Information about libraries, books, book-owners, etc.
in Canterbury before c. 1900

David J. Shaw

Canterbury Cathedral
The official web site of Canterbury Cathedral, with pages for the Library and Archives.

Canterbury Cathedral Library : a chronology
A summary chronology of the libraries of Canterbury Cathedral from the Anglo-Saxon period to the present-day.

Canterbury Cathedral Librarians since the Reformation
A chronological list of known office-holders in the Library and Archives of Canterbury Cathedral from c.1600.

Canterbury Cathedral provenance data
Names of previous owners of books in Canterbury Cathedral Library printed before 1801.
A provisional list of 3152 former owners, based on the provenance index published in the microfiche catalogue of the Cathedral’s books printed before 1801 (David Shaw and Sheila Hingley (and others), Canterbury Cathedral Library: Catalogue of pre-1801 printed books. Adam Matthew Publications, Marlborough, 1998. 24 pp + 17 microfiches).
Hosted by the Consortium of European Research Libraries (CERL)

Canterbury Cathedral Library donors
Provenance evidence relating to the history of Canterbury Cathedral and its Library before c. 1900

Armorial bindings
Books bindings with coats of arms in the collections of the Dean and Chapter in Canterbury Cathedral Library

John and William Somner
Entries in Canterbury Cathedral's Donors' Book for c. 1665 recording gifts of books to the new library by the antiquarian William Somner and his brother John.

The Earliest Books of Canterbury Cathedral
A catalogue by Professor Richard Gameson of the manuscripts and fragments to c. 1200 AD, published by the Bibliographical Society, the British Library and the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury, 2008.

Robin Alston's Library History database
The section for Kent lists over 40 dated references to the existence of libraries in Canterbury from the 16th to the 19th centuries. Includes lots of commercial circulating libraries.

University of Kent Special Collections
Includes
  • Crow Collections - From the library of Professor John Crow.
    Early Printed Books, Renaissance Literature, Ballad & Song
  • Maddison Collection - From the library of Dr R.E.W. Maddison.
    Science & Technology books of 17th,18th, centuries, especially editions of Robert Boyle and Joseph Priestley

King's School Library
The School Library: a brief history from its foundation in 1702.