The Earliest Books at the University of London: A Supplement

In 2016 I published an article in the pages of this journal reconstructing the donation of the Ilfracombe medical practitioner Nathaniel Vye to the University of London in 1838, the first bulk gift of early printed books to the new University.1 The donation had been described as constituting 185 volumes, several of which were components of multivolume works. My reconstruction comprised 98 titles (including several multivolume works), of which 73 were marked as having been Vye’s and 23 could confidently be deduced as having been Vye’s. Two further titles were required to complete the list, and three titles from the University of London Library’s catalogue seemed plausible candidates. I noted a margin for error and in 2018 a further title which was definitely part of the Vye gift indeed emerged, with the pencilled note ‘N. Vye, 1 Vol.’ on the verso of the front flyleaf to prove its provenance. The purpose of this note is to describe that volume and its place within the collection in a correction of my former article.