Ottery St Mary Library

The Ottery St Mary parish library is the smallest of the four such libraries held at the University of Exeter Library. According to D. Wyn Evans, the history of the library is a 'little obscure'. There is known to have been a library at Ottery for some centuries, but the present collection in the University's care were 'nearly all at one time in Exeter Cathedral Library' but in the early part of the twentieth century, they were transferred to Ottery. In Ottery they were kept in a room in one of the Church turrets and survived fairly well.

Extent

112 volumes.

Custodial History

A selection of the rarer and older books were transferred on permanent loan to the University of Exeter Library by the Ottery Church Corporation in 1978, and a further selection made in 1980. There is known to have been a library at Ottery for centuries, but nearly all the volumes in the present collection were once part of Exeter Cathedral Library and are believed to have transferred from there to Ottery in the early part of the twentieth century.

Scope and Content

Collection strengths

The books are mainly on theological topics, and include five incunabula, being three legal works by Bartolus de Saxoferrata, published in Lyons, circa 1495, Repertorium, Lyons, c. 1498, by Antonius de Prato, and one volume of a Biblia Latina, Basle, 1498. One of the volumes is a manuscript, Third part of a rule of perfection by Francis Bennet of Camfield, Essex (now classed as EUL MS 70).

Chronological emphasis

The volumes are as follows (the number given in brackets being the sum of items in each category): incunabula (5); sixteenth-century books (19); seventeenth-century books (42); eighteenth-century books (29); nineteenth-century books (17).

Known gaps

Few (if any) of the original Ottery St Mary library books survive; the collection mainly contains books transferred to Ottery from the Cathedral Library in the early part of the twentieth century.

Evidence of Research Value

See D. Wyn Evans, 'Devon Parish Libraries at Exeter University Library', in The Devon Historian, 24, April 1982, 18-21, to which this collection description is heavily indebted.

System of Arrangement

Chronological, in two sequences according to size.

Accruals

The collection is closed.

Access Conditions

Usual EUL Special Collections arrangements apply.

Reproduction Conditions

Usual EUL Special Collections arrangements apply.

Finding Aids

The collection is fully catalogued and entries appear on the University Library's online catalogue. You can browse the catalogue for items in this collection by following this link

Language

Chiefly English.

Physical Characteristics

Some items in this collection are fragile and require careful handling. Restrictions on photocopying may apply.

Subject Keywords

History of Libraries -- Parish Libraries, Devon -- Sixteenth- to Nineteenth-Century.