ith great rapidity, but the
commerce in books between England and other countries, particularly from
such bibliopolic centres as Paris and Rome, began to assume very
considerable proportions. If, as is undoubtedly the case, books were
continually being imported, it follows that they found purchasers. By
the beginning of the eleventh century there were many private and
semi-private collections of books in or near London. The English
book-collectors of the seventh century include Theodore, Archbishop of
Canterbury, Benedict, Abbot of Wearmouth, and Bede; those of the eighth
century, Ina, King of the West Saxons, and Alcuin, Abbot of Tours;
whilst the tenth century included, in addition to Alfred, Scotus
Erigena, Athelstan, and St. Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury.

But it cannot be said, with due regard to truth, that London was in any
sense a seat of learning, or a popular resort for learned men, until
well on into the thirteenth century. Doubtless many consignments of
books passed through the city on the way to their respective
destinations.

Edward I. may be regarded as the first English monarch who took any
interest in collecting books; most of his, however, were service books.
They are mentioned in the Wardrobe Accounts (1299-1300) of this King,
and are only eleven in number. These he may have purchased in 1273 in
France, through which he passed on his way home from Palestine. But it
is much more probable that he had no thought of books when hurrying home
to claim the crown of his father. Contemporary with Edward was another
book-collector of a very different type, an abbot of Peterborough,
Richard of London, who had a 'private library' of ten books, including
the 'Consolation of Philosophy,' which he may have formed in London. But
quite the most interesting book-collector (so far as we are concerned
just now) of this period is Richard de Gravesend, Bishop of London. A
minute catalogue of this collection is among the treasures of St. Paul's
Cathedral, and has been privately printed. In this case, the price of
each book is affixed to its entry; the total number of volumes is one
hundred, their aggregate value being L116 14s. 6d., representing,
according to Milman's estimate, L1,760 of our present money. Twenty-one
Bibles and parts of Bibles were valued at L19 5s. Twenty-two volumes in
this collection deal with canon and civil law, four with ecclesiastical
history, and about an equal number with what may be designate