieve
book[7] is a magnificent Livy, once belonging to the famous
Louvre Library. It bears the inscription: "Cest livre est a
moy Homfrey, duc de Gloucestre, du don mon tres chier
cousin le conte de Warewic."[8]
[1] O. H. S. 27, Boase; O. H. S. 5, Collect., 62. At C. C, Christ
Church, and St. John's Colleges the least useful books could be
sold if the libraries became too large.
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