Disclaimer: Before we start can I just point out that I am not an expert on books – just an interested volunteer. So there may well be questions you might have which I may not be able to answer immediately. I will do my best.

Wherever possible images are taken from the books in the Charlecote library but some are too delicate to fold the pages flat for photography so some images derive from the Internet.

When visitors arrive at Charlecote we give them a laminated sheet which tells them that ours is one of the most important libraries in the Trust. It does not tell them why, so they usually ask that and what books do we have. It has always been difficult to answer that question because we have never been given access to the books. I tell them it is because the library has been added to by the family for over 500 years and it contains many rare books. Some are so rare I have yet to find them!
For the last couple of years I have been writing about selected books so that room guides at least have some information that they can pass on to the visitors. All the articles I have written are in a folder in the tea room labelled Charlecote articles.
There are a lot of Law books and Theological books that we will not be looking at.
I thank the former National Trust Librarian, Mark Purcell, and the late Sir Ed for permission to use these books.

Although the books look wonderful they are not all in good condition. One of the rarest, the Ortlelius Atlas has torn pages stuck together with sellotape. As it is the only copy in the National Trust you might think the conservation money would have been found but there is a problem. The National Trust does not own the book. This and many other choice books belong to the Lucy family. For years we did not know which but Richard Faircliffe from Chastleton was given the job of sorting this out and we do now have a definitive list. Because of the loss of £200 millions pounds due to the Covid-19 coronavirus conservation money will be in short supply for years to come.

Len Mullenger 2020