The repentant book thief of Lambeth Palace

Most of us associate ecclesiastical libraries with dusty accumulations of sermons, providing nourishment for bookworms but of no other real use. But surprising treasures — some decidedly secular — can be found in our churches, cathedrals and episcopal residences. The library at Lambeth Palace, bequeathed in 1610 by Archbishop Richard Bancroft as a clerical equivalent to Thomas Bodley’s superb foundation at Oxford, is no exception. It is also one that has survived many vicissitudes, beginning in the 1640s with a 15-year exile to Cambridge University with the abolition of the Established Church under Oliver Cromwell. Some 400 years later, this early pattern of exile and return has repeated itself in an extraordinary, almost miraculous, way.

Since 1829 a large portion of the early collection has been housed in the magnificent Great Hall. On 10 May 1941 the hall took a direct hit from an incendiary bomb and some 10,000 books were destroyed or seriously damaged.