This Latin chronicle of the abbey of Evesham was compiled around 1214 by Thomas of Marlborough, abbot from 1230 to 1236. Books 1 and 2, containing the life and miracles of St Egwin, bishop of Worcester (d. 717) and founder of the abbey, were written by a twelfth-century prior, Dominic, and abridged by Thomas, who continued the history of the house to his own time. The chronicle was then extended by unknown authors, the first to 1418 and another to 1539. This edition, published in 1863 by William Dunn Macray (1826 1916), contains both continuations. It also includes several saints' lives that...

William Henry Rich Jones (1817 85) compiled and transcribed the documents relating to thirteenth-century Salisbury which are contained in this work. It complements his edition of the register of St Osmund (also reissued in this series) which relates to twelfth-century Salisbury. Following his untimely death, this work was completed and published in 1891 by his long-time acquaintance William Dunn Macray (1826 1916). The documents collected here include papal bulls, grants from sovereigns and bishops of Salisbury, foundation charters and items relating to church history. They are drawn from...

This fascinating book describes the history of Oxford University's great academic library, from the foundation of Cobham's Library in 1367, Richard de Bury's library at Durham College, Duke Humphrey's Library, Sir Thomas Bodley's bequest and on to the late nineteenth century. Macray's scholarly work abounds with fascinating detail and draws not only on the Bodleian's official archives but also many diaries and gossipy anecdotes. It comes as something of a shock to discover that one of Bodley's friends accused him of being 'so drunk with applause and vanitie of his librarie' that he...