Several of the books in the Rare Books collection have the bookplate of CJ Dyson, including the earliest book held, an incunabule – a work of St Ambrose printed in 1874.
Until recently nothing was known about Dyson, but a recently discovered entry in John Henry Newman’s published correspondence 31 August 1842 notes “The Dysons called while I was in Oxford”.
Footnotes give the information that Charles Dyson (1788-1860) “was a ‘man of great learning and ability; he had been a Scholar of Corpus where he became an intimate friend of John Keble, Arnold and JT Coleridge’”. He is described as a supporter of the Oxford Movement. No doubt the books were donated as a part of Bishop Selwyn’s canvassing of friends and acquaintances and other supporters of the Church, for books to bring to New Zealand for his proposed College of St John the Evangelist.
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