Burnet Manuscripts

Manuscripts of Gilbert Burnet, including:

• Copies of 'The History of my own Time', by Burnet
• Parts of Burnet's 'History of the Reformation'
• Letters and papers, written by or relating to Burnet and his works

Gilbert Burnet (1643-1715) was Bishop of Salisbury and a historian. 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 purchased from Mr Laycock for 200 guineas in 1835.

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. 28386-95.

The manuscripts passed from Burnet into the possession of his third son, Sir Thomas Burnet (1694-1753), and afterwards were owned by a family descended from the Bishop.