I don't think the British Library would have been prepared to pay £1,000.000 for the collection especially as they probably have copies of some of the things already. Perhaps we should be thankful that it remained in the UK and wasn't spirited away to the USA (with apologies to our American colleagues. Monica
-----Original Message----- From: lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu [mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] On Behalf Of WALSH STUART Sent: 27 October 2015 22:49 To: Stewart McCoy; Lute Net Subject: [LUTE] Re: Spencer Collection, Royal Academy of Music, London On 27/10/2015 17:16, Stewart McCoy wrote: > I think the Royal Academy paid £1,000,000 for the collection, which > was probably a bit of a gift. Bob once told me that his books were his > pension, and he would sell them off gradually as he needed money. The > money from the RAM would have gone to his wife, Jill, to be her > pension. It is sad that Bob's books are less accessible now than they > were. When Bob was alive, you'd just go round to his house to see > them. He was a generous man. He was keen for people to see his books, > and would willingly make photocopies for you. He would bring originals > to Lute Society meetings, and they would be passed round the room. > That could never happen now. A 'bit of a gift' at a million pounds in 1998? > > Stewart. > > -----Original Message----- From: M Hall > Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 2015 3:14 PM > To: 'WALSH STUART' > Cc: Lutelist > Subject: [LUTE] Re: Spencer Collection, Royal Academy of Music, London > > I'm not sure what the arrangements were. Presumably it wasn't given > to the > RAM free, gratis and for nothing. Probably other organizations would have > liked to get their hands on it. To be honest I don't think the RAM > was a > suitable location for it. They don't or didn't have the facilities for > academic researchers. Some of the entries in their catalogue are > incorrect > too. Their cataloguer doesn't seem to me to have the necessary > expertise. > I pointed out some errors to the librarian e.g. that there are two > different books by Corbetta titled "La guitarre royale" and the entry for > the Millioni book is all wrong - but as far as I know they have never > been > corrected. Bob taught at RAM but it would have been better if the > collection was given to the British Library. > Monica > > -----Original Message----- > From: lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu [mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] On > Behalf > Of WALSH STUART > Sent: 27 October 2015 11:21 > To: lutelist Net > Subject: [LUTE] Spencer Collection, Royal Academy of Music, London > > I'm sure this quote from the Royal Academy of Music makes sense - but > it seems puzzling. Did cash-rich museums/libraries abroad want to get > the Collection and so money had to be raised in Britain to prevent it > from being whisked away? > The Spencer Collection was acquired by the Academy in 1998 with the > help of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, Mrs Jill Spencer, the > Britten-Pears Foundation and contributors to a public Appeal. > __________________________________________________________________ > > [1]Avast logo > > This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. > [2]www.avast.com > > -- > > References > > 1. https://www.avast.com/antivirus > 2. https://www.avast.com/antivirus > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > > --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus
