The 6th Duke’s bibliographic legacy endured beyond his lifetime. In 1879, two decades after his death, the 7th Duke commissioned a full catalogue of the Chatsworth library. Today, remains available in print across four expressive volumes. For perspective on how large this collection of books was at this time, volume no.1 alone – dedicated to works beginning with A through C – stretched to 436 pages, with each page documenting between 9 to 18 titles. These titles include the ‘Aldine Homer, Iliad and Odyssey, and Virgil, the Junta Vitruvius, and a Petrarch printed by Aldus later than the edition of 1514’. The collection also contains numerous Bibles, which the Duke describes as ‘extremely fine’, though he notes that, as he is not compiling a catalogue, he would not waste time enumerating his editions in any detail. The following title and commentary reveals what the Duke considered as the ‘cream of his collection’:
The Liber Veritatis– Claud Lorriane’s selection of sketches of every picture that he completed, with notes in his handwriting concerning their destination. I have got somewhere a letter describing the difficulties met by the second Duke of Devonshire in securing possession of this invaluable work, which was eagerly, but happily without success, watched, and its removal from Rome disputed by the Ambassador of Louis XIV.
Where did the Duke acquire these books? A large portion of his collection originated from Thomas Dampier, Bishope of Ely, himself renowned bibliophile. The Duke did not purchase these volumes during Dampier’s lifetime; rather, following the Bishop’s death in 1812, where his brother, Sir Henry Dampier, sold them to the Duke as part of the probate estate sale. Valued by Mr. Payne and Mr. Evans, the collection of rare editions of Greek and Latin classics was sold to the Duke for £10,000. In today’s terms, this represents a purchasing power of approximately £465,252. Following this expensive purchase, the Catalogue suggests that the Duke frequently bought at the sales of ‘Stanley, Horne Tooke, Townley, Edwards, and Roxburghe libraries, which came into market between 1813 and 1815’.
How to Arrange a Library in the Manner of the 6th Duke
‘I advise you not to read what follows: but, having often been asked how to arrange a library in my manner, I have written the following in order to give it to those who may want it’ – The 6th Duke.
- Lay all your books on the floor according to their size. The largest books should start on the left-hand side, decreasing gradually until the smallest ends on the right.
- As we begin our arranging, everything will be place according to the visual aesthetics that are most pleasing to the eye. Thus, fill the lowest shelf with the tallest books, and as you move upwards, place the next tallest until we have filled all the shelves up to the top ending with the smallest books.
- Now they have been aesthetically arranged, ‘you must, however, sacrifice that’. Choose one continuous shelf that runs across the whole length of the library that is at the propriate height for you to easily reach daily. This will be where you will place the books you most consult.
- Remove all the books on this shelf and then place them to the side, you will find a new home for them later.
- You will use this shelf to arrange your most used books according to your own system.
- The Dukes’ system is as follows: Theology, Jurisprudence, Arts and Sciences, Belles Lettres, History, Polygraphy.
- Now, each individual shelf operates independently, it is not connected to the shelves above or below it. As books come in different sizes depending on how the paper has been folded (folio, quarto, octavo, duodecimo), books of a similar size tend to be of a similar subject matter. This will help you locate a book of interest.
