Sir Thomas Phillipps, 1st Baronet (2 July 1792 – 6 February 1872), was an English
antiquary
An antiquarian or antiquary () is an fan (person), aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artifact (archaeology), artifac ...
and
book collector
Book collecting is the collecting of books, including seeking, locating, acquiring, organizing, cataloging, displaying, storing, and maintaining whatever books are of interest to a given collector. The love of books is '' bibliophilia'', and some ...
who amassed the largest collection of manuscript material in the 19th century. He was an illegitimate son of a textile manufacturer and inherited a substantial estate, which he spent almost entirely on
vellum
Vellum is prepared animal skin or membrane, typically used as writing material. Parchment is another term for this material, from which vellum is sometimes distinguished, when it is made from calfskin, as opposed to that made from other anima ...
manuscripts and, when out of funds, borrowed heavily to buy manuscripts, thereby putting his family deep into debt. Phillipps recorded in an early catalogue that his collection ''was instigated by reading various accounts of the destruction of valuable manuscripts.'' Such was his devotion that he acquired some 40,000 printed books and 60,000 manuscripts, arguably the largest collection a single individual has created, and coined the term "vello-maniac" to describe his obsession, which is more commonly termed
bibliomania
Bibliomania can be a symptom of obsessive–compulsive disorder which involves the collecting or even hoarding of books to the point where social relations or health are damaged.
Bibliomania is not to be confused with bibliophilia, which is the ( ...
.
The Collection
![Broadway Tower 2012](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/Broadway_Tower_2012.jpg)
In 1808, when Phillipps was 16 years old, he already owned 112 books (largely Gothic
chapbook
A chapbook is a small publication of up to about 40 pages, sometimes bound with a saddle stitch.
In early modern Europe a chapbook was a type of printed street literature. Produced cheaply, chapbooks were commonly small, paper-covered bookle ...
s). Later in life he is recorded to have said that he wanted to own one of every book in the world.
Philipps began collecting in earnest while still at
Rugby
Rugby may refer to:
Sport
* Rugby football in many forms:
** Rugby league: 13 players per side
*** Masters Rugby League
*** Mod league
*** Rugby league nines
*** Rugby league sevens
*** Touch (sport)
*** Wheelchair rugby league
** Rugby union: 1 ...
, and his manuscript catalogue from 1811, now at the
Grolier Club
The Grolier Club is a private club and society of bibliophiles in New York City. Founded in January 1884, it is the oldest existing bibliophilic club in North America. The club is named after Jean Grolier de Servières, Viscount d'Aguisy, Tre ...
, shows a turn in his collecting from 1808. He continued buying books when he went on to
University College, Oxford
University College (in full The College of the Great Hall of the University of Oxford, colloquially referred to as "Univ") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It has a claim to being the oldest college of the univer ...
and graduated in 1815. In 1820, he was elected a
Fellow of the Royal Society
Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...
.
[Alan Bell, 'Phillipps, Sir Thomas, baronet (1792–1872)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, (2004)]
A. N. L. Munby
Alan Noel Latimer ('Tim') Munby (1913–1974) was an English author, writer and librarian.
Life and career
Born in Hampstead, Munby was educated at Clifton College and King's College, Cambridge. He is best known for his five-volume study of the e ...
notes that, "
hillippsspent perhaps between two hundred thousand and a quarter of a million pounds
altogether four or five thousand pounds a year, while accessions came in at the rate of forty or fifty a week.". Phillipps would go into bookshops and purchase the entire stock; he would receive dealers' catalogues and buy all the listings; his agents bought entire lots of books at auction, outbidding his rival the British Museum.
[ His country seat, Middle Hill near ]Broadway, Worcestershire
Broadway is a large village and civil parish in the Cotswolds, England, with a population of 2,540 at the 2011 census. It is in the far southeast of Worcestershire, close to the Gloucestershire border, midway between Evesham and Moreton-in-Marsh ...
, gave over sixteen of twenty rooms to books. After Sir Frederic Madden, the keeper of manuscripts of the British Museum, visited the house, he wrote in his diary:The house looks more miserable and dilapidated every time I visit it, and there is not a room now that is not crowded with large boxes full of MSS. The state of things is really inconceivable. Lady P is absent, and were I in her place, I would never return to so wretched an abode. . . . Every room is filled with heaps of papers, MSS, books, charters, packages & other things, lying in heaps under your feet, piled upon tables, beds, chairs, ladders &c.&c. and in every room, piles of huge boxes, up to the ceiling, containing the more valuable volumes! It is quite sickening...The windows of the house are never opened, and the close confined air & smell of the paper & MSSis almost unbearable.
In 1850, at a meeting of the Cambrian Archaeological society (Cymdeithas Hynafiaethau Cymru), Phillips announced that he was seeking to locate his large collection at a location in Wales. He employed a distant relative by marriage, Amelia Elizabeth Guppy
Amelia Elizabeth Guppy or Amelia Parkinson (1808 – 1886) was an early artist and photographer from the United Kingdom.
Life
Amelia Elizabeth Guppy was born at Bullingham Court in Hertfordshire on 21 November 1808, the eldest child of wealthy p ...
, to photograph some of his collection in 1853 including artefacts from Babylon and Utrecht.
In 1863, Phillipps began to move the collection as he was fearful that his son-in-law, James Orchard Halliwell
James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps (born James Orchard Halliwell; 21 June 1820 – 3 January 1889) was an English Shakespearean scholar, antiquarian, and a collector of English nursery rhymes and fairy tales.
Life
The son of Thomas Halliwell, he ...
, would gain ownership of it when Phillipps's estranged daughter inherited Middle Hill. Halliwell was apparently a book thief (Phillips accused Halliwell of stealing his 1603 copy of ''Hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
'', which he sold to the British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
minus the title page containing Phillipps' book stamp) and also a destroyer of other valuable old books, cutting out pages to stick them in his scrapbook.[ At least 105 wagon-loads, each drawn by two horses and accompanied by one or two men, were used to move the collection to ]Thirlestaine House
Thirlestaine House is a Grade I listed building in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England.
History
Thirlestaine House was started in 1820 by J.R. Scott (an amateur architect) for his own use. In 1838 the unfinished building was bought by John Ru ...
in Cheltenham
Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral s ...
over a period of eight months, leaving Middle Hill to fall to ruin. The previous owner of Thirlestaine House was John Rushout, 2nd Baron Northwick John Rushout, 2nd Baron Northwick (16 February 1770 – 20 January 1859) was an English peer, landowner and collector of art works.
Rushout was the son of John Rushout, 1st Baron Northwick and his wife Rebecca Bowles. He was born at St James', We ...
, whose important art collection had been sold in 1859 after he died intestate
Intestacy is the condition of the estate of a person who dies without having in force a valid will or other binding declaration. Alternatively this may also apply where a will or declaration has been made, but only applies to part of the estat ...
. There are thus numerous MSS named "Codex Middlehillianus", "Cheltenham Codex" or "Codex Cheltenhamensis".
Legacy
After Phillipps died in 1872, the probate valuation, made by Edward Bond
Edward Bond (born 18 July 1934) is an English playwright, theatre director, poet, theorist and screenwriter. He is the author of some fifty plays, among them '' Saved'' (1965), the production of which was instrumental in the abolition of the ...
of the British Museum, of his manuscripts was £74,779 17s 0d. His success as a collector owed something to the dispersal of the monastic libraries following the French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
and the relative cheapness of a large amount of vellum material, in particular English legal documents, many of which owe their survival to Phillipps. He was an assiduous cataloguer who established the Middle Hill Press (Typis Medio-Montanis) in 1822 not only to record his book holdings but also to publish his findings in English topography
Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps.
Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sci ...
and genealogy
Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kins ...
. The press was housed in Broadway Tower
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
, a folly
In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but suggesting through its appearance some other purpose, or of such extravagant appearance that it transcends the range of usual garden buildings.
Eighteenth-cent ...
completed on Broadway Hill, Worcestershire, in 1798.
During his lifetime, Phillipps attempted to turn over his collection to the British nation and corresponded with the then-Chancellor of the Exchequer
The chancellor of the Exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the Chancellor is ...
Disraeli
Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman and Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a centr ...
so that it should be acquired for the British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
. Negotiations proved unsuccessful and, ultimately, the dispersal of his collection took over 100 years.
Phillipps's will stipulated that his books should remain intact at Thirlestaine House, that no bookseller or stranger should rearrange them and that no Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
, especially his son-in-law James Halliwell, should be permitted to view them.
In 1885, the Court of Chancery
The Court of Chancery was a court of equity in England and Wales that followed a set of loose rules to avoid a slow pace of change and possible harshness (or "inequity") of the Common law#History, common law. The Chancery had jurisdiction over ...
declared this too restrictive and thus made possible the sale of the library which Phillipps's grandson, Thomas FitzRoy Fenwick, supervised for the next fifty years. Significant portions of the European material were sold to the national collections on the continent including the Royal Library, Berlin, the Royal Library of Belgium
The Royal Library of Belgium (french: Bibliothèque royale de Belgique, nl, Koninklijke Bibliotheek van België, abbreviated ''KBR'' and sometimes nicknamed in French or in Dutch) is the national library of Belgium. The library has a history t ...
, and the Provincial Archives ( :nl:''Gemeentearchief'') in Utrecht
Utrecht ( , , ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city and a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, pro ...
as well as the sale of outstanding individual items to the J. Pierpont Morgan and Henry E. Huntington libraries. By 1946, what was known as the "residue" was sold to London booksellers Phillip and Lionel Robinson
Lionel Robinson (29 August 1866 – 27 July 1922) was a leading financier in Australia and England who was known for his success in horseracing and his support of cricket, and later served as the High Sheriff of Norfolk.
Early life
Born in Colomb ...
for £100,000, though this part of the collection was uncatalogued and unexamined. The Robinsons endeavoured to sell these books through their own published catalogues and a number of Sotheby's
Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, and ...
sales. The final portion of the collection was sold by Christie's
Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...
on 7 June 2006, lots 18–38. A five-volume history of the collection and its dispersal, ''Phillipps Studies'', by A. N. L. Munby was published between 1951 and 1960.
Family
Phillipps married Henrietta Elizabeth Molyneux, daughter of Major-General Thomas Molyneux, in 1819.[Curious Britain: Broadway Tower](_blank)
This was after the death of his father, who had opposed the match because she lacked a dowry
A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment b ...
.
In 1821, he was made baronet
A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...
of Middle Hill in the County of Worcester at the age of 29. The honour was the result of his father-in-law's connections with the Duke of Beaufort
Duke of Beaufort (), a title in the Peerage of England, was created by Charles II in 1682 for Henry Somerset, 3rd Marquess of Worcester, a descendant of Charles Somerset, 1st Earl of Worcester, legitimised son of Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of So ...
. He was appointed High Sheriff of Worcestershire
This is a list of sheriffs and since 1998 high sheriffs of Worcestershire.
The Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of th ...
in 1825.[Annual register 1825, Volume 67,p.192 edited by Edmund Burke]
Phillipps' eldest daughter, Harriett, married the Shakesperean scholar James Orchard Halliwell
James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps (born James Orchard Halliwell; 21 June 1820 – 3 January 1889) was an English Shakespearean scholar, antiquarian, and a collector of English nursery rhymes and fairy tales.
Life
The son of Thomas Halliwell, he ...
. While still an undergraduate at Cambridge, Halliwell had collaborated in research with Phillipps. He came to visit Thomas Phillipps in February 1842 and became attached to Harriett. Phillipps refused to allow his daughter to marry and the couple eloped. Phillipps was enraged by this and maintained a lifelong vendetta against the couple.
As the Phillippses had only daughters the title became extinct on his death in February 1872, aged 79. He was buried at the Church of St Eadburgha in Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
.
Items from the Phillipps Collection
*Rochefoucauld Grail
The Rochefoucauld Grail is a four-volume 14th-century illuminated manuscript. Three volumes were formerly Amsterdam, Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica, MS 1; the fourth volume is divided between the Bodleian Library in Oxford (MS. Douce 215) and ...
Notes
;Citations
;Sources and Bibliography
* Nicholas A. Basbanes
Nicholas Andrew Basbanes (born May 25, 1943, in Lowell, Massachusetts) is an American author who writes and lectures about authors, books, and book culture. His subjects include the "eternal passion for books" ('' A Gentle Madness''); the histor ...
: ''A Gentle Madness'', St Martin's Press Édition, Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
, New York City, 1995 and 1999, 958 p.
Retrieved 30 April 2020.
*
* A.N.L.Munby: ''Phillipps Studies'', 5 vols. 1951–1960.
* A BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
play, by Nick Warburton
Nick Warburton (born 1947) is a British screenwriter and playwright. He has written stage plays, television and radio scripts for series including ''Doctors'', ''Holby City'' and ''EastEnders''.
Career
Warburton was a primary school teacher fo ...
, on the removal of the Phillipps collection to Thirlestaine House was broadcast in August 2010
* Michelle Moreau-Ricaud: ''Sir Thomas Phillipps: un bibliophile'', in "Freud collectionneur", Ed. Campagnes première, 2011, .
External links
*
*
Provenance & Dispersal of Thomas Phillipps MS. 2506/Chester Beatty Western MS. 173
{{DEFAULTSORT:Phillipps, Thomas
1792 births
1872 deaths
Alumni of University College, Oxford
English book and manuscript collectors
Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom
English antiquarians
Fellows of the Royal Society
Accidental deaths from falls
High Sheriffs of Worcestershire