Heber, Richard
Owner Id00012681
TypePerson
GenderMale
Biographical dates - Period of existence1773 - 1833
Other InformationThe manuscripts mainly passed to the British Museum (stamp Bibliotheca Heberiana). From Bod-inc. See DNB; Munby, Phillipps Studies, esp. III 73-80; R. H. Cholmondeley, The Heber Letters, 1783-1832 (London, 1950); Arnold Hunt, `Bibliotheca Heberiana', in Antiquaries, Book Collectors and the Circles of Learning, ed. Robin Myers and Michael Harris (Winchester, 1996), 83-112; Clare A. Simmons, `Richard Heber (1774-1833)', in Nineteenth-century British Book-collectors and Bibliographers, ed. William Baker and Kenneth Womack, DLB 184 (Detroit, Washington, DC, and London, 1997), 219-26; Arnold Hunt, `The Sale of Richard Heber's Library', in Under the Hammer: Book Auctions since the Seventeenth Century, ed. Robin Myers, Michael Harris, and Giles Mandelbrote (New Castle, Del., and London, 2001), 143-71; Bibliotheca Heberiana: Catalogue of the Library of the Late Richard Heber... (London: Sotheby & Son, 10 Apr., 5 June, 10 Nov, 1834; Evans, 8 Dec. 1834; B. Wheatley, 19 Jan., Evans, 23 Mar., 25 May 1835; Evans, 29 Feb., Sotheby & Son, 11 Apr., 30 May, B. Wheatley, 1 July 1836; B. Wheatley, 22 Feb. 1837); Catalogue d'une belle collection de livres et manuscrits ayant fait partie de la bibliothèque de feu M. Richard Heber (Ghent: Ch. Citerne, 26 Oct. 1835); the Bodleian copy of the Heber catalogues contains annotations in red ink of the prices paid by Heber for many items; a note signed by H[enry] E[llis] states that they, as well as the prices in black, are based on the copy of the catalogue of Payne and Foss, `presented by Mr H Foss to the Library of the British Museum in 1851'; although Ellis maintains that the entries in red are derived from notes in the books concerned, this does not always seem to be the case; Thomas Rodd's bills to the Bodleian for the sale are kept at Library Bills (1837-8), no. 7.
263 Bod-inc entries: • A-005(1) • A-030(1) • A-072(1) • A-085(1) • A-092(1) • A-106(1) • A-130(1) • A-208(1) • A-224(1) • A-271(1) • A-275(1) • A-296(1) • A-398(1) • A-417(1) • A-430(1) • A-436(1) • A-536(1) • A-541(1) • A-543(1) • A-572(1) • A-590(2) • A-604(1) • A-607(1) • A-623(1) • B-050(3) • B-052A(1) • B-067(1) • B-070(1) • B-136(1) • B-150(1) • B-156(1) • B-335(1)? • B-353(1) • B-388(1) • B-392(2) • B-489(1) • B-508(1) • B-528(1)? • B-577(1) • B-604(1) • B-609(2) • B-610(2) • C-002(1) • C-039(1) • C-052(1) • C-108(1) • C-149(1) • C-180(2) • C-183(2) • C-185(2) • C-205(1) • C-217(1) • C-251(1) • C-263(1) • C-264(2) • C-266(1) • C-268(1) • C-275(2) • C-299(2) • C-302(1) • C-310(1) • C-312(1) • C-312(2) • C-335(1) • C-339(1) • C-343(2) • C-347(1) • C-384(1) • C-402(1) • C-474(1) • C-480(1) • C-482(1) • C-495(1) • D-001(1) • D-002(1) • D-008(1) • D-019(1) • D-023(1) • D-031(1) • D-032(1) • D-138(1) • D-148(1) • E-008(1) • E-041(1) • E-053(2) • E-082(1) • E-083(1) • F-016(1) • F-040(1) • F-059(1) • F-065(2) • F-066(1) • F-090(1) • F-108(1) • G-006(1) • G-024(1) • G-035(1) • G-037(1) • G-038(1) • G-047(1) • G-072(1) • G-073(1) • G-075(1) • G-096(1) • G-100(1) • G-113(1) • G-115(1) • G-117(1) • G-123(1) • G-131(1) • G-157A(1) • G-258(1) • G-261(1) • G-271(1) • H-003(1) • H-040(1) • H-051(1) • H-201(2) • H-202(1) • H-216(1) • I-004(1) • J-012(1) • J-028(1) • J-093(2) • J-139(1) • J-159(1) • J-225(1) • J-284(1) • J-285(1) • J-287(1) • J-300(1) • J-301(1) • J-303(1) • J-306(1) • J-310(1) • J-315(1) • J-320(1) • J-322(1) • J-329(3) • L-029(1) • L-040(3) • L-044(1) • L-065(1) • L-081(2) • L-092(1) • L-094(1) • L-110(1) • L-112(1) • L-117(1) • L-156(2)? • L-173(1) • L-176(1) • L-183(1) • L-186(1) • L-188(1) • L-191(1) • M-032(2) • M-040(1) • M-047(1) • M-049(1) • M-099(1) • M-115(1) • M-118(1) • M-122(1) • M-150(1) • M-285(1) • M-312(2) • M-324(1) • N-076(1) • N-090(1) • O-003(1) • O-027(2) • O-041(2) • O-054(1) • P-002(1) • P-007(1) • P-040(1) • P-045(2) • P-076(2) • P-090(1) • P-096(1) • P-108(1) • P-112(1) • P-122(1) • P-128(1) • P-138(2) • P-139(2) • P-144(1) • P-148(1) • P-149(1) • P-169(1) • P-171(1) • P-184(2) • P-194(2) • P-217(2) • P-236(1) • P-259(1) • P-266(1) • P-270(1) • P-287(1) • P-291(1) • P-323(1) • P-332(1) • P-338(1) • P-343(2) • P-345(3) • P-361(2) • P-409(1) • P-410(1) • P-412(1) • P-415(1) • P-424(1) • P-430(1) • P-449(1) • P-452(1) • P-455(1)? • P-467(2) • P-485(1) • P-534(1) • R-052(1) • R-084(2) • R-128(1) • S-022(1) • S-026(1) • S-105(1) • S-191(1) • S-195(2) • S-202(1) • S-240(1) • S-283(1) • S-286(2) • S-302(1) • S-330(1) • S-331(1) • S-339(1)? • S-341(2) • S-343(1) • T-007(1) • T-011(1) • T-016(2) • T-027(1) • T-028(1) • T-039(1) • T-041(1) • T-084(1) • T-118(1) • T-185(1) • T-190(1) • T-208(2) • T-261(1) • T-271(1) • V-005(1) • V-019(1) • V-024(1) • V-042(1) • V-058(1) • V-110(2) • V-111(1) • V-144(1) • V-149(1) • W-016(1) • W-028(1) • Z-008(1).
See [The Hague, KB, verz.cat. 16138-16150] for his auction catalogues from 1834-1837.
Variant NamesCato, Parvus
Parvus, Cato
Other Identifierhttps://aeolus.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/collections/incunables/provenances_for_mei.xml#xpointer(//*[@id=
http://thesaurus.cerl.org/record/cnp01427612
https://bookowners.online/Richard_Heber_1774-1833
Activity
Start (year)1773
End (year)1833
NoteHe was an English book-collector, born in London, and attended Brasenose College, Oxford. At 19 he edited the works of Silius Italicus (2 vols. 12mo, 1792), and a year later prepared for the press an edition of Claudiani Carmina (2 vols., 1793).
A taste for book collecting was developed in him in childhood, and as an undergraduate he began to collect a purely classical library. His taste broadening, he became interested in early English drama and literature, and began his wonderful collection of rare books in these departments. Succeeding on the death of his father in 1804 to large estates in Yorkshire and Shropshire, which he considerably augmented, he forthwith devoted himself to the purchase of rare books. Heber was one of the 18 founders in 1812 of the Roxburghe Club of bibliophiles.
He possessed extensive landed property in Shropshire and Yorkshire, and was High Sheriff of the former county in 1821, was Member of Parliament (MP) for Oxford University from 1821 to 1826, and in 1822 was made a D.C.L. of that University. He was one of the founders of the Athenaeum Club, London.
After ransacking England for books, Heber travelled extensively on the Continent, purchasing everywhere, and leaving large depots of books in Paris, Antwerp, Brussels, Ghent, and elsewhere in the Netherlands and Germany. At booksales he sometimes purchased single volumes, sometimes whole libraries. Sir Walter Scott classed Heber's library as "superior to all others in the world"; Thomas Campbell described him as "the fiercest and strongest of all the bibliomaniacs." He did not confine himself to the purchase of a single copy of a work which took his fancy. "No gentleman," he remarked, "can be without three copies of a book, one for show, one for use, and one for borrowers." To such a size did his library grow that it overran eight houses, some in England, some on the Continent.
At his death his collection in England was estimated by Dibdin at 105,000 volumes, exclusive of many thousands on the Continent, the whole having cost upward of £180,000. Allibone in his Dictionary of Authors computes the volumes in England at 113,195, and those in France and Holland at 33,632, making a total of 146,827, to which must be added a large collection of pamphlets. This immense library was disposed of by auction after the owner's death, the sale lasting 216 days and realizing more than £60,000.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Heber
MARC Area Codee-uk
Profession / Type of InstitutionScholar
CharacterisationNo characterisation/lay
Last Edit2024-11-08 19:01:35