Trinity College Library. the First 150 Years : The Sandars Lectures 1978–9

Philip Gaskell's 1980 study traces the early history of Trinity College Library, from the time of Henry VIII to the time of Isaac Newton. Gaskell links the accumulation of this outstandingly rich library to the intellectual life of the college, trends in study and fashions in learning.

Philip Gaskell (1926–2001) acknowledges in his Preface that 'one period in the history of one college library may not seem much of a subject for a book', but, as his 1980 study shows, Trinity College Library has a history well worth investigating. Gaskell, a former Librarian and Fellow of Trinity College, details how this library grew from small beginnings in the mid-sixteenth century into arguably the greatest of all Oxford and Cambridge college libraries. He links the growth of the library to the intellectual life of the college at that time, outlining the achievements of a number of eminent Trinity men in advancing England's spiritual, intellectual and scientific development: Cartwright, Whitgift, Coke, Bacon, Essex, George Herbert, Ray, Barrow and Newton. This is a fascinating insight into the early history and accumulation of a college library now outstandingly rich both in contents and in setting.