Frances Earle 1592-1671

From Book Owners Online

Frances EARLE or FOUNTAINE 1592-1671

Biographical Note

Daughter of James Fountaine; in 1617 she married her cousin Erasmus Earle, who developed a successful legal career in Norfolk and acquired an estate at Heydon Hall.

Books

Her probate inventory, after her death in 1671, lists 51 books in "the study where [the] libbrary is", with mention of a Bible, and "s few other small books". It is not clear how many of the 51 were her books, or a joint library; Erasmus Earle would almost certainly have had a larger library to support his legal work, but some may have been dispersed after 1667.

Sources

  • Mayers, Ruth E. "Earle, Erasmus (bap. 1590, d. 1667), lawyer and politician." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
  • West, Susie, The development of libraries in Norfolk country houses (UEA Ph.D thesis, 2000).
  • West, S. An architectural typology for the early modern country house library, 1660-1720, The Library 7th ser 14 (2013), 441-64, 452-3.