100 books from the libraries of the National Trust

Abstract

The National Trust looks after almost half a million books and manuscripts held in libraries across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. This beautifully illustrated volume brings together a selection of 100 rare and fascinating examples spanning the 8th to the 21st centuries. '100 Books from the Libraries of the National Trust' includes illuminated medieval manuscripts ; the Trust's oldest atlas, with maps of the ancient world ; a volume from Henry VIII's library ; a book inscribed in blood ; an Arabic manuscript on horsemanship ; a very early book on swimming ; the largest volume of botanical drawings ever produced ; marches by Joseph Haydn ; a library of miniature children's books ; Dame Ellen Terry's annotated working copy of Shakespeare's Macbeth ; the first book ever printed in Antarctica ; Virginia Woolf's handwritten manuscript for her novel Orlando ; and John Lennon's treasured childhood copy of Richmal Crompton's William the Gangster.