The Barnby Bequest

*Graham, Dr. G. E. L. *Hallas, M. ... tHamilton, C. W. ... *Hemsley, Dr. F. R. W. fRemp, 0. .. (Lavender, J. F. ... *Lewis, T. J. . (Lumley, C. A. ... *Metcalfe, Dr. R. H. ... fOglesby, A. V. ... *Parker, R., & Sons, Ltd.

SINGLE DONATIONS SUMMARY

Carried forward from previous lists Old Peterites Parents Others and Dance proceeds

Annual Cash Payments. s. d.

Gross Yield at present rate of tax. s. d. 4 2 2 50 0 0 4 2 2 50 0 0 2 2 0 23 11 0 10 0 0 121 15 0 4 2 2 50 0 0 2 0 0 24 7 0

8 4 4 100 0 0 1 0 0 12 3 6 8 4 4 100 0 0 2 0 0 24 7 0 8 4 4 100 0 0

£162 8 4 £1,976 14 9

s. d. £ s. d.

54 11 8 54 5 0 309 17 3 5,740 8 10

418 13 11

£6,159 2 9

COVENANT SUBSCRIPTIONS s. d.

Carried forward from previous lists (corrected) ... 20,347 15 5 Net Annual Payments Gross Yield s. d. s. d.

Old Peterites Parents ... 134 14 2 1,639 8 6 26 4 2 319 1 0

Others 1 10 0 18 5 3

162 8 4 1,976 14 9

1,976 14 9

£22,324 10 2

Total—Single Donations and Seven-year Covenants (at present rate of tax) • • . .•. ... £28,483 12 11

The Rev. F. H. Barnby's obituary appeared in the last issue of "The Peterite", so that a further tribute to his long and distinguished career at St. Peter's, both as Senior Classics Master and later Second Master, is not called for here. In the meantime, however, we learned that he had bequeathed some three hundred books from his extensive collection to the School Library. This windfall duly arrived during the Christmas Term and has been integrated with the rest of the Library, each volume bearing a distinctive label to perpetuate the bequest.

Librarians may be forgiven a twinge of apprehension when such a bequest arrives. Too often such gifts slowly gather dust on college and school shelves, hallowed but unused. That only a dozen out of the three hundred books were found to be redundant is a measure therefore of our donor's excellent scholarship and taste. The remainder filled many gaps in our own collection or provided a very welcome extension to various subjects. This is indeed a gift for which generations of Peterites will be grateful.

As befits a former Sixth Form teacher of Classics and English, the bulk of the bequest consists of standard texts and works of criticism in these subjects (107 Classics, 142 English). Together, these sections cover a wide range of Greek, Roman and English Literature, a complete Cambridge Ancient History and a complete set of New Cambridge Shakespeare texts forming, as it were, massive foundation stones for each edifice. If the Library is to be the focal point of the intellectual life of the School, these volumes alone will make a valuable and scholarly contribution towards that end.

The remaining books, which may be sub-divided into History, Modern Languages, Science, Music and Sport, give a fascinating insight into the interests of a cultivated and broad-minded reader. Standard works, such as Butterfield's "Man on his Past", Eddington's "Nature of the Physical World" and Scholes's "Listener's History of Music", one might expect; but it is pleasing to find them cheek by jowl with Rabelais, or John Arlott on "The Art of Cricket". French poets and novelists, from Villon to Balzac, are well represented; while a varied selection of guides to English counties and towns confirms a life-long interest in local history.

"Books", observed Milton, "are not absolutely dead things, but do contain a potency of life in them to be as active as that soul whose progeny they are"; and as we sifted, classified, handled the books in this bequest, as we read the marginalia in the late owner's neat handwriting, so gradually we built up a mental image of the living man. This, we venture to hope, is the kind of tribute he himself would have appreciated from present members of the School which he served so long and faithfully : Show me his friends and I the man shall know; This wiser turn a larger wisdom lends : Show me the books he loves and I shall know The man far better than through mortal friends.

Finally I should like to express my gratitude to all those Library Monitors and other "volunteers" who devoted so many hours of their own time to the lengthy and exacting task of classifying, indexing and labelling this formidable battalion of books.

B.H.H.