reach, to which I was instigated by reading various accounts of the destruction of valuable manuscripts. … My principal search has been for historical, and particularly unpublished, manuscripts, whether good or bad, and more particularly those on vellum. My chief desire for preserving vellum manuscripts arose from witnessing the unceasing destruction of them by goldbeaters; my search for charters or deeds by their destruction in the shops of glue-makers and tailors. As I advanced, the ardour of the pursuit increased, until at last I became a perfect vello-maniac (if I may coin a word), and I gave any price that was asked. Nor do I regret it, for my object was not only to secure good manuscripts for myself, but also to raise the public estimation of them, so that their value might be more generally known, and, consequently, more manuscripts preserved. For nothing tends to the preservation of anything so much as making it bear a high price. The examples I always kept in view were Sir Robert Cotton and Sir Robert Harley.’
The earliest of his large purchases of manuscripts Phillipps made while on a prolonged visit to the continent, between 1820 and 1825, when he visited Belgium, Holland, France, Germany, and Switzerland. In 1824, at the sale at The Hague of the famous Meerman collection of manuscripts, Phillipps was the chief buyer—in fact three-fourths of these valuable manuscripts passed into his hands; but, owing to his unwillingness to bid against Thomas Gaisford, dean of Christ Church [q. v.], the Bodleian Library was able to acquire a few important volumes. In the same year another great series of manuscripts, dating from the ninth century, Phillipps purchased privately from Professor Van Ess of Darmstadt. Most of these were formerly in German monasteries, and, though chiefly theological, were of importance for the study of old German dialects. In Belgium he acquired large batches of early manuscripts on vellum, coming from the libraries of famous monasteries. At the Chardin sale in Paris he obtained upwards of 120 manuscripts, and at the Celotti sale more than 150. In 1827 Phillips persistently outbid the agent of the Dutch government at the sale of the Muschenbroek collection of charters, chronicles, and cartularies dealing with the history of Utrecht and other provinces of Holland.
When again settled in England he was in constant communication with the most important English and foreign booksellers. From Thorpe, whom he first commissioned to search for manuscripts in 1822, he obtained some of his largest and most valuable collections. In 1836 he bought of him upwards of sixteen hundred manuscripts. Before 1830 he acquired many important classical manuscripts from the Drury collection, the Lang collection of French romances, the Battlesden library belonging to Sir Gregory Page Turner, the Williams collection which included Bishop Gundulf's celebrated bible, the Craven Ord collection, rich in chronicles, cartularies, household books of kings, queens, and nobles, and the Earl of Guilford's splendid collection of Italian manuscripts in more than thirteen hundred volumes. At a later period he secured the manuscripts respecting Mexico belonging to Lord Kingsborough, whom Phillipps had first recommended to study Mexican subjects [see King, Edward, Viscount Kingsborough]. French Revolution papers (in some eight or nine hundred volumes), the Hanbury Williams, the Ker Porter, and Roscoe correspondence likewise fell into his hands. In 1836 he obtained over four hundred lots from the Heber collection, including valuable volumes of early English poetry and French romances. He also acquired the historical collection (in ninety-seven volumes) of charters, grants, rolls, together with the original cartulary and other evidences relating to Battle Abbey since its foundation.
Among manuscripts relating to Ireland that found their way into Phillipps's library from the Cooper, O'Reilly, Betham, Monck Mason, Todd, and other collections, was a far-famed manuscript of Giraldus Cambrensis of the twelfth to the thirteenth century, illustrated with spirited contemporary drawings.
In the history and literature of Wales Phillipps took peculiar interest, and his large collection was rich in old Welsh poetry. Among the Welsh treasures was one of the four famous books of Wales, i.e. Aneurin's ‘Gododin,’ a manuscript of the twelfth century, on vellum.
Of oriental manuscripts Phillipps owned some four or five hundred volumes, and among many valuable Greek manuscripts was a splendid manuscript of Dioscorides of the tenth to eleventh century on vellum, beautifully illustrated. Phillipps's illuminated manuscripts were of rare beauty; some of them had been executed for the Medici, Charles VIII of France, Pope Nicholas V, Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, Mathias Corvinus, king of Hungary, and other important persons. The gem of the library was a thirteenth-century volume of miniatures, representing numerous incidents of bible history beginning with the creation. Another important feature of Phillipps's
