Collectors

The Emmerson collection is, at first glance, extremely diverse, with books of every size, shape, and value, mostly from the seventeenth century. What ties the collection together is Emmerson’s abiding interest in history, and the way that these 350-400 year old books could bring history to life, and make us feel as if we were touching the same items that people in those days touched.

As part of his deep interest in the process of collecting and in systems used to order collections, Emmerson himself collected works by two seventeenth-century collectors: the diarist John Evelyn and the lawyer Daniel Fleming. Emmerson’s collection as a whole is special not just because it contains beautiful and unusual books but because it is so inclusive of everything from the most apparently ephemeral pamphlet through to showy presentation copies.

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1 – Becoming a collector

John Emmerson, <em>Symmetry principles in particle physics</em>, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1972, State Library Victoria, Melbourne (RAREEMM 830/25)

John Emmerson, Symmetry principles in particle physics, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1972, State Library Victoria, Melbourne (RAREEMM 830/25)

John Emmerson (1938–2014) first had a career as a physicist with a PhD from Oxford University, but then retrained as a lawyer and specialised in intellectual property.
He began collecting books and pamphlets from the seventeenth century when he was a student in Oxford.
Painting of John McLaren Emmerson QC.
John McLaren Emmerson QC (1938–2014)
By the time of his death, Emmerson had amassed over 5000 rare and important items, which were bequeathed to State Library Victoria.
Photograph of books on a shelf.

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  • Fifty-nine travel-sized books grouped together. Each book has red binding with gold decoration.

    SLV was fortunate to receive the majority of Emmerson’s collection; however, he bequeathed this significant set of books to the Bodleian Libraries at the University of Oxford. This is King Charles I’s travelling library. It contains fifty-nine travel-sized volumes, all with their original bindings, and is mostly centred on Latin classics. However, as Emmerson noted, it is unlikely that Charles personally selected these texts as the library was amassed for him when he was as young as five years old. Emmerson felt this library belonged at the Bodleian due to Oxford’s significance to the Civil War.

    Image: Travelling library of King Charles I 1568–1608, Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford (Emmerson 1–60)

2 – ‘A vivid sense of the past’

<em>A perfect narrative of the whole proceedings of the High court of iustice in the tryal of the King in Westminster Hall...</em> London, printed for John Playford, 1649, State Library Victoria, Melbourne (RAREEMM 134/19)

A perfect narrative of the whole proceedings of the High court of iustice in the tryal of the King in Westminster Hall... London, printed for John Playford, 1649, State Library Victoria, Melbourne (RAREEMM 134/19)

Emmerson’s collecting began when he was given an original pamphlet describing the trial of King Charles I.
The book seemed to take me to the heart of the seventeenth century.
This is a great example of the kind of pamphlet that was the equivalent of today’s newspaper: small, printed quickly, cheap and easily transported

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  • Bookplates of Bent Juel-Jensen and Robert S. Pirie pasted on to the endpapers of a book.

    Emmerson acquired the previous pamphlet after being shown a similar one by Bent Juel-Jensen, a consultant physician in infectious diseases and eminent collector of rare books. Juel-Jensen’s library included a significant collection of works by the poet, scholar and soldier Sir Philip Sidney (1554–1586), who died in battle after supposedly giving his water to a fellow soldier.

    Image: Bookplates of Bent Juel-Jensen and Robert S. Pirie in A speech spoken by His Excellence Prince Rupert to his Sacred Majesty... Oxford, L. Lichfield, 1642, ... reprinted at London for John Rivers, State Library Victoria (RAREEMM 2015/42)

    Bookplates of Bent Juel-Jensen and Robert S. Pirie pasted on to the endpapers of a book.

    Juel-Jensen bequeathed his Sidney collection to the Bodleian Libraries in 2006. John Emmerson’s collection contains all but one Sidney edition, and his bookplate is identical to Juel-Jensen’s in all but name.

    Image: Bookplates of Bent Juel-Jensen and Robert S. Pirie in A speech spoken by His Excellence Prince Rupert to his Sacred Majesty... , Oxford, L. Lichfield, 1642... reprinted at London for John Rivers, 1642, State Library Victoria (RAREEMM 2015/42)

3 – From pamphlets to presentation copies

James Stuart, The workes of the most high and mighty prince, Iames by the grace of God, King of Great Britaine, France and Ireland..... London, printed by Robert Barker and Iohn Bill, printers to the Kings most excellent Maiestie, 1616, State Library Victoria, Melbourne (RAREEMM 324/1)

This impressive volume stands at the opposite end of printing to the news pamphlet.
King James wrote a great deal, and fancied himself as a scholar.
Painting James VI & I, c. 1618, by Paul van Somer, Royal Collection Trust (RCIN 401224)
James VI & I c. 1618, by Paul van Somer, Royal Collection Trust (RCIN 401224)
This book is specially bound as a present for James’s son and heir Charles, who become King Charles I in 1625.
Emmerson collected works that shone light on the past, so he was interested in everything from eight-page pamphlets to grand and expensive books like this one.

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  • Title page of James Stuart's, Daemonologie, in forme of a dialogue, divided into three Bookes., Edinburgh, R. Walde-grave, 1597, British Library, London (C.27.h.1).

    The above compilation includes King James’s thoughts on a range of topics, from the divine rights of kings to the ‘lothsome’, ‘harmeful’ and ‘daungerouse’ act of tobacco-smoking (A counterblaste to tobacco, 1604). Included also is Daemonologie, James’s justification for the existence of witches and their punishment by death. It has been argued that James’s description of witches in Daemonologie may have influenced Shakespeare’s development of the three witches in Macbeth (1606).

    Image: James Stuart, Daemonologie, in forme of a dialogue, divided into three Bookes. Edinburgh, R. Walde-grave, 1597, British Library, London (C.27.h.1)

4 – Collecting a collector: John Evelyn

Thomas Randolph, <em>Poems, with the Muses looking-glasse, and Amyntas...</em> London, 1643, State Library Victoria, Melbourne (RAREEMM 323/16)

Thomas Randolph, Poems, with the Muses looking-glasse, and Amyntas... London, 1643, State Library Victoria, Melbourne (RAREEMM 323/16)

The Emmerson Collection contains many items from two enthusiastic collectors of books from the seventeenth century – John Evelyn and Dan Fleming.
This is a volume from the library of John Evelyn (1620–1706), who wrote an extensive diary, and had his books bound with a personal crest.
Painting of John Evelyn, 1689, by Godfrey Kneller.
John Evelyn 1689, by Godfrey Kneller
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Thomas Randolph, <em>Poems, with the Muses looking-glasse, and Amyntas...</em> London, 1643, State Library Victoria, Melbourne (RAREEMM 323/16)

Thomas Randolph, Poems, with the Muses looking-glasse, and Amyntas... London, 1643, State Library Victoria, Melbourne (RAREEMM 323/16)

Evelyn also used a similarly designed bookplate to mark his ownership.
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Like Emmerson, Evelyn arranged his library carefully, using an elaborate classification system – with shelf marks indicating exactly where books should be placed and ordered under subject categories.
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  • Painting of Samuel Pepys, 1666, by John Hayls, National Portrait Gallery, London (NPG 211).

    Another significant diarist of the early modern period is Samuel Pepys, who, through his diary, provided first-hand accounts of major events such as the Great Plague of London (1665–66) and the Great Fire of London (1666). Pepys was also an avid reader and collector of books – he collected to a plan, with the aim of acquiring a library of 3000 volumes.

    Image: John Hayls, Samuel Pepys, 1666, National Portrait Gallery, London (NPG 211)

    Inscription in ink opposite the title page of an old book.

    Pepys and John Evelyn were friends and regularly exchanged letters. Evelyn gifted Pepys this copy of Instructions concerning Erecting of a Library, 1661, annotating it with ‘be pleased to accept this trifle from your most humble servant J.E’.

    Image: Gabriel Naudé, Instructions concerning erecting of a library: presented to my lord the President De Mesme... , translated by John Evelyn, 1661, London, printed for G. Bedle, and T. Collins, at the Middle-Temple gate, and J. Crook in St. Pauls Church-yard, 1661, Cambridge University Magdalene College Pepysian Library (PL 789)

    Inscription in ink opposite the title page of an old book.

    Pepys wrote about this in his diary entry for 5 October 1665: ‘… all my way reading a book of Mr. Evelyn’s translating and sending me as a present, about directions for gathering a Library; but the book is above my reach’.

    Image: Gabriel Naudé, Instructions concerning erecting of a library: presented to my lord the President De Mesme... , translated by John Evelyn, 1661, London, printed for G. Bedle, and T. Collins, at the Middle-Temple gate, and J. Crook in St. Pauls Church-yard, 1661, Cambridge University Magdalene College Pepysian Library (PL 789)

5 – Collecting a collector: Dan Fleming

Robert Filmer, <em>Patriarcha: or, the natural power of kings</em>, London, printed for R. Chiswel, W. Hensman, M. Gilliflower, and G. Wells, 1685, State Library Victoria, Melbourne (RAREEMM 423/18)

Robert Filmer, Patriarcha: or, the natural power of kings, London, printed for R. Chiswel, W. Hensman, M. Gilliflower, and G. Wells, 1685, State Library Victoria, Melbourne (RAREEMM 423/18)

Dan Fleming is the second seventeenth-century collector favoured by Emmerson. He lived in Westmorland, well away from the bustle of London, but kept in touch with events through an extensive correspondence.
His books were bound quite plainly, with his signature written on the flyleaf and, like Emmerson, Fleming meticulously arranged his books using a system he invented.
As Emmerson explained:
His books are easily recognisable by his signature, the numbering of the preliminary pages and a curious abbreviation of the author or title …
… I think that the abbreviations provided a system for ordering books on the shelves so that whenever any book was removed it was easy to determine precisely where it should be replaced.

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  • Title page to Robert Filmer's Patriarcha: or, the natural power of kings., London, printed for R. Chiswel, W. Hensman, M. Gilliflower, and G. Wells, 1685, State Library Victoria, Melbourne (RAREEMM 423/18)

    Robert Filmer’s Patriarcha was an influential treatise on the divine right of kings. While it was published posthumously in 1680, it’s likely Filmer began the text as early as 1620 and completed it before the beginning of the Civil War in 1642. Filmer argues that the patriarchs of the Bible are the basis for the authority of modern states. He stated that Adam was the first king, therefore, as Adam’s ‘oldest heir’, Charles I should rule England.

    Image: Robert Filmer, Patriarcha: or, the natural power of kings. London, printed for R. Chiswel, W. Hensman, M. Gilliflower, and G. Wells, 1685, State Library Victoria, Melbourne (RAREEMM 423/18)

    Title page to John Locke's Two treatises of government: in the former, the false principles, and foundation of Sir Robert Filmer, and his followers, are detected and overthrown. The latter is an essay concerning the true original, extent, and the end of civil government, London, A. Churchill, 1690, Library of Congress, Washington (JC153 .L8 1690)

    Disgusted by Filmer’s ‘glib nonsense’ the philosopher John Locke responded to Patriacha with Two Treatises of Government. In the First Treatise, Locke refutes Patriacha sentence by sentence. In the Second, Locke counters the theory of divine right with the idea of civil society as a kind of contract.

    Image: John Locke, Two treatises of government: in the former, the false principles, and foundation of Sir Robert Filmer, and his followers, are detected and overthrown. The latter is an essay concerning the true original, extent, and the end of civil government, London, A. Churchill, 1690, Library of Congress, Washington (JC153 .L8 1690)

Connections

Modes of display

John Emmerson believed that Dan Fleming displayed part or all of his books with their spines facing inward – a relatively common practice in the seventeenth century.

Find out more about this mode of display and the anatomy of rare books.>

Mezzotint

In the decades after the execution of Charles I, John Evelyn became friendly with the king’s nephew, Prince Rupert. Rupert was the Commander of the Royalist cavalry during the Civil War and later became interested in art, in particular the printmaking process of mezzotint. Rupert demonstrated the technique to John Evelyn, with Evelyn noting in his diary for 13 March 1661: ‘This afternoon, Prince Rupert showed me, with his own hands, the new way of graving, called mezzo tinto, which afterward, by his permission, I published in my “History of Chalcography”.’ Rupert’s mezzotint print, ‘Little Executioner’, can be seen in extant copies of Evelyn’s Sculptura, or, The History and Art of Chalcography and Engraving in Copper. (1662).

Discover more about the larger-than-life Prince Rupert and his controversial poodle, Boy.>

Index

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