Edward Harley 1689-1741

Edward HARLEY, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Mortimer 1689-1741

Biographical Note

Son of Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Mortimer, politician, from whom he inherited the title and family estates in 1724. MA Christ Church, Oxford 1712, DCL 1730; he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1711. He was MP for Radnor 1711-14, and for Cambridgeshire 1722-24. His marriage to Henrietta Cavendish Holles in 1713 brought him not only wealth and estates (Welbeck Abbey, Nottinghamshire and Wimpole Hall, Cambridgeshire, which became their main home) but also books from the Holles family library. He did not follow his father into a life in politics and public affairs, but concentrated his energies on patronage of the arts, and his library.

Books

Harley's father began the assembling of what became one of the most significant private libraries of the first half of the 18th century, and Edward continued that work with vigour; as ODNB observes, "he made the collecting of manuscripts, of books, and of coins, medals and miniatures the consuming passion of his life". He had begun acquiring books as a student, and was increasingly involved in the running and development of his father's library from 1711 onwards. He more than doubled the size of what he inherited, and when he died he owned ca.8000 manuscripts, over 13,000 charters and rolls, and ca.50,000 printed books.

Like his father, he relied on the assistance of Humphrey Wanley as librarian in the development of the library until Wanley's death in 1726; after 1728, the role was filled by William Oldys. Also like the elder Harley, his son made numerous block purchases of whole collections, acquiring manuscripts in this way from John Batteley, John Warburton, John Covel and [associates::conyers Middleton]]. He was supplied with books by numerous London booksellers (particularly Nathaniel Noel), and also increasingly relied on acquisitions from a wide range of continental European sources. The contents of the library were extremely wide-ranging in subject and language, both for manuscripts and printed books. The Introduction to the edited version of Wanley's Diaries contains a detailed account of the assembling, and content, of the Harleian Library.