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Sir William Dugdale: etching by Wenceslaus Hollar, 1656 (detail)

Notice

Book Owners Online is a directory of historical book owners, with information about their libraries, and signposts to further reference sources. At present, it covers English seventeenth-century owners – people who died between 1610 and 1715 – but has the potential to be expanded.

It has been created to fill a gap in our book historical reference sources, at a time of growing interest in provenance studies, private libraries, and work on the material book. There are many online sites which start from books or libraries and provide provenance data, but BOO starts from owners, and summarises what we know about their books, where they are or what happened to them, how big their libraries were, and where to go for further information. Starting from a named individual, key questions which BOO seeks to answer include “did this person own books?” and “where do I look for more information?”.

Book owners have played an essential role in creating the library heritage we value today. The holdings of our research libraries, which constitute our collective printed memory, were built on countless donations or purchases from individuals over the centuries. Books which they kept and valued have significantly shaped our ideas about our literary legacy.

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About this Site

Book Owners Online is a publication of the Bibliographical Society in partnership with the UCL Centre for Lives and Letters (CELL), with a rationale developed by David Pearson.

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Featured Articles

John Patrick bequeathed all his books (along with the residue of his estate more generally) to his brother Simon, who estimated that the library had cost him over £1000 to assemble.

A number of Henry Field’s books survive with distinctive manuscript book labels in red ink, "Henry Feilde", with running numbers suggesting a sizeable library.

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