Preliminary report on a collection of documents looted at Mania in 1762-64, and now in the Lilly Library, Indiana University

Abstract

The documents briefly listed below comprise the major part of an important collection of original papers and 17th-18th century transcripts relating to the Philippine Islands and the Roman Catholic missions in East Asia. They were looted from the Augustinian Convent of San Pablo during the British occupation of Manila in 1762-64, when they were acquired by Alexander Dalrymple (1737-1808), hydrographer to the Royal Navy. Most of them are in good condition, and only a very few leaves are completely illegible. Dalrymple and his friend, Admiral Burney, both made use of this collection for their respective works on voyages and discoveries in the Pacific Ocean, as expressly stated in their several introductions. But such manuscripts as they used are no longer in the collection as it was offered for sale at Sotheby's in London on the 28 June 1966, since this does not now contain any material directly pertaining to voyages and discoveries. It was also consulted by William Robertson for his 2-volume History of America and his Historical Discussion concerning the knowledge which the Ancients had of India, according to the compiler of the Catalogue of the Philipps MSS in 1837. At Dalrymple's sale in 1809, the collection was bought by Heber; and it next appears as 31 volumes in the Heber Sale, Part XI, 10 February, 1836, lots 1314-15, where it is most summarily and inadequately catalogued (Bibliotheca Heberiana. Part the Eleventh. Manuscripts, pp. 133- 34, London, 1836).