Moore was a collector on a grand scale, and his library was enriched by the dispersal of earlier generations of private libraries Over 400 of his volumes were formerly owned by Sir Thomas Knyvett of Ashwellthorpe (1539-1618), fourth Baron Berners, an unusually prolific collector for the late sixteenth century. Knyvett owned nearly 1500 books at his death, in a wide-ranging library which reflected his broad interests. His books suggest a particular enthusiasm for botany, medicine, and Italian language and culture, and he wrote Italian mottoes in many of his volumes.

Knyvett also wrote his name in many of his books (Moore very rarely did so), and it is possible to reconstruct their location within his library thanks to the shelfmarks written on the final leaves. The library passed essentially unchanged through the hands of Knyvett’s descendants, and was dispersed in the 1690s following the death without male heir of Thomas, the first Sir Thomas’s great-great-grandson, whom Moore probably knew personally. The University Library actively acquires other books owned by Knyvett but not Moore, to reconstruct his library where possible.