News from the Library
News from the Library
As mentioned in the last report of the Library and Muniments Committee, it is intended to give details in the Newsletter of acquisitions and recent publications (of which there is a hearteningly large number) relevant to the County and to archaeology in general.
Owing principally to the severe limitations on space, not all of these can be bought for our collection. However, a steady stream of selective purchases is strengthening all aspects of this and Members are most welcome to use it (but please do not forget to bring your membership card).
Two volumes which merit selection as basic sources are: - The Calendar of Assize Records, Kent Indictments, Elizabeth 1 by J.S. Cockburn (Ed.), H.M.S.O. (1979) and The Kent Bibliography Supplement by W.F. Burgess (Ed.), London and Home Counties Branch, Library Association (1981).
The first will become a classic work of reference, containing lists of juries, prisoners and copious separate indexes of persons, places and offences, etc. The entries vary greatly in detail, thus No. 636 for February, 1573:
Granges, Joan of Darenth, spinster, indicted for grand larceny. On 16 October 1572 she broke into the house of Christopher Draper, gentleman, at Darenth and stole a purse (worth 2d.) containing 2 gold sovereigns and 23d in money belonging to Agnes Myles, widow, Draper's servant.
Guilty; not pregnant; to hang.
The Supplement, compiled by Wyn Burgess, who so generously assists with our own cataloguing, contains a massive amount of information as to printed sources and their locations in Kent, including those areas now part of London. Two examples must suffice to illustrate its contents. Apparently the only copy in the County available to the public of The Unusual Birth of the Gravesend and Rochester Railway (1978) is in Chatham Public Library, and that of the Guide to St. Mildred's Parish Church, Tenterden (1929) is in the Tunbridge Wells Library.
Please let us have your suggestions for additions. Acquisition cannot be guaranteed, of course, but all will be seriously considered by your Committee.
Peter Draper