Sir Thomas Phillipps
| Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bt | |
|---|---|
Sir Thomas Phillipps, ca. 1860
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| Born |
2 July 1792 Manchester |
| Died | 6 February 1872 (aged 79) Thirlestaine House, Cheltenham |
| Resting place | Church of St Aldhelm and St Eadburgha, Broadway |
| Alma mater | University College Oxford |
| Occupation | antiquarian, book collector |
| Spouse(s) | Henrietta Elizabeth Molyneux (1819–1832); Elizabeth Harriet Anne Mansel (1848–1872) |
| Children | Henrietta (born 1819), Sophia (born 1821), and Katharine (born 1829) |
| Parent(s) | Thomas Phillipps and Hannah Walton (illegitimate) |
Sir Thomas Phillipps, 1st Baronet (2 July 1792 – 6 February 1872) was an English antiquary and book collector who amassed the largest collection of manuscript material in the 19th century. He was an illegitimate son of a textile manufacturer and inherited a substantial estate, which he spent almost entirely on vellum manuscripts and, when out of funds, borrowed heavily to buy manuscripts, thereby putting his family deep into debt. Phillipps recorded in an early catalogue that his collection was instigated by reading various accounts of the destruction of valuable manuscripts. Such was his devotion that he acquired some 40,000 printed books and 60,000 manuscripts, arguably the largest collection a single individual has created, and coined the term "vello-maniac" to describe his obsession, which is more commonly termed bibliomania.
In 1798, when Phillipps was 6 years old, he already owned 110 books, and is recorded to have said that he wanted to own one of every book in the world. Philipps began collecting in earnest while still at Rugby. He continued buying books when he went on to University College Oxford and graduated in 1815. In 1820, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.
A. N. L. Munby notes that, "[Phillipps] spent perhaps between two hundred thousand and a quarter of a million pounds[,] altogether four or five thousand pounds a year, while accessions came in at the rate of forty or fifty a week.". Phillipps would go into book shops and purchase the entire stock; he would receive dealers catalogues and buy all the listings; his agents bought entire lots of books at auction, outbidding his rival the British Museum. His country seat, Middle Hill near Broadway, Worcestershire gave over sixteen of twenty rooms to books.
In 1850 at a meeting of the Cambrian Archaeological society (Cymdeithas Hynafiaethau Cymru), Phillips announced that he was seeking to locate his large collection at a location in Wales.
In 1863, Phillipps began to move the collection as he was fearful that his son-in-law, James Orchard Halliwell, would gain ownership of it when Phillipps's estranged daughter inherited Middle Hill. Halliwell was apparently a book thief (Phillips accused Halliwell of stealing his 1603 copy of Hamlet which he sold to the British Museum minus the title page containing Phillipps' book stamp) and also a destroyer of other valuable old books, cutting out pages to stick them in his scrap book. At least 105 wagon-loads, each drawn by two horses and accompanied by one or two men, were used to move the collection to Thirlestaine House in Cheltenham over a period of 8 months, leaving Middle Hill to fall to ruin. The previous owner of Thirlestaine House was John Rushout, 2nd Baron Northwick, whose important art collection had been sold in 1859 after he died intestate. There are thus numerous MSS named "Codex Middlehillianus", "Cheltenham Codex" or "Codex Cheltenhamensis".
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