EDITORIAL ARTICLES
QUIS CUSTODIET IPSOS CUSTODES?
IN our Editorial article last month we called some attention to the difficulties caused by attaching inconsiderate terms to gifts or bequests to public institutions. We now have to deal with matters relating to the recipients of such gifts, and not with donors or testators. It is announced that the authorities of the Bedford General Library intend to sell, for purely pecuniary reasons, the copy of Foxe’s ‘Book of Martyrs, ’ in three folio volumes, which was the property of John Bunyan and was used by him during his confinement in Bedford gaol. These volumes, after many years of wandering, were purchased in 1841 by public subscription, and presented to the Bedford General Library. It seems astounding that a temporary body of trustees or governors should be prepared to convert into cash one of the most precious relics of their local hero, which had in this way become public property.
We commented before on the disposition of public bodies to regard works of
art and similar objects for their market value rather than for their intrinsic worth. A work of artistic, or historical interest, which becomes the property of the nation, is, or should be, by this very fact divested of its value as a marketable commodity. It must be regarded in the future solely from an artistic or historical point of view. Too many instances have occurred in which public authorities, who had, as individuals, but temporary tenure of their offices, succeeded in disposing ofobjects without the consent of the community, which had a joint ownership in them. A wise discretion may be granted to directors and governors of public institutions as to the location and preservation of objects which have been entrusted to their care. Facilities should be increased for their loan or exchange. But national, or, indeed, public property of any kind should never be allowed to revert to private ownership. If the Bedford librarians, and the town of Bedford, are unable to maintain their library, Bunyan’s precious volumes should be transferred to the British Museum as national property.
RECENT APPOINTMENTS
WE have to chronicle with regret the close of Mr. Claude Phillips’s term of office as Keeper of the Wallace Collection. Fortunately, his chief work there has been already accomplished. This was as is well known, the complete catalogue of the collection, the original planning of the arrangement, and unwearied cooperation in carrying it out. The excellence of the work is acknowledged wherever the taste and learning necessary for such a task are properly understood. The
importance of the Wallace Collection has been enhanced by Mr. Phillips. His own reputation was already made outside it, and remains independent of it, for Hertford House was the most restricted field of his energies. His recent writings show clearly that those fine qualities of his criticism, which have won it its peculiar credit, its universal interest and its wide acceptance, are still in their ascendency. His release from office will allow him more opportunity for observation and research, and will widen the range of his services both to ancient and contemporary art. We cannot, therefore, regard his loss
QUIS CUSTODIET IPSOS CUSTODES?
IN our Editorial article last month we called some attention to the difficulties caused by attaching inconsiderate terms to gifts or bequests to public institutions. We now have to deal with matters relating to the recipients of such gifts, and not with donors or testators. It is announced that the authorities of the Bedford General Library intend to sell, for purely pecuniary reasons, the copy of Foxe’s ‘Book of Martyrs, ’ in three folio volumes, which was the property of John Bunyan and was used by him during his confinement in Bedford gaol. These volumes, after many years of wandering, were purchased in 1841 by public subscription, and presented to the Bedford General Library. It seems astounding that a temporary body of trustees or governors should be prepared to convert into cash one of the most precious relics of their local hero, which had in this way become public property.
We commented before on the disposition of public bodies to regard works of
art and similar objects for their market value rather than for their intrinsic worth. A work of artistic, or historical interest, which becomes the property of the nation, is, or should be, by this very fact divested of its value as a marketable commodity. It must be regarded in the future solely from an artistic or historical point of view. Too many instances have occurred in which public authorities, who had, as individuals, but temporary tenure of their offices, succeeded in disposing ofobjects without the consent of the community, which had a joint ownership in them. A wise discretion may be granted to directors and governors of public institutions as to the location and preservation of objects which have been entrusted to their care. Facilities should be increased for their loan or exchange. But national, or, indeed, public property of any kind should never be allowed to revert to private ownership. If the Bedford librarians, and the town of Bedford, are unable to maintain their library, Bunyan’s precious volumes should be transferred to the British Museum as national property.
RECENT APPOINTMENTS
WE have to chronicle with regret the close of Mr. Claude Phillips’s term of office as Keeper of the Wallace Collection. Fortunately, his chief work there has been already accomplished. This was as is well known, the complete catalogue of the collection, the original planning of the arrangement, and unwearied cooperation in carrying it out. The excellence of the work is acknowledged wherever the taste and learning necessary for such a task are properly understood. The
importance of the Wallace Collection has been enhanced by Mr. Phillips. His own reputation was already made outside it, and remains independent of it, for Hertford House was the most restricted field of his energies. His recent writings show clearly that those fine qualities of his criticism, which have won it its peculiar credit, its universal interest and its wide acceptance, are still in their ascendency. His release from office will allow him more opportunity for observation and research, and will widen the range of his services both to ancient and contemporary art. We cannot, therefore, regard his loss