William Camden's Britannia: originally part of the Standfast Library
The Reverend Dr. William Standfast was Rector of Clifton, Nottinghamshire, from 1721 until his death in 1754 at the age of 71. Ten years before his death he founded what is known as the Standfast Library. In 1744 he told the Governors of the Blue Coat School in Nottingham his intentions of giving his “whole study of books, to lay the foundation of a Public Library,” for the use of those residing in the town and its immediate neighbourhood. His intentions came with the condition that the books be kept in the Charity School and that the master of the school would appoint a librarian. The Governors of the school met on the 23rd of May, 1744 and unanimously agreed that the Great Room in the Blue Coat school would be appropriated for this proposed public library and it would be subject to rules and regulations that could be adjusted as needed. According to these rules, the library was “founded by the Reverend Doctor William Standfast, Rector of Clifton, near Nottingham, for the use of the Clergy, Lawyers, Phicitians, and other persons of a liberal and learned education, living and inhabiting in the said town, or within and not above the distance of eight computed miles from it” (A history of the Nottingham Subscription Library). Dr. Standfast also requested that the books be administered by a Board of Trustees composed of the Archdeacon of Nottingham and the Rectors of St. Mary’s, St. Peter’s, St. Nicholas’, Wilford, Wollston, and the other local parishes, and their successors indefinitely. Unfortunately, it appears that the library did not attract the attention Dr. Standfast had hoped for, and the books were neglected. The fact that George Charles Deering, who published his History of Nottingham in 1751, never mentioned the library attests to this.
However, this was not the end for the books donated by Dr. Standfast and eventually they would be housed by the Nottingham Subscription Library, established in 1816 by the Reverend Robert White Almond, who was the Rector of St. Peter’s and therefore a Trustee of the Standfast Library. Dr. Standfast’s hope that a public library would be established in Nottingham was only realized more than sixty years after his death. The Trustees of the Standfast Library agreed to put the books into the care of the Nottingham Subscription Library, more commonly known as the Bromley House Library after it moved into Bromley House in 1821. The Standfast Library occupied one side of the Library Room in 1827 but around 1916 the books were removed and placed in one of the upper chambers of the building, as they were in less demand than in previous decades. The books resided in that room until 1926 when the firm of Henry Sotheran & Co. were approached to purchase the Standfast Library. Bromley House needed substantial alterations to the building and funds were raised through selling off the majority of the Standfast collection. All but 18 of the approximately 1,000 books were sold for £148 alongside several other books from the library.
In the course of learning more about Dr. Standfast and this book, which bears a distinct mark of ownership, Katie from the Bromley House Library was an immense help. The library very kindly scanned and uploaded a copy of the catalogue that was printed for the Standfast Library in 1863 by Stevenson, Bailey, and Smith at Wheeler Gate in Nottingham. The bulk of the Standfast Library consisted of Theology and Philosophy, unsurprisingly, perhaps, since Dr. Standfast was both a Reverend and a Doctor of Medicine. There were two copies of Camden’s Britannia in the collection, one in English and the copy Queen’s University now possesses in Latin. It is entry no. 21 in the 1863 catalogue, classed under History--Antiquities, Heraldry, and Numismatics.