Willis Donation

Ten manuscripts collected by Browne Willis, including material relating to British history.

Browne Willis, of Whaddon Hall, near Winslow in Buckinghamshire, was born in 1682, and educated at Westminster and Christ Church, Oxford (matriculated 23 March 1700). He was a student of the Inner Temple, MP for Buckinghamshire 1705-8, and FSA 1718. He received from the University of Oxford the honorary degrees of MA in 1720 and DCL in 1749. He died on 5 February 1760. Further details are given in the Dictionary of National Biography.

Entry to read in the Library is permitted only on presentation of a valid reader's card (for admissions procedures see http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/specialcollections).

The manuscripts were presented to the Library by Browne Willis in 1720.

Collection level description created by Emily Tarrant, Department of Special Collections and Western Manuscripts.

Falconer Madan, et al., A summary catalogue of western manuscripts in the Bodleian Library at Oxford which have not hitherto been catalogued in the Quarto series (7 vols. in 8 [vol. II in 2 parts], Oxford, 1895-1953; reprinted, with corrections in vols. I and VII, Munich, 1980), vol. V, nos. 27652-61.

See also Willis Manuscripts (MSS. Willis 1-105, 107-12).