A shelf of old looking books some bound with white cotton tape and all have white paper sticking out

BRITISH JESUIT ARCHIVES

Collecting, preserving, and making available the records of the Jesuits in Britain.

Virtual Timeline

A virtual timeline showcasing the history of the Jesuits in England, Scotland, and Wales over the past four centuries, has been created to mark the 400th anniversary of the establishment of the Province.

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Latest Blog Posts

Work in Progress 1

A new series in which the archives team shares what they have been doing over the last few months.

World Book Day: Our Recent Reviews

The Archive team reflect on work related books that they have recently read.

Antiquarian Books Provenance Project

This is an ongoing project. We have made a new website to share what we are discovering about the former ownership of our sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth century books. Click here to find out more. Below are three examples of provenance - click on the images learn more.

Photograph of a title page of a C16th book with inscriptions

Inscriptions for The English Colleges at Liège and Leuven, and for William Forster. A/619

The title page of this book, a work of religious controversial literature, bears evidence of personal and institutional ownership, and of movement from one location to another. There is an inscription for William Forster, (Wil[ie]lmus Forsterus) who we have not yet identified, but who may have been a student or teacher at The English College which started in Leuven in 1614 but a decade later moved location to Liège. Below Forster's inscription is one for the 'Collegii Anglicani Soc[ieta]tis J[e]su Lovanij' - the English College at Leuven. The word 'Lovanij' has been struck through, and 'Leodij' (Liège) written in instead. This records the transfer of books from one place to another when the College moved in 1624.

A further inscription at the head of the title page is 'Bib Schol.' indicating the book was in the Scholastics' (i.e. students') Library, but whether this was at Leuven or Liège is unclear.

Book reference:
Harding, Thomas, An ansvvere to Maister Iuelles chalenge, by Doctor Harding. Printed at Leuven by John Bogard. 1564. A/619

Photo of a pastedown covered in marbled paper, with a large bookplate containing the words 'Bib Sem' in an oval cartouche. Below this is a brown paper library ticket holder, stamped with 'Campion Hall' and a library number.

Bookplate for 'Bib. Sem' and library card holder from Campion Hall, Oxford. A/6

The bookplate reads 'Bib Sem' - Seminary Library, and is thought to come from the seminary library established at Stonyhurst which was in operation between 1830 and 1848, at which point the theological collections were moved to St Beuno's.

This book was later kept at Campion Hall, Oxford, and the stamped library ticket holder from Campion Hall is also visible. Later still it was transferred to the Jesuit Archives in Mount Street, London.

Above the bookplate is a library mark, written directly on to the marbled endpapers. It is not yet known which library this denotes - further research is needed here.

Book reference:
Colombiere, Claude SJ, Sermons preches devant son altesse royale Madame la Duchesse D'Yorck. Printed at Lyon by Pierre Bruyset Ponthusz. 1757. A/6

Photo of a page of handwritten notes in black ink.

Bibliographical note by John Hungerford Pollen SJ

John Hungerford Pollen (1858-1925) was a Jesuit who cared for the antiquarian book collection. He inscribed some of the books with notes such as this one. Here, Pollen gives a fairly detailed provenance history. His inscription reads: 'This volume was given to me, J.H. Pollen, by Sir Henry Bedingfield, at Oxburgh, July, 1920. It had come there through his mother, the heiress of Callaly, (of "Callaly Castle 1690" below). I had it rebound, as the old back had entirely disappeared. It was printed at the St Omers College Press'

Sir Henry Bedingfield was the 8th Baronet Bedingfield (1860-1941) and lived at Oxburgh Hall in Norfolk. The Bedingfields were a well known recusant family, and Oxburgh had long been a centre of Catholic activity. Callaly Castle is in Northumberland and was the home of the Clavering family from the early seventeenth century until 1877. The Claverings were another prominent Catholic family.

'Callaly Castle 1690' is inscribed on a subsequent page of the book.

Without this type of narrative note we would not know about this book's provenance, and we are fortunate that Pollen left a few such notes.

Book reference:
Ordo Baptizandi aliaque Sacramenta administrandi, & Officia quaedam Ecclesiastica rite peragendi: Ex rituali Romano, iussi Pauli Quinti edito, extractus. Pro Anglia, Hibernia, & Scotia. [Printed at The English College Press, St Omers] 1639. A/1111