Porteus Library

The library of Beilby Porteus (1731-1809), Bishop of London, housed at Fulham Palace until its deposit at the University Library in 1958. The collection is composed of approximately 4,000 volumes, including 300 volumes of pamphlets covering a wide range of subjects such as slavery, the French Revolution, travel and topography, and ecclesiastical affairs, including sermons, mostly published between 1750 and 1809. There are also a few earlier books and a later collection, mainly volumes of sermons and charges, added by William Howley.

The research significance of this collection has been brought out in an article by D T Richnell: "The cumulation and juxtaposition of the books and pamphlets on all the varied subjects that an influential churchman of the period had to concern himself with, or was passionately interested in, in the end provides a vivid picture of the background and mental climate of his age, or at any rate one stratum of the society of the age". The items relating to slavery and the slave trade, the subject of a separate manuscript catalogue, compiled by or for Porteus himself, are most frequently consulted by researchers. Other subjects covered in the pamphlet holdings of the Porteus Library include the American Revolution, India, the Union with Ireland, the Regency and the French Revolution.

The portrait displayed is from the frontispiece of The Works of the Right Reverend Beilby Porteus ... , Vol. 1, mentioned below, and the text accompanying it reads: "Beilby Porteus, D.D. Lord Bishop of London. Engraved by C. Picart, from an original drawing by H. Edridge."

The collection complements the Graveley Parish Library and the Goldsmiths' Library of Economic Literature.

A large proportion of the collection is available on the Main Catalogue, although there remains a substantial body of material recorded only on the Online Card Catalogue.

There is also a subject catalogue of the collection on cards, and several manuscript lists are available on request. The manuscripts are also recorded on AIM25.

Beilby Porteus, The Works of the Right Reverend Beilby Porteus, D.D., late Bishop of London; with his life / by the Rev. Robert Hodgson. A new edition, in six volumes. London, 1816.

John Addy, 'The Diary of Beilby Porteus, 1777-1809', Friends of Lambeth Palace Library: Annual Report (1977): 12-25.

D.T. Richnell, 'The Library of Bishop Porteus', Library Association Record, 61 (1959): 156-8.

shl.specialcollections@london.ac.uk 020 7862 8470