Richard Holdsworth - academic, preacher, theologian and bibliophile - bequeathed his entire library to the University of Cambridge. This bequest represented a harvest of book-collecting over some 40 years, comprising more than 10,000 volumes (some 185 manuscripts, 215 incunables and 9695 printed books). On its arrival in 1664, this amounted to a second foundation of Cambridge University Library, but it has barely been studied at all.  This presentation offers a survey of current research on the collection, together with the first tangible results on Holdsworth's manuscripts, set within a broader frame of reflection about the process of bibliographic and bibliophilic creation.

Admittance via the main gatehouse of Lambeth Palace.  Please register your place by emailing Melissa Harrison.