Walter Devereux 1575-1657

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Walter DEVEREUX, 5th Viscount Hereford 1575-1657

Walter Devereux's bookstamp (British Armorial Bindings)

Biographical Note

Son of Sir Edward Devereux of Castle Bromwich, Warwickshire. He succeeded his father as 2nd baronet in 1622, and his cousin Robert Devereux as Viscount Hereford in 1646. He held a series of county administrative offices from the 1610s onwards, and was MP for several boroughs between 1614 and 1625. His biography, in the History of Parliament, is much dominated by a series of family disputes.

Books

Books survive with Devereux's coronetted monogram stamp; the extent and disposition of his library are not known, and he died intestate. These books must all have been bound between 1646 and 1657, when he was a Viscount. One of the books recorded in the Armorials Database has the inscription of George Carew, and is likely to have had one of Carew's armorial bindings originally; Devereux evidently ordered its replacement. Examples: Cambridge UL Rel.c.66.4; Houghton Library, Harvard Typ 515.64.603.

Characteristic Markings

The recorded books are all handsomely bound in red goatskin. The book in Cambridge UL has no annotations; it subsequently belonged to John Moore (d.1714), suggesting dispersal of Devereux's books not long after his death.

Sources