Francis Douce (1757-1834) was an antiquary and collector. Details are given in the Dictionary of National Biography. Douce and his collections are discussed in Bodleian Quarterly Record, 7 (1932-4), 359-82, in A. N. L. Munby, Connoisseurs and medieval miniatures 1750-1850 (Oxford, 1972), 35-56, and in The Douce legacy [exhibition catalogue] (Bodleian Library, Oxford, 1984).

Douce's letters, papers, autobiographical memoranda, commonplace books and unpublished essays.

Bequeathed to the British Museum, 1834, to be opened 1 Jan 1900.

Given by the Trustees of the British Museum, 1933.

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/services/admissions/)

M. Clapinson and T.D. Rogers, Summary Catalogue of Post-Medieval Western Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library Oxford. Acquisitions 1916-1975. (Oxford, 1991), vol. I, nos. 39185-389

Douce's library, bequeathed to the Bodleian in 1834, is described in Catalogue of the printed books and manuscripts ... [of] Francis Douce (Oxford, 1840). The manuscripts, and some printed books with manuscript additions, are described in greater detail in Falconer Madan et al., A Summary Catalogue of Western Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library 7 vols. (Oxford, 1895-1953) nos. 21575-22005, 22009, 28920, 29903, 30452-4, 30821, 33373, 35153. Descriptions of two guard-books (MSS. Douce b.5 and d.19), containing fragments of medieval manuscripts in the bequest of 1834, are available in the Library. Many of the Douce prints, and a few manuscripts relating to prints and coins, are now in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.

Douce | Francis | 1757-1834 | Antiquary