Introduction Elisabeth Leedham-Green and Teresa Webber; 1. The physical setting Richard Gameson and Claire Sargent; 2. Celtic Britain and Ireland in the early Middle Ages Padraig P. O Neill; 3. Anglo-Saxon England David Ganz; 4. Monastic and cathedral book collections in the late eleventh and twelfth centuries Teresa Webber; 5. The libraries of religious houses in the late Middle Ages David N. Bell; 6. College and university book collections and libraries Roger Lovatt; 7. Bishops and kings: private book collections in medieval England Jenny Stratford and Teresa Webber; 8. The medieval librarian Richard Sharpe; 9. Borrowing and reference: access to libraries in the late Middle Ages Peter J. Lucas; 10. The dispersal of the monastic libraries and the salvaging of the spoils James P. Carley; 11. Extending the frontiers: scholar collectors Julian Roberts; 12. Matthew Parker's manuscripts: an Elizabethan library and its use Timothy Graham; 13. Tools of the trade: universities and colleges Kristian Jensen; 14. Tools of the trade: major ecclesiastical libraries, from reformation to civil war C. B. L. Barr and David Selwyn; 15. Tools of the trade: clerical and parish libraries Arnold Hunt; 16. Tools of the trade: schools and schoolmasters (to c.1550) Nicholas Orme; 17. Tools of the trade: school libraries (c.1540 to 1640) William Barker; 18. Tools of the trade: common lawyers and the Inns of Court J. H. Baker; 19. Tools of the trade: medical libraries Peter Murray Jones; 20. Tools of the trade: heralds' libraries Pamela Selwyn; 21. 'The profession of a gentleman': books for the gentry and the nobility (c.1560 to 1640) Pamela Selwyn and David Selwyn; 22. Libraries of the 'common sort' Margaret Spufford; 23. The libraries of the antiquaries (c.1580 to 1640) and the idea of a national collection Richard Ovenden; 24. Library administration (c.1475 to 1640) C. Y. Ferdinand; 25. Libraries and the organization of knowledge David McKitterick; Bibliography; Index of manuscripts; General index.