John Betts d.1598
John BETTS d.1598
.JPG)
Biographical Note
Betts matriculated at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge in 1558. He transferred to Trinity Hall, Cambridge to study civil law where he graduated LLB in 1568, and LLD in 1586. He became a member of Doctors' Commons in 1587 and was admitted advocate of the Court of Arches in 1590. He was a fellow of Trinity Hall from 1564 until his death in 1598.
Books
His library of law books was sold by his executors in 1599 to Merton College, Oxford where the majority (around 100 volumes) can be found. The purchase is recorded in Merton College Register on 24 January 1598/9. These are listed in the appendix of Alain Wijffels article in 'The Life of the Law'.
The Bodleian library, Oxford has over 20 of his books. There are also single books from Betts’s library in Balliol College Oxford, and Trinity Hall, Cambridge.
Characteristic Markings
Many of the Betts books in Merton are bound in late sixteenth-century Cambridge bindings, decorated with distinctive rolls of German design (though there is no reason to interpret this as an indication of Germanic sympathies or interests on Betts's part). They are often blind-stamped with his initials I B.
Sources
- Will of John Bettis, The National Archives PROB 11/92/427.
- Pearson, D., Cambridge bookbinding 1450-1770, Ann Arbor, 2023, p.246.
- Venn, J. and J. A., Alumni Cantabrigienses, Cambridge, 1922.
- Wijffels, Alain. Late Sixteenth-century Lists of Law Books at Merton College, Cambridge, LP Publications, 1992.
- Wijffels, Alain. ‘Law Books at Cambridge 1500-1640’, in Peter Birks (ed) The Life of the Law, Hambledon Press, 1993, Appendix ‘books owned by John Betts’, 59-87.
- Wijffels, Alain. Law Books in Cambridge Libraries, 1500-1640, Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, vol. 10, no. 3, 1993, pp. 359–412.
- Information from Jenni Lecky-Thompson.