Libraries and Founders of Libraries

This comprehensive volume covers the history of libraries from classical times to the nineteenth century. The author was an influential figure in the founding of municipal libraries in nineteenth-century Britain and regarded access to good libraries as crucial to education and civilisation. He emphasises the importance of individual collectors in the building of great libraries, and examines the personal holdings of many writers and scholars as well as members of royal families, the aristocracy, and clergy. Some of these are well known, others less commonly encountered in surveys of library history. Edwards also discusses the subsequent history of these collections, their dispersal or incorporation into other libraries. Other important topics covered by Edwards include the development and organisation of the State Paper Office and Public Records Office from the medieval period onwards.

Contents include:
PREFACE
LIBRARIES, AND THE FOUNDERS OF LIBRARIES
CHAPTER I – INTRODUCTORY.—THE ANCIENT LIBRARIES OF EGYPT, OF JUDÆA, OF GREECE, AND OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE
CHAPTER II – INTRODUCTORY. — MEDIÆVAL AND MODERN LIBRARIES. — ANTICIPATORY SURVEY OF THE SUBJECT, IN GENERAL
CHAPTER III – OF SOME LIBRARIES OF MONASTERIES ABROAD
CHAPTER IV – OF SOME LIBRARIES OF MONASTERIES AT HOME
CHAPTER V – CONCERNING THE LIBRARIES OF SOME FAMOUS AUTHORS, OF VARIOUS PERIODS
CHAPTER VI – CONCERNING THE LIBRARIES OF SOME CELEBRATED MONARCHS AND ROYAL PERSONAGES, OF VARIOUS PERIODS
CHAPTER VII – HISTORY OF THE OLD ROYAL LIBRARY OF THE KINGS OF ENGLAND
CHAPTER VIII – HISTORY OF THE STATE PAPER OFFICE
CHAPTER IX – HISTORY OF THE PUBLIC RECORDS OF THE REALM, IN THEIR EARLY PERIOD OF GROWTH AND SEPARATE CUSTODY
CHAPTER X – THE LIFE OF THOMAS PARKER, EARL OF MACCLESFIELD.—THE LIFE OF NICHOLAS JOSEPH FOUCAULT.—HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION OF THE LIBRARY AT SHIRBURN CASTLE IN OXFORDSHIRE
CHAPTER XI – THE LIFE OF CHARLES SPENCER, THIRD EARL OF SUNDERLAND. — HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION OF THE LIBRARY AT BLENHEIM PALACE
CHAPTER XII – THE PUBLIC LIFE OF GEORGE JOHN, SECOND EARL SPENCER.—HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION OF THE SPENCER LIBRARY AT ALTHORP
APPENDIX A – LIST AND DESCRIPTION OF EXTANT CATALOGUES OF ENGLISH MONASTIC LIBRARIES, DISTINGUISHING THE UNPRINTED FROM THE PRINTED
APPENDIX B – NOTE ON THE LIBRARY OF KING EDWARD THE SIXTH
APPENDIX C – SUMMARY CLASSIFICATION AND SYNOPTICAL VIEW OF THE PUBLIC RECORDS OF THE REALM