But before 1400 several book collectors were sharp
aberrations from the general rule. Richard de Gravesend,
Bishop of London, owned nearly a hundred books, almost
all theological, and each worth on an average more than
a sovereign a volume, or in all about L 1740 of our money.
A certain Abbot Thomas of St. Augustine's Abbey,
Canterbury, gave to his house over one hundred volumes.[1]
To the same monastery a certain John of London, probably
a pupil of Friar Bacon, left a specialist's library of
about eighty books, no fewer than forty-six being on
mathematics, astronomy, and medicine.[2] Simon Langham,
too, bequeathed to Westminister Abbey ninety-one works,
some very costly.[3] John de Newton, treasurer of York,
left a good library, part of which he bequeathed to York
Minster and part to Peterhouse (1418). A canon of York,
Thomas Greenwood, died worth more than thirty pounds
in books alone (1421). And Henry Bowet, Archbishop
of York, left a collection of thirty-three volumes, nearly all
of great price,--copies de luxe, finely illuminated and
embellished, worth on an average a pound a volume
(1423).
[1] James (M.
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