Difference between revisions of "Isaac Casaubon 1559-1614"

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Isaac CASAUBON 1559-1614

Biographical Note

Prebendary of Canterbury, classical scholar.

Books

Casaubon was a keen acquirer of books, to support his scholarly work, throughout his life. An inventory made at the time of his move from Geneva to [[location::Montpellier] in 1596 shows that he then had around 500 volumes. When he moved to London in 1610, he brought some, but not all, his books with him; by the time of his death, he had ca.1200 volumes in London, while ca.850 remained in Paris. They were gradually dispersed, from then onwards; many were retained by his widow and son Meric (who also brought some of the Paris books over to England), but the value of Casaubon's books, for both contents and annotations, was quickly recognised. Many books were bought for the Royal Library soon after Casaubon's death (and are therefore now in the British Library). 61 volumes of his adversaria were bequeathed to the Bodleian Library by Meric in 1671. Edward Bernard’s Catalogi manuscriptorum, 1697, lists 110 manuscripts which belonged to Casaubon. Around a fifth of his total library is thought to be traceable today.

Sources

Birrell, T., The reconstruction of the library of Isaac Casaubon, Hellinga festschrift, Amsterdam, 1980, 59-68.
Considine, John. '"Casaubon, Isaac (1559–1614), classical scholar and ecclesiastical historian."' Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
Craster, H., Casaubon's Greek manuscripts, Bodleian Library Quarterly 5 (1926), 97-100.
Grafton, A. and Weinberg, J., Isaac Casaubon’s library of Hebrew books, in G. Mandelbrote and B. Taylor (eds), Libraries within the library, London, 2009, 24-42.
Macray, W., Annals of the Bodleian Library, 2nd edn, Oxford, 1890, p.136.

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 ====Books====
-Edward Bernard’s ''Catalogi manuscriptorum'', 1697, lists 110 mss which belonged to him. Many of his books were bought for the [[organisations::Royal Library]]; 61 volumes of his adversaria were bequeathed to the [[organisations::Bodleian Library]] by his son [[family::Meric Casaubon|Meric]] in 1671. At the time of his death, he owned ca.1200 books in [[location::England]] and ca.850 in [[location::Paris]].
+Casaubon was a keen acquirer of books, to support his scholarly work, throughout his life. An inventory made at the time of his move from [[location::Geneva]] to [[location::Montpellier] in 1596 shows that he then had around 500 volumes. When he moved to [[location::London]] in 1610, he brought some, but not all, his books with him; by the time of his death, he had ca.1200 volumes in London, while ca.850 remained in [[location::Paris]]. They were gradually dispersed, from then onwards; many were retained by his widow and son [[crossreference::Meric Casaubon|Meric]] (who also brought some of the Paris books over to England), but the value of Casaubon's books, for both contents and annotations, was quickly recognised. Many books were bought for the [[organisations::Royal Library]] soon after Casaubon's death (and are therefore now in the [[organisations::British Library]]). 61 volumes of his adversaria were bequeathed to the [[organisations::Bodleian Library]] by [[crossreference::Meric Casaubon|Meric]] in 1671. Edward Bernard’s ''Catalogi manuscriptorum'', 1697, lists 110 [[format::manuscripts]] which belonged to Casaubon. Around a fifth of his total library is thought to be traceable today.
 ====Sources====