Cathedral Libraries Catalogue

INTRODUCTION

Acknowledgments

The Bibliographical Society would like to thank the several bodies which have made grants to the Cathedral Libraries Catalogue: the Pilgrim Trust which financed the first twelve years of work, the British Academy which helped to prime the pump when a new drive to complete the Catalogue was being attempted, and the British Library which has not only financed the editorial work on the Catalogue but also through its separate grants to Canterbury and Durham cathedrals enabled these two libraries to contribute entries. Thanks are also due to the Canon Librarians and their staff who have assisted the project during the last forty years.

Within the Bibliographical Society, mention should be made of the many officers who have given of their time to try to keep the project alive when it seemed in difficulties or who gave of their time when the project was prospering and required discussion, negotiations and decisions. The past and present chairmen of the Ecclesiastical Libraries Committee, Ian Doyle and Anthony Hobson, have both been of especial help to the Editor in Chief.

At the British Library, Miss Doris Crews and Dr Richard Christophers deserve the thanks of the bibliographical community for the support and encouragement they have offered the Catalogue and cathedral libraries in general while administering the Library's funds for external cataloguing projects.

The Bibliographical Society is indebted to the University of Kent at Canterbury on several grounds. The University Librarian, Mr Will Simpson, has provided the project with office space for the past three years and has constantly helped and supported us. The Finance Office in the University Registry has administered the project's funds on behalf of the Bibliographical Society. The Director of the Computing Laboratory, Professor Brian Spratt, has made invaluable computing resources available for the project and given us his support. Several members of his staff, in particular Mr Bob Eager, have offered encouragement in general and practical help at times of need. Members of the French Board of Studies deserve thanks for tolerating the activities of a colleague whose enthusiasms for early printing and for computing must sometimes seem to take him a long way from the line of duty.

The Editor-in-Chief would personally like to thank those who have worked with him on Volume One, especially his full-time editorial assistant, Karen James, on whose diligence and skills the success of the project has constantly depended.


David Shaw

Canterbury
1 January 1984