Walter Brown 1575/6-1613

Walter BROWN or BROWNE 1575/6-1613

Biographical Note

Of Great Bookham, Surrey. BA and fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford 1595, MA 1598. Rector of Cuddington, Oxfordshire 1611. He was accused of Roman Catholic leanings, a charge which was brought out at the trial of William Laud, who knew him while at Oxford.

Books

Brown's probate inventory, transcribed and edited as Private Libraries in Renaissance England 159, lists nearly 600 books, a substantial private library for an academic clergyman of this time. The PLRE editors note the strong holdings in theology and history, as would be expected, alongside titles in medicine, mathematics, astronomy, classics, and geography, and literary texts in English and French. The imprint dates range throughout the 16th and early 17th centuries; it is possible, but not demonstrable, that Brown's library was partly inherited.

Characteristic Markings

None of Brown's books have been identified.

Sources

• Black, J. Walter Brown, in R. Fehrenbach and J. Black (eds), Private Libraries in Renaissance England 7 (2009), 113-209.
• Foster, J. Alumni Oxonienses, Oxford, 1891.
• Philip, I. G. and P. Morgan, ‘Libraries, books and printing’ in N. Tyacke (ed), The history of the University of Oxford: vol. IV, Oxford, 1997, 659-685, p.684.