College’s 1866 Latin dictionary found in Barry charity shop

30 November 2022

A charity shop volunteer in South Wales has discovered a Latin dictionary from 1866 that once belonged to the College’s Meyricke Library.

The dictionary, Lexicon manuale,  was found by volunteer Dr Diane Brook during a sort through recent book donations at the ReStore Furniture Shop in Barry. The book displays a Meyricke Library bookplate but gives no further clues as to the Welsh scholar who might have ‘borrowed’ it.

The ReStore Furniture Shop in Barry, South Wales, where the Latin dictionary was discovered

 

Diane contacted College Librarian, Owen McKnight, to organise its safe return home, and Owen undertook some detective work. He says, “I searched the College’s old records, including a card catalogue, and unfortunately there is no evidence of when this book was last in the collection. Books which are withdrawn from stock are, usually, stamped to make this clear, but occasionally this step is skipped. It could also be the case that the book was borrowed, never returned, and the loan eventually written off”.

Dr Brook says, “I spend my time in the shop identifying and pricing donated books, and saw that we’d been given a 19th century copy of the dictionary. Opening it up to find out more, I saw, in the front, the bookplate of the Meyrick Library with two pencil annotations which appear to be catalogue identifiers. There was also a modern stamp of the library”.

She adds, “I got in touch with Owen to see if the volume was one the College would like returned to its collection –and the answer was yes”.

To thank Dr Brook for her help in returning the book to the Meyricke Library, the College will make a £100 donation to ReStore.