This manuscript catalogue of Thomas Knyvett’s library was made shortly after his death. Its great value lies in showing the approximate subject areas by which the collection was arranged, and according to which the classmarks (shown on his copy of the Ordinary of Cristen men) were written onto the endpapers of his books. The arrangement was still fairly general, with the theological volumes listed here including works in several languages, and the descriptions not necessarily very specific; ‘a Spanish Bible’ does not give the modern researcher much information to work from. Nevertheless, the detailed locations – here the fifth case on the left – enables a reconstruction of the physical space in which the books were kept at Knyvett’s home in Ashwellthorpe, Norfolk.

MS Ff.2.30