College and Research Libraries DONALD G. DAVIS, JR. Problems in the Life of a University Librarian: Tho~nas J aines, 1600-1620 The founder of the reconstituted library at Oxford University, Sir Thomas Bodley (1545-1613), has enjoyed the praise of historians and librarians. The achievements of his librarian, Thomas James (1573- 1629 ), have been less celebrated but are possibly equal in importance to those of Bodley. Evidences of the conflict between these two per- sonalities reveal differences in objectives and approaches to librarian- ship. After examining four episodes at Oxford between 1600 and 1620, the author concludes that I ames represented a p1'ogressive position in academic library services. THE STORY OF Sir Thomas Bodley's offer to restore the library at Oxford University in the early seventeenth cen- tury is a familiar one to most library historians. Much praise has been ac- corded Bodley ( 1545-1613) for his far- reaching activities on behalf of the bib- liographical resources of the library. Thomas James , the first librarian of the Bodleian Library, has received less at- tention and limited praise. Most chron- iclers are content to note the signifi- cance of the printed book catalogs which he produced. The objective of this essay is to pro- vide some insight into Thomas James's career as an academic librarian at Ox- ford University from 1600 to 1620. The general approach and philosophy of James to academic librarianship will be studied in relation to the ideas of Bod- ley, the benefactor of the library. The relationship of the two men will be ex- plored. To illustrate the thesis which Mr. Davis is a student in the Graduate School of Library Science, University of Illinois. evolves from this comparison, several episodes in the life of Thomas James will be presented as examples of his contribution to the Oxford library and the profession he chose. Because of the nature of this essay, the more common- ly known events of James's life will not be repeated. However, before the main thesis may be developed fully , some knowledge of the early life of Thomas James is necessary. Although the exact date of James's birth is unknown, he was born about 1573 in Newport, Isle of Wight. 1 He matriculated at New College, Oxford, on January 28, 1592, and was a fellow of the college in the years 1593 to 1602, re- ceiving in the meanwhile his BA in 1595 and his MA in 1599. On May 16, 1614, he received the BD and DD degrees, perhaps in partial recognition of his achievements as a scholar-librarian. Immediately upon finishing his un- dergraduate education, James began the production of scholarly works and bib- liographic activity which characterized his life to the end. In the years 1598 and 1599 his translations of Italian and French works were published in Lon- I 43 44 I College & Research Libraries • January 1970 don and Oxford. His edition of Richard de Bury's Philobiblon was printed in 1599 and included a long dedication to Bodley. Although James praised Bodley and his colleagues for reestablishing the Oxford library, there is no clue to his desire to become a librarian. N everthe- less James enjoyed, even at an early age, an excellent reputation for scholar- ship among his contemporaries.2 From the first, Bodley had his eye upon James to be the Keeper of his library. Before the Bodleian Library, as it would be called in years to come, for- mally opened on November 8, 1602, James had been in the employ of Bod- ley for some months. 3 Even a cursory examination of the correspondence between Bodley and James reveals the strong affection that the elder statesman held for his young librarian. Thomas Bodley was in his late fifties when he made his proposal (Feb- ruary 23, 1598) to the university that he refurbish the library. 4 Son of a printer, Bodley fled to Europe with his family during the reign of Queen Mary, and consequently received an education at the hands of protestant scholars in Ger- many and Switzerland and gained an acquaintance with several languages. With the accession of Elizabeth, Bod- ley's family returned to England, and he went to Magdalen College, Oxford, whence in 1563 he received his BA de- gree, specializing in Greek and Hebrew studies. After teaching some years, he traveled on the Continent and became proficient in Italian, French, and Span- ish, and upon his return to England joined the Court. From 1585 until his request for recall and retirement from public service was granted in 1596, he undertook various state missions of a diplomatic nature and performed well in these tasks for which he was so ad- mirably fitted. In 1587 he married Mrs. Ann Ball, a wealthy widow; no children issued from the union. 5 At the close of his life, therefore, Bod- ley determined to offer his services in a venture that would bring fame and honor to his name and to that of the university and nation. 6 His proposal was accepted, and the response of his friends to support the project, both in providing books and also in gathering funds for the endowment, was success- ful. Bodley, a bachelor for most of his life, was a man of various gifts and marked personality traits. 7 His years as a scholar working with the details of linguistic study must have contributed to his con- cern for minutiae and his knowledge of the bibliography of the day. His was a classical education, and he recognized the important works in major fields. Fur- thermore, his years in public service must have influenced him to place a high priority on the appearance of the material in his library. He was exceed- ingly conscious of public relations and always strove to derive the maximum advantage out of every situation. This is seen in the meticulous way in which donors were wooed and satisfied. 8 These traits, careful attention to de- tail and a perception of how operations appear to others, are extremely useful to the good administrator. However, Bodley combined them with a third trait. The Oxford library was in many ways the private and personal project of Thomas Bodley himself. He made the library the one passion of the last fif- teen years of his life and in so doing he may have limited the development of the library. Instead of allowing for dis- cussion in the evolution of procedures of library operation and for flexibility on the part of his staff, he exercised personal control. Until formal statutes were approved by the Crown and the university, and the endowment provi- sions for the library's support were ac- cepted in 1610, Bodley was the source of all funds and he made use of this privilege to take direct responsibility for the library. 9 Thomas James, not yet thirty when asked to be the Keeper of the Oxford library, was not interested in being a simple desk clerk for Bodley. He was basically a faculty member and his first love was research. He was concerned for the use of the materials he acquired. Not only did he want to collect for oth- ers, he wanted to avail himself of the materials and aid others in their use. As a young man, he seemed to be particu- larly sympathetic to the undergraduates and students below the highest rank. As a scholar more than a diplomat, he was more concerned with the general utili- ty of the collection than he was with appearances and the impressions that were made for their own sake. Here then are the two principal per- sonages in the foundation of the Bod- leian Library: Thomas Bodley and Thomas James. While they both placed the growth and development of the Ox- ford library on the highest level of pri- ority, their personalities and modus op- erandi were quite different. Opinions of scholars regarding the two men vary apparently with personal biases. The traditionally minded tend to exalt Bod- ley, and revisionists lean toward a great- er .appreciation of James's role in the li- brary's development. Here are two ex- amples of opinion. Strickland Gibson, supporting Bodley, has written: It must be obvious to everyone who reads Sir Thomas Bodley's letters that during the first eleven years of the library's ex- istence he took a far larger share in its or- ganization than did his Librarian. Al- though James ... had at first shown prom- ise of being an ideal Librarian, he proved otherwise. Bodley was an exigent master, and James a careless cataloguer.lO On the other hand, George Wheeler has written concerning James, Dr. Thomas James, Bodley's first Librari- an, has perhaps scarcely received justice on his professional side at the hands either of his contemporaries or of writers of a Thomas ]ames, 1600-1620 I 45 later date. . . . To a certain extent this view is perhaps due to his having been overshadowed by the commanding per- sonality of Sir Thomas Bodley. The latter held very decided views not only on mat- ters of real importance but even on com- paratively trivial details, and the Librarian thus became, to a large extent, merely the executive officer who carried out the in- structions of the Founder .... Perhaps, too, there has been a tendency to attribute to the Founder what really was in a great measure due to the Librarian.11 It is the thesis of this essay that Bod- ley and James were personalities which because of their prior training, experi- ence, and interest were united in their love of books. But this is where the uni- ty ends! Each had his own reasons for the practice of librarianship as he saw it. Their relationship was marked by conflict between contradictory goals. Between them they achieved a great deal. But unlike Bodley, James has not been fully appreciated. In the following pages, four episodes in the tenure of James as Keeper of the Oxford library will be briefly studied for the purpose of understanding the rela- tionship that he had with Bodley and appreciating his role in the library's ad- ministration. The four issues to be con- sidered are James's initial appointment, his ideas of book selection, his shelving scheme, and his resignation. Although Bodley had decided on James for his librarian perhaps as early as the publication of the new edition of Bury in 1599, James did not actually en- ter the employ of Bodley until the ap- pointment was confirmed April 13, 1602.12 James had, however, for several years been working with Bodley in pre- paring the new collection of books. Be- fore the library was officially opened in November 1602, James tried to settle several issues with Bodley. The first in- volved compensation. Bodley had fixed the .annual salary for the Keeper at £22 13s. 4d. James wrote him suggesting that 46 I College & Research Libraries • January 1970 thirty or forty pounds might be more appropriate! When James hinted at leaving the library, Bodley relented and increased his compensation by four pounds per year. This was gradually raised to forty pounds per year after 1611.13 The first battle for increased fi- nancial recognition of the academic li- brarian was won. Bodley's original instructions in pro- posing to rebuild the Oxford library also outlined the qualifications for his Keep- er, whoever he would be. 14 Two provi- sions clearly did not meet with the ap- proval of James: the prohibition of hold- ing a clerical appointment and the pro- hibition of marriage. Just two months before the library opened in November 1602, Jq.mes, with the grudging consent of Bodley, violated the regulations of the Founder. On September 14, he be- came rector of St. Aldate, Oxford, 15 and on October 18, he married Ann Under- hill.16 In 1614 and 1617, he took other church posts. Since Bodley was neither a churchman nor the marrying type (at least for the first forty years of his life), perhaps he did not realize the signifi- cance of these restrictions upon the po- sition he outlined. By gaining Bodley's ·reluctant approval, James protected both his domestic and intellectual rights. Bodley, like St. Paul, apparently want- ed his man to concentrate totally on the business at hand, in this case, library work. But James won out for the neces- sity of matrimony and the freedom to follow his intellectual interests. A second matter which illustrates the interaction between James and Bodley involves the issue of book selection. Bodley started selecting books and manu- scripts before James came to his Ox- ford post. Many volumes were donated by Bodley's friends and acquaintances. James I offered Bodley the privilege of selecting from his books some additions to the library-an offer that was never fulfilled. In .addition to donations, Bod- ley had a London agent tour the book centers of Europe to purchase volumes. However, the great benefactor had a particular taste in books.17 First, he pre- ferred large folio volumes to the smaller quarto .and octavos. Second, he wanted the books to be in European or classical languages; «learned books should be written in learned languages." And third, Bodley did not want his library cluttered with English plays and alma- nacs, to which he referred as "baggage bookes" and «riffe raffes." Bodley's mo- tive was probably good; he wanted to create a true scholar's library. James did not lack enthusiasm for the classics, but he was concerned with the vernacular as well. Witness his concern for manuscripts in the university li- braries and his translations into English from French and Spanish. Perhaps James saw that a growing number of English playwrights and writers were achieving stature with their continental counterparts. 18 To discourage the collec- tion of the plays of Shakespeare and Marlowe was a serious policy for the li- brary to maintain. Eventually, of course, the library became internationally fa- mous for precisely those materials Bod- ley had banned! Manuscripts were more attractive to Bodley than printed books. It must have been in a moment of weakness when Bodley in 1610 negotiated the agree- ment with the Stationers' Company whereby a copy of every work printed by a member would be presented to the library. 19 To Bodley's dismay and James's delight, the influx of English books slowly increased. 20 Although some years were required to bring pressure upon the Company to honor its agree- ment, a principle was won by James which contributed to make the Bodleian Library one of the finest. James could be pleased not only because of the de- posit value of this material, but because the undergraduates would have access to current English thought. A third matter over which Bodley and James disagreed was the arrange- ment of books in the library. 21 Bodley felt that the folio and larger quarto vol- umes should be shelved, preferably chained to desks, for relatively easy and free access. The smaller books should be kept under lock and key because of the threat of theft. Furthermore Bodley in- sisted on the same policy for ·manu- scripts and printed books. Now this may have worked out well enough in 1600 when the proportion of manuscripts was much higher than in later years, and when the percentage of large folio vol- umes was greater than it was ten years later. But with the growing collection of medium-sized printed books, the origi- nal arrangement did not work as well. James tried to get his chief to agree to a· change, but to no avail. Upon Bod- ley's death in January 1613, James thought that he might be able to carry out his own plan. He separated the manuscripts and put them under lock and key, and thus they were not direct- ly accessible to the reader. In addition, he moved the octavo volumes to open shelves. James knew the value of manu- scripts and he also knew how infre- quently they were being used. Progress had won again. But not quite! James soon incurred the wrath of the Oxford archivist, Brian Twyne22 who was engaged in research on a history of Oxford and who used the manuscripts perhaps more frequent- ly than other scholars. Twyne made a formal complaint to the Curators of the library at the visitation of 1613, one of the first times the Bodley statutes had been put into effect. Twyne perhaps welcomed this opportunity to attack the library and its librarian, 'and thus in- voked the elaborate provisions that Bod- ley himself had laid down .as to the ar- rangement of the library. James, yield- ing to pressure, was persuaded to re- voke his earlier decision. He thus dis- covered that Bodley's spirit was still very much alive. John Rous, James's Thomas ]ames, 1600-1620 I 47 successor, was able to make the change during his tenure as Keeper. This inci- dent shows the type of museum deposi- tory that Bodley envisioned, in contrast to the practical arrangement of James. One other evidence of a difference in philosophy is the proposal made by James to Bodley that when the Arts por- tion of the new addition to the original building was completed, it be made into a library for the students of the Arts, that is, an undergraduate library. 2 3 Bod- ley did not accept this proposal .and the idea was not implemented at Oxford until 1883. James turned instead to his extensive subject cataloging projects as a means of aiding students. The final episode in James's life which reflects his philosophy of mission in the library is his resignation. In 1620 James resigned from his position as Keeper of the Bodleian Library. His reason for leaving was severe bodily suffering, which may have been the case, though he lived for another nine years and was productive all the while. Yet there is some evidence that James was not ap- preciated by his contemporaries. Al- though Bodley could disagree and spar with him about library procedure, he had .a certain affection for his young ad- ministrator. With Bodley's death, things probably changed somewhat. Brian Twyne, the University Archi- vist, publicly wished that Mr. James would frequent his place more diligently, keepe his houres, remove away his superfluous papers lienge scattered about the desks, and shewe himselfe more pliable and facill in directinge of the stu- dents to their bookes and purposes. 24 Whether the implied can be substanti- ated is difficult to determine. One thing is clear. James could not have been happy bogged down in the trivial de- tails of the profession. While still alive, Bodley dealt with these matters wheth- er or not James wanted him to do so. James at least could concern himself 48 I College & Research Libraries • January 1970 with his Biblical studies. He was a mem- ber of one of the Oxford committees preparing the Authorized Version of the Bible in the years prior to 1611. James finally succeeded in getting Bodley to appoint an Under-Keeper in 1606 to help relieve him of some of the physical work, paging octavo volumes for pa- trons! Under Bodley, his duties were many, and the Founder had insisted that six hours per day in the library was reasonable ; he could spend the other four hours of the work day in his own study. 25 There are suggestions that in his later years as Keeper, James might have felt that he was not free to pursue those ac- tivities for which he was best suited. Of the more than twenty books that James produced between 1600 and his death six appeared before 1613. There ar~ none recorded from 1613 to 1623, but eight were published between 1624 and his death in 1629.26 He did not resign, however, until the second edition of his catalog of books in the Bodleian Library was at press. Here he arranged the titles of the 16,000 vol- umes in an alphabetical arrangement. 27 This was a crowning bibliographical achievement. Since the first classified catalog of 1605, James had been at work on subject catalogs for the faculties of Theology ( 1607), Medicine ( 1610), and Law ( 1613). After his retirement, he completed the greatest task of all, the subject catalog for the Arts ( 1623). 28 In a sense this fulfilled his de- sire to be of utmost help to the patrons of the library. Wheeler says: He resigned the Librarianship in 1620, and in order that readers should not be altogether deprived of the advice and as- sistance he had been able to give in per- son while he had charge of the Library, spent some part of his leisure in the com- pilation of a subject-catalogue intended primarily for the use of younger stu- dents.29 In an official Bodleian Library publica- tion of 1951, the following judgment is made: It is doubtful whether any library in Eu- rope at this time was so well equipped with the bibliographical tools required to enable readers to make the best use of its contents. It was not without reason that a contemporary could pay tribute to "Mr nor James the incomparably industrious and learned Bibliothecary of Oxford."30 Whatever the deeper causes for James's resignation, his service to the library did not end and his desire to as- sist the academic community can hardly be questioned. A five -hundred page vol- ume remains containing transcripts of 124 letters addressed to James. Indicat- ing the scope of service he performed, the volume contains letters compliment- ing James, introducing visitors and oth- ers, asking for information from books in the library, asking for transcripts of library material, asking for help in the preparation of works for publication, and dealing with the persecution of Catholics, to name a few of the sub- jects.31 These copies of letters may have been left behind by James to offer a de- fense against the charge that he had been a liability to the library. In summary, what can be said? Ac- colades have been heaped upon Sir Thomas Bodley since his imaginative proposal of 1598; his reputation has been so exalted that the labors of his li- brarian have been eclipsed. Episodes, however, speak for themselves. Bodley was not a librarian in the historic and professional usage of the word. Rather, he was a collector with a personal idea of the arrangement and use of the col- lection he sponsored as a private project for the benefit of Oxford University and England. His traditional conception of a somewhat medieval library which served a select group of classical schol- ars doubtless hindered the develop- ment of progressive library services. His library was to be a showpiece and an incentive to encourage further dona- tions and endowment funds. Thomas James was a younger man who had had recent personal experience with the problems of research and was involved in continuing study himself. He was aware of the changing nature of library materials and the needs of students. In short, he was both a scholar Thomas ]ames, 1600-1620 I 49 and a service-oriented librarian. He contrasts sharply with the aristocratic bibliophile, Bodley. The motives of nei- ther man may be impugned. 32 Without both of them, the Bodleian Library would have had a less illustrious begin- ning, if a beginning at all. But in a re- visionist spirit, the career of Thomas James needs to be reevaluated. When that biographical study is done, Thomas James will in all probability emerge as a great academic librarian. REFERENCES Ed. Note: The author calls attention to Sidney L. Jackson's article, "Bodley and the Bodleian: Collec- tions, Use, and Administration," Library Quarterly 39, 3 (July, 1969) 253-270. Jackson's article was published after acceptance b y CRL, and although both deal with some of the same ideas, the emphasis is quite different. 1. Gordon Goodwin, "James, Sir Thomas ( 1573?- 1629 )," Dictionary of National Biography (Lon- don, 1908), X, 658-660. Unless otherwise noted, biographical information on Thomas James is drawn from this source. 2. George W. Wheeler in Thomas Bodley, Letters of Sir Thomas Bodley to Thomas ]ames, First Keeper of the Bodleian Library (Oxford, 1926), p. X. 3. Ibid., pp. xi-xii. 4. William D. Macray, " Bodley, Sir Thomas ( 1545- 1613) ," Dictionary of National Biography (Lon- don, 1908) , II, 756-759. Unless otherwise noted, biographical information on Thomas Bodley is drawn from this source. 5. Falconer Madan, The Bodleian Library at Oxford ( London, 1919) , p. 16, cites the date of the marriage at 1597. Macray, however, in his article in the Dictionary of National Biography ( p. 757) sets the date as 1587, some ten years earlier. 6. J. N. L. Myres, "Oxford Libraries in the Seven- teenth and Eighteenth Centuries," in Francis Wormald and C. E. Wright ( eds. ), The English Library Before 1700 (London, 1958), p. 243. 7. Gibson, p. 28, says, "To the founding of his li- brary Sir Thomas Bodley brought the mind of a scholar, the training of a diplomatist, and the common sense of a man of business." 8. Theodore W. Koch, " The Bodleian Library at Oxford," Library Journal, vol. 39, nos. 11, 12 (October, November 1914), p. 5 in continuously paged reprint. 9. George W. Wheeler, "The Bodleian Staff, 1600- 12," Bodleian Quarterly Record, vol. 2 , no. 23 ( 3rd Quarter 1919), 281. "For several years then James had sole charge of the Library, and during the whole of his term of office the greater part of the work of the Library fell to him. But if assistants were wanting there was no lack of supervisors. . . . The Founder, indeed, took such a very active part in the management of the Library that the Keeper was practically relegated to the position of an executive officer carrying out the instructions of another. The smallest adm in- istrative detail was submitted for his approval before it was carried out, and full accounts had to be sent of all that was taking place in the Library." 10. Gibson, pp. 27-28. 11. George W. Wheeler, "An Early Bodleian Subject- Catalogue," Bodleian Quarterly Record, vol. 2, no. 13 (1st Quarter 1917), 17. 12. Wheeler, "Bodleian Staff," pp. 278-279. 13. Ibid., pp. 281-285. James's duties as a "clerk" were extensive and his scholarly pursuits were expected to take second place. 14. The librarian was to be "some one that is noted and knowen for a diligent Student, and in all his conuersation to be trustie, actiue, and discreete, a graduat also and a Linguist, not encombred with mariage, nor with a benefice of Cure." Madan, p. 18. 15. Goodwin, p. 659. 16. Wheeler, "Bodleian Staff," p. 280. 17. The Bodleian Library in the Seventeenth Century (Oxford, 1951) , p.l2. 18. Gibson, pp. 25-26. 19. Goodwin, p. 659. 20. Bodleian Library in the Seventeenth Century, p. 13. 21. George W. Wheeler, "Free-Access in 1613," Bod- leian Quarterly R ecord, vol. 4, no. 44 (4th Quar- ter 1924), 192-193. 22. A. F. Pollard, "Twyne, Brian (1579?-1644)," Dictionary of National Biography (London, 1909), XIX, 1328-1329. 23. Wheeler, "Bodleian Subject-Catalogue," p. 18 and Koch, p. 5. 24. As quoted in Koch, p. 5. 25. Wheeler, "Bodleian Staff," p. 283. 26. This estimate is made from the bibliography of James's works as listed in Goodwin, pp. 659-660. 27. Koch, pp. 5-6. 28. Bodleian Library in the Seventeenth Century, p. 14. 29. Wheeler, "Bodleian Subject-Catalogue,' p . 18. 30. Bodleian Library in the Seventeenth Century, p. 12. 31. George W. Wheeler, "A Librarian's Correspond- ence," Bodleian Quarterly Record, vol. 6, nos. 61-62 ( 1929)' 11-18. 32. Bodleian L i brary in the Seventeenth Century, pp. 9-10. " In spite of some uneasy moments and oc- casional threats of resignation the fruitful col- laboration between Bodley and James remained unbroken until Bodley's death in January 1613." p. 10.