Towneley from A to Z
Towneley from A to Z
The Towneley family put great store in the education of their children and the preservation of their heritage. The library's origins can be traced back to well before 1603, in which year Richard Towneley (1566-1628) had his book bindings impressed with his coat of arms and the motto Tenez Le Vray. The library collection was greatly extended by his grandson, Richard Towneley (1629-1707), who in 1702 added his own book-plate to around 2,000 books in the library.
Books owned by the family were sold at auction during the 19th century and are now scattered across many of the world's greatest libraries. Thanks to Google Books [https://books.google.co.uk/intl/EN/googlebooks/about.html] copies of most books they owned can now be read on-line and of these at least six were scanned from books with Richard Towneley's bookplate for 1702.
A plan of Towneley from around 1700 shows the library was originally located above the gatehouse, next to the chapel, in the east range. The east range was taken down sometime around 1711 and the chapel was re-sited on the west corner of the north wing. All evidence of the library room was destroyed in November 1922, when the remaining bedrooms on the second floor of the north wing were removed to create a watercolour gallery.
The best known of the books once owned by the Towneley family is the Wakefield or Towneley Mystery Plays, a series of thirty-two mystery plays based on the Bible most likely performed. The unique manuscript, now housed at the Huntington Library, San Marino, California, originated in the mid-fifteenth century. It is one of only four surviving English mystery play cycles. Another book known by the family name is the Towneley Lectionary, an illuminated manuscript now in the New York Public Library. Sir Simon Towneley published a facsimile for the Roxburghe Club in 1997 and presented a copy to Towneley for the Towneley Room. The Roxburghe Club was established in 1812 for collectors of the finest examples of the printed book. Peregrine Towneley (1762-1846) was an early member.
The documents and manuscripts collection includes three manuscripts bought by the Burnley Literary and Science Club at the Towneley family manuscript sale in 1883. The earliest is a Tudor account book [doma3505]. The second is the record of Commemorations At Mass said in Towneley chapel, 1706-1722 by Thomas Anderton [doma0422]. The last is the diary of John Towneley (1731-1813) when he visited Towneley in 1807 together with a catalogue of the books in his libraries in London [doma0406].
The book collection includes Charles Towneley's book Corte di Roma, it has his Whitehall bookplate and contains a 'who was who' in the papal government when he visited Rome in 1767 [book10].