the choicer portion of
the books of Thomas Dampier, Bishop of Ely, and he bought largely at the
sales of the Edwards, Roxburghe, Towneley and other libraries. In 1815
the Duke removed the books from his other residences to Chatsworth
with a view to the formation of a great library there,[95] and in 1821
he purchased John Philip Kemble's splendid collection of plays for two
thousand pounds, adding to it four years later the first edition of
_Hamlet_, which he purchased of Messrs. Payne and Foss, the booksellers
of Pall Mall, for one hundred pounds. But one other copy of this
precious little volume is known to exist, that in the British Museum,
which wants the title-page, while that acquired by the Duke is without
the last leaf. After the death of the Duke on January the 18th, 1858,
the collection at Chatsworth was further enlarged by his successor, who
transferred to it some choice books from the library at Chiswick, and
also added to it a select portion of the books of his brother, Lord
Richard Cavendish, who died in 1873.[96] In 1879 a catalogue of the
books at Chatsworth was compiled by Sir J.P. Lacaita, the librarian, in
four volumes, and printed at the Chiswick Press. The library is rich in
choice and early editions of the Greek and Latin Classics, and the
productions of the Aldine Press are particularly numerous and fine. Of
the Bibles, the Latin Bible of 1462, and a vellum copy of that printed
by Jenson in 1476, are perhaps the most important. As many as
twenty-five works from the press of Caxton, and twenty-four from that
of Wynkyn de Worde are to be found in the catalogue. Among the Caxtons
is a copy of the _Recuyell of the Histories of Troye_, which once
belonged to Elizabeth Grey, wife of Edward IV. This volume was bought at
the Roxburghe sale for one thousand and sixty pounds, ten shillings. A
magnificent copy of De Bry's _Collectiones Peregrinationum_, which
formerly belonged to Francois Cesar Le Tellier, Marquis de Courtanvaux,
is also deserving of special notice. A large proportion of the books are
in handsome and historical bindings, and no fewer than twenty-four
volumes from the library of Grolier are to be found on the shelves of
the collection, which also contains a nearly complete set of County
Histories. Among the manuscripts is one of great interest. It is a
Missal given by King Henry VII. to his daughter Margaret, Queen Consort
of James IV., King of Scotland, and mother of the Lady Margaret Douglas,