Thomas Smith: Library As University
Read More![In addition to his books, two of Smith’s personal notebooks now belong to Queens’ Library. This particular notebook comprises inventories of his possessions, including two lists of his books, dated 1566 and 1576. They are both organised by subjects: theology, civil law, English law, history, philosophy, mathematics, medicine and surgery, grammar and poetry, historical and philosophical Greek books, and architecture. This library list was intended for Smith’s personal use, and each entry is brief, with only an author’s name or a title. Smith was known for his organisation and accuracy; thus, we can consider the list an accurate reflection of his library and the way in which it was ordered.
<br><br>
<b>Author:</b> Thomas Smith<br>
<b>Title:</b><i> 'Inventaries'</i> [Commonplace book] (16th century)<br>
<b>Shelfmark:</b> Queens' College Library MS 49 <br>
Full digital copy on <a href="https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-QUEENS-00049/1"> Cambridge Digital Library</a>](https://photos.smugmug.com/Exhibitions/ThomasSmith/Library/i-WT3s82g/0/408e818f/M/Img1548-M.png)
In addition to his books, two of Smith’s personal notebooks now belong to Queens’ Library. This particular notebook comprises inventories of his possessions, including two lists of his books, dated 1566 and 1576. They are both organised by subjects: theology, civil law, English law, history, philosophy, mathematics, medicine and surgery, grammar and poetry, historical and philosophical Greek books, and architecture. This library list was intended for Smith’s personal use, and each entry is brief, with only an author’s name or a title. Smith was known for his organisation and accuracy; thus, we can consider the list an accurate reflection of his library and the way in which it was ordered.
Author: Thomas Smith
Title: 'Inventaries' [Commonplace book] (16th century)
Shelfmark: Queens' College Library MS 49
Full digital copy on Cambridge Digital Library
![Thomas Smith was a great inspiration to many of his students, and to Gabriel Harvey in particular. Like Smith, Harvey was born in Saffron Waldon and educated at Cambridge. The two men quickly became acquainted, and Harvey was soon a regular visitor to Hill Hall, where he witnessed the famous debate between Smith and his son Thomas Smith Jr. Harvey was always keen to show that he was privy to the statesman, and in the year following Smith’s death he published a series of elegies in Latin entitled Smithus; vel Musarum lachrymae (Smith, or The tears of the Muses) in which he celebrated his former mentor and positioned himself as his intellectual heir.<br>
Here is a portrait of Smith including in the volume.
<br><br>
<b>Author:</b> Gabriel Harvey<br>
<b>Title:</b><i> Smithus; vel Musarum lachrymae </i> [Smith, or The tears of the Muses] (London, 1578) <br>
<b>Shelfmark:</b> G.15.5(1) <a href="http://idiscover.lib.cam.ac.uk/permalink/f/1nnjft8/44CAM_ALMA21416680580003606"> (catalogue record)</a>](https://photos.smugmug.com/Exhibitions/ThomasSmith/Library/i-Kx5Phsd/0/cd1ebda7/Ti/_MG_4802-10-Ti.jpg)
![<b>Author:</b> Gabriel Harvey<br>
<b>Title:</b><i> Smithus; vel Musarum lachrymae </i> [Smith, or The tears of the Muses] (London, 1578) <br>
<b>Shelfmark:</b> G.15.5(1) <a href="http://idiscover.lib.cam.ac.uk/permalink/f/1nnjft8/44CAM_ALMA21416680580003606"> (catalogue record)</a>](https://photos.smugmug.com/Exhibitions/ThomasSmith/Library/i-49FnT5V/0/c55741d4/Ti/_MG_4801-9-Ti.jpg)
![Lines 12-22:<br>
‘To listen to this Doctor as he taught<br>
Cheke did not blush, nor Redman, nor great Burleigh,<br>
Nor the elder Cox, - Hatton was his pupil.<br>
Who was the chiefest rhetorician? Smith.<br>
Who was the first interpreter of tongues?<br>
‘Twas Smith. And who the most famed naturalist?<br>
Oh, Smith, the all knowing. Who of life and manners<br>
The ablest Master? Smith again.’<br>
Traduction by A. B. Grosart, <i>The works of Gabriel Harvey</i>, Oxford: Oxford University, 1884
<br><br>
<b>Author:</b> Gabriel Harvey<br>
<b>Title:</b><i> Smithus; vel Musarum lachrymae </i> [Smith, or The tears of the Muses] (London, 1578) <br>
<b>Shelfmark:</b> G.15.5(1) <a href="http://idiscover.lib.cam.ac.uk/permalink/f/1nnjft8/44CAM_ALMA21416680580003606"> (catalogue record)</a>](https://photos.smugmug.com/Exhibitions/ThomasSmith/Library/i-P3xFckP/0/968223f0/Ti/_MG_4800-8-Ti.jpg)
![In addition to his books, two of Smith’s personal notebooks now belong to Queens’ Library. This particular notebook comprises inventories of his possessions, including two lists of his books, dated 1566 and 1576. They are both organised by subjects: theology, civil law, English law, history, philosophy, mathematics, medicine and surgery, grammar and poetry, historical and philosophical Greek books, and architecture. This library list was intended for Smith’s personal use, and each entry is brief, with only an author’s name or a title. Smith was known for his organisation and accuracy; thus, we can consider the list an accurate reflection of his library and the way in which it was ordered.
<br><br>
<b>Author:</b> Thomas Smith<br>
<b>Title:</b><i> 'Inventaries'</i> [Commonplace book] (16th century)<br>
<b>Shelfmark:</b> Queens' College Library MS 49 <br>
Full digital copy on <a href="https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-QUEENS-00049/1"> Cambridge Digital Library</a>](https://photos.smugmug.com/Exhibitions/ThomasSmith/Library/i-WT3s82g/0/408e818f/Ti/Img1548-Ti.png)
![Books on mathematics
<br><br>
<b>Author:</b> Thomas Smith<br>
<b>Title:</b><i> 'Inventaries'</i> [Commonplace book] (16th century)<br>
<b>Shelfmark:</b> Queens' College Library MS 49 <br>
Full digital copy on <a href="https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-QUEENS-00049/1"> Cambridge Digital Library</a>](https://photos.smugmug.com/Exhibitions/ThomasSmith/Library/i-xPvBwTB/0/fbea721a/Ti/Img1558-Ti.png)
![Books on medicine and surgery
<br><br>
<b>Author:</b> Thomas Smith<br>
<b>Title:</b><i> 'Inventaries'</i> [Commonplace book] (16th century)<br>
<b>Shelfmark:</b> Queens' College Library MS 49 <br>
Full digital copy on <a href="https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-QUEENS-00049/1"> Cambridge Digital Library</a>](https://photos.smugmug.com/Exhibitions/ThomasSmith/Library/i-tPsFkXm/0/9f25f8cb/Ti/Img1560-Ti.png)
![Books on grammar and poetyry
<br><br>
<b>Author:</b> Thomas Smith<br>
<b>Title:</b><i> 'Inventaries'</i> [Commonplace book] (16th century)<br>
<b>Shelfmark:</b> Queens' College Library MS 49 <br>
Full digital copy on <a href="https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-QUEENS-00049/1"> Cambridge Digital Library</a>](https://photos.smugmug.com/Exhibitions/ThomasSmith/Library/i-s56Wqb7/0/8bff232f/Ti/Img1561-Ti.png)