The Kedermister Library: an account of its origins and a reconstruction of its contents and arrangement

by
Jane Francis

Records of Buckinghamshire Volume 36 1994 pp. 62-85. ISSN 0967-2885

[Summary]

Miss Francis reconstructs the original arrangement of the books in the Kedermister Library at Langley Marish [Buckinghamshire] from its contemporary catalogue; she discusses the way in which the books were acquired and shows the library is a very rare example of an early 17th century parish library, donated with the education of the parish priest in mind, and that it is still in the lavishly decorated cupboards specially designed for it c. 1620. Her interest in the Library arises from papers that had belonged to her father, Sir Frank Francis, Director and Principal Librarian of the British Museum, who had advised the Trustees on the refurbishment of the books in the library in the 1930s. Her work on the Plume Library, Maldon, Essex also made her aware of the value of making the contents of libraries such as this better known.

Introduction

The Kedermister Library is important as an eary example of a parochial library in a country church [St Mary the Virgin]. The library was already being planned before 1613 when Sir John Kedermister (d. 1631) was granted a faculty to build a room adjoining the church to house his library; such libraries were extremely rare in the country at that date, although a few were already being established in the towns. The Kedermister Library is also important because it has remained in the room built for it by its founder during his lifetime; the room is decorated with Jacobean panelling which conceals the book shelves. We also know what books were in the Library in 1638, only seven years after the death of Sir John, when a catalogue was compiled which hangs on the wall to this day. [...]
["Records of Buckinghamshire" Volume 36 1994 pp. 62-85. ISSN 0967-2885]

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   Editorial note: this text was transcribed in April 2003 by Richard M. Leveridge from Records of Buckinghamshire Volume 36 1994 pp. 62-85. ISSN 0967-2885.

The Kedermister Library (sometimes incorrectly called the Kederminster Library) was founded around 1613 by Sir John Kedermister. A surviving catalogue of the Library was compiled in 1638.

The associated Kedermister Gospels, an 11th century manuscript, have been on permanent deposit in the British Library since 1932.

The British Library also holds Kedermister, Sir John and Mary: Pharmacopolium or a booke of Medicine. Manuscript of 1630.

The Kedermister Library is also linked to the poet John Milton. See Jones, Edward, "'Filling in a Blank in the Canvas': Milton, Horton, and the Kedermister Library" The Review of English Studies, Volume 53, Issue 209, February 2002: pp. 31-60

Abstract:

Aside from Milton's brief comments in the Second Defence that he returned to his father's home after finishing his studies at Cambridge, scholars have discovered little documentary evidence concerning his actual activities for the Horton period (1635-9). Traditionally assumed to be a time of self-education in which Milton began keeping notes on his reading in his Commonplace Book, legitimate questions remain about this part of his life. For example, what resources could a rural village offer him? Where would he find books, and who could help him gain access to them? Was the Milton home during these years conducive to profitable study or did Milton have to read and study elsewhere? Did his father's legal difficulties, his mother's failing health, and outbreaks of the plague cause Milton to remain confined to the Horton area for longer periods than scholars have thought? Answers to such questions explore Milton's relationship with the local clergy and his possible use of texts from the Kedermister library, a private theological collection housed inside the church of St Mary the Virgin in the neighbouring village of Langley Marish.

Version 2003-11-13.
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