Owners of Incunabula

owners/00014395 00014395

Spencer, George John, 2nd Earl Spencer

Owner Id00014395
TypePerson
GenderMale
Biographical dates - Period of existence1758-1834
Other InformationBritish Ambassador to Vienna, Whig Cabinet Minister; see DNB; Contributions Towards a Dictionary of English Book-Collectors [pt III, Oct, 1892, by Michael Kerney]; de Ricci, English Collectors, 72-7; Anthony Lister, `George John, 2nd Earl Spencer and his `Librarian', Thomas Frognall Dibdin', in Bibliophily, ed. Robin Myers and Michael Harris, Publishing History Occasional Series, 2 (1986), 90-120; Clare A. Simmons, `George John Spencer, Second Earl Spencer (1758-1834)', in Nineteenth-century British Book-collectors and Bibliographers, ed. William Baker and Kenneth Womack, DLB 184 (Detroit, Washington DC, and London, 1997), 413-18; Spencer's books included the library of Count Reviczky, q.v., purchased in 1790, and that of the Duca di Cassano, q.v., purchased in 1819/20; some duplicates were sold at his anonymous sale: A Catalogue of the Duplicates of a Nobleman's Library consisting of Rare Editions of the Greek and Latin Classics of the 15th Century &c (London: Leigh and Sotheby, 20 Dec, [1798]; other duplicate sales were held in 1800 (26 May), 1802 (3 Apr.), 1804 (6 June), 1811 (16 May), 1815 (9 May), and 1823 (5 June); Cassano (and other) duplicates were subsequently sold at the following sales: A Catalogue of Rare and Valuable Duplicates from the Library of the Rt. Hon. Earl Spencer, K. G. (London: Evans, 2 Mar. 1821); the Bodleian copy of this catalogue is fully annotated; Catalogue of a Portion of the Library of the Late Duke di Cassano Serra (London: Evans, 18 Dec. 1826): [includes some incunabula purchased by the Bodleian]; Catalogue of a Portion of the Valuable Library of the Rev. Daniel Lysons, The Duke of Cassano (London: Evans: 17 Mar. 1828); some volumes have the coat of arms of Spencer and his countess, Lavinia Bingham (Spencer, impaling Bingham quartered with Turberville), stamped in gilt on both covers, and the motto, `Dieu defend le droit': this is illustrated in Davenport 354-5, but incorrectly described there as being Bingham quartered with Smith; a second stamp (not in Davenport), bearing Spencer's own arms alone, surrounded by the Garter and surmounted by an earl's coronet, is occasionally found (for example, on P-375); accession numbers, from 1 to above 20,000, were inscribed in ink on the verso of the upper cover of the binding or of the front endleaf, in the upper left-hand corner: see de Ricci 77; these numbers are often cancelled and followed by the letter `D' or `d', presumably for 'duplicate'; in some cases a `duplum' symbol was used instead, and seems occasionally to appear on its own, without the accession number; for Spencer books now at John Rylands University Library, Manchester, see Anthony Lister, `The Althorp Library of Second Earl Spencer, now in the John Rylands University Library of Manchester: its Formation and Growth', Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester, 71 (1989), 67-86; also P. H. Reid, `The Finest Private Library in Europe: a Brief Study of the Bibliophile Spencers of Althrop', Library History, 14 (1998), 65-71.
From record 3436: Supralibros: Crest: out of a ducal coronet a griffin's head and wings gorged with a bar gemelle; Arms: quarterly in the second and third quarters a fret overall on a bend three escallops (Spencer) impaling Quarterly 1 & 4. A bend cotised between six crosses patty (Bingham) 2 & 3. Ermine a lion rampant ducally crowned (Turberville); coronet: Earl; impalement: quarterly 1 & 4. A bend cotised between six crosses patty (Bingham) 2 & 3. Ermine a lion rampant ducally crowned (Turberville).
George John Spencer was the only son of John Spencer, 1st Earl Spencer, and Margaret Georgiana, elder daughter of the Rt Hon Stephen Poyntz of Midgham in Berkshire. On the elevation of his father to an Earldom in 1765, he was known as Viscount Althorp. He was educated at Harrow, and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was admitted as a nobleman 13 February 1776, and graduated M.A. in 1778. He then travelled on the Continent with a tutor for two years, and on his return entered Parliament as Member for Northampton in 1780, and in 1782 was returned as Member for Surrey. He married Lavinia, daughter of Charles Bingham, Earl of Lucan in 1781. He succeeded his father in 1783, and was in succession a Commissioner of the Treasury Board, Lord Privy Seal, First Lord of the Admiralty, and in 1806 Secretary of State for the Home Department. A Fellow of the Royal Society, of the Society of Antiquaries, and President of the Roxburghe Club, he was made a Knight of the Garter 1 March 1799. He added greatly to the fine library made at Althorp by his great grandfather, Charles, 3rd Earl of Sutherland. In particular he was an enthusiastic collector of early printing, and editions of the classics. There were two anonymous auction sales of books from his library, the first at the Great Room, opposite Trinity Chapel, Conduit Street on 22 March 1790, the catalogue is called A catalogue of a valuable collection of books, the property of a nobleman, etc., the second at Leigh and Sotheby's 20 December 1798, the catalogue A catalogue of the duplicates of a nobleman's library. A third sale of duplicates of the Library of the Earl Spencer took place on 26 May 1800, also at Leigh & Sotheby. With some minor exclusions, the Althorp Park Library was bought by Mrs Rylands in 1892 and removed to Manchester to form the core of the library which she set up as a memorial to her husband, Alderman Rylands. The John Rylands Library now forms part of the library of Manchester University.

Activity

Start (year)1758
End (year)1834
MARC Area Codee-uk-en
PlaceAlthorp (Geonames Id: 7296694)
Profession / Type of InstitutionPolitician
CharacterisationAristocracy
Last Edit2022-09-11 21:14:03

All Copies

Spencer, George John, 2nd Earl Spencer

Owner Id00014395
TypePerson
GenderMale
Biographical dates - Period of existence1758-1834
Other InformationBritish Ambassador to Vienna, Whig Cabinet Minister; see DNB; Contributions Towards a Dictionary of English Book-Collectors [pt III, Oct, 1892, by Michael Kerney]; de Ricci, English Collectors, 72-7; Anthony Lister, `George John, 2nd Earl Spencer and his `Librarian', Thomas Frognall Dibdin', in Bibliophily, ed. Robin Myers and Michael Harris, Publishing History Occasional Series, 2 (1986), 90-120; Clare A. Simmons, `George John Spencer, Second Earl Spencer (1758-1834)', in Nineteenth-century British Book-collectors and Bibliographers, ed. William Baker and Kenneth Womack, DLB 184 (Detroit, Washington DC, and London, 1997), 413-18; Spencer's books included the library of Count Reviczky, q.v., purchased in 1790, and that of the Duca di Cassano, q.v., purchased in 1819/20; some duplicates were sold at his anonymous sale: A Catalogue of the Duplicates of a Nobleman's Library consisting of Rare Editions of the Greek and Latin Classics of the 15th Century &c (London: Leigh and Sotheby, 20 Dec, [1798]; other duplicate sales were held in 1800 (26 May), 1802 (3 Apr.), 1804 (6 June), 1811 (16 May), 1815 (9 May), and 1823 (5 June); Cassano (and other) duplicates were subsequently sold at the following sales: A Catalogue of Rare and Valuable Duplicates from the Library of the Rt. Hon. Earl Spencer, K. G. (London: Evans, 2 Mar. 1821); the Bodleian copy of this catalogue is fully annotated; Catalogue of a Portion of the Library of the Late Duke di Cassano Serra (London: Evans, 18 Dec. 1826): [includes some incunabula purchased by the Bodleian]; Catalogue of a Portion of the Valuable Library of the Rev. Daniel Lysons, The Duke of Cassano (London: Evans: 17 Mar. 1828); some volumes have the coat of arms of Spencer and his countess, Lavinia Bingham (Spencer, impaling Bingham quartered with Turberville), stamped in gilt on both covers, and the motto, `Dieu defend le droit': this is illustrated in Davenport 354-5, but incorrectly described there as being Bingham quartered with Smith; a second stamp (not in Davenport), bearing Spencer's own arms alone, surrounded by the Garter and surmounted by an earl's coronet, is occasionally found (for example, on P-375); accession numbers, from 1 to above 20,000, were inscribed in ink on the verso of the upper cover of the binding or of the front endleaf, in the upper left-hand corner: see de Ricci 77; these numbers are often cancelled and followed by the letter `D' or `d', presumably for 'duplicate'; in some cases a `duplum' symbol was used instead, and seems occasionally to appear on its own, without the accession number; for Spencer books now at John Rylands University Library, Manchester, see Anthony Lister, `The Althorp Library of Second Earl Spencer, now in the John Rylands University Library of Manchester: its Formation and Growth', Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester, 71 (1989), 67-86; also P. H. Reid, `The Finest Private Library in Europe: a Brief Study of the Bibliophile Spencers of Althrop', Library History, 14 (1998), 65-71.
From record 3436: Supralibros: Crest: out of a ducal coronet a griffin's head and wings gorged with a bar gemelle; Arms: quarterly in the second and third quarters a fret overall on a bend three escallops (Spencer) impaling Quarterly 1 & 4. A bend cotised between six crosses patty (Bingham) 2 & 3. Ermine a lion rampant ducally crowned (Turberville); coronet: Earl; impalement: quarterly 1 & 4. A bend cotised between six crosses patty (Bingham) 2 & 3. Ermine a lion rampant ducally crowned (Turberville).
George John Spencer was the only son of John Spencer, 1st Earl Spencer, and Margaret Georgiana, elder daughter of the Rt Hon Stephen Poyntz of Midgham in Berkshire. On the elevation of his father to an Earldom in 1765, he was known as Viscount Althorp. He was educated at Harrow, and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was admitted as a nobleman 13 February 1776, and graduated M.A. in 1778. He then travelled on the Continent with a tutor for two years, and on his return entered Parliament as Member for Northampton in 1780, and in 1782 was returned as Member for Surrey. He married Lavinia, daughter of Charles Bingham, Earl of Lucan in 1781. He succeeded his father in 1783, and was in succession a Commissioner of the Treasury Board, Lord Privy Seal, First Lord of the Admiralty, and in 1806 Secretary of State for the Home Department. A Fellow of the Royal Society, of the Society of Antiquaries, and President of the Roxburghe Club, he was made a Knight of the Garter 1 March 1799. He added greatly to the fine library made at Althorp by his great grandfather, Charles, 3rd Earl of Sutherland. In particular he was an enthusiastic collector of early printing, and editions of the classics. There were two anonymous auction sales of books from his library, the first at the Great Room, opposite Trinity Chapel, Conduit Street on 22 March 1790, the catalogue is called A catalogue of a valuable collection of books, the property of a nobleman, etc., the second at Leigh and Sotheby's 20 December 1798, the catalogue A catalogue of the duplicates of a nobleman's library. A third sale of duplicates of the Library of the Earl Spencer took place on 26 May 1800, also at Leigh & Sotheby. With some minor exclusions, the Althorp Park Library was bought by Mrs Rylands in 1892 and removed to Manchester to form the core of the library which she set up as a memorial to her husband, Alderman Rylands. The John Rylands Library now forms part of the library of Manchester University.

Activity

Start (year)1758
End (year)1834
MARC Area Codee-uk-en
PlaceAlthorp (Geonames Id: 7296694)
Profession / Type of InstitutionPolitician
CharacterisationAristocracy
Last Edit2022-09-11 21:14:03
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