A wide-ranging history of libraries which will interest academic historians and others interested in book culture.

1. Ancient libraries; 2. Christian libraries connected with churches; 3. Monastic collections; 4. The fittings of monastic and collegiate libraries; 5. The stall-system in colleges, cathedrals and monasteries; 6. The lectern-system in Italy; 7. The fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and the effects of the Reformation; 8. The wall-system in Europe and Britain in the early modern period; 9. Private libraries.