The door of the Library is surmounted by the arms of John Williams, impaled with those of the see of Lincoln. The original position of the Library, as has been already stated, was in the First Court, next the street, and to the south of the entrance gate. In 1616 the books were moved out of this Library to a room over the Kitchen, and in the succeeding year the Master and Fellows wrote to the Countess of Shrewsbury to intimate their intention of building a Library, and hinting at the possibility of her aid in the scheme. The answer of the Countess, if there was one, has not been preserved. In the year 1623, Valentine Carey, Bishop of Exeter, and a former Fellow, wrote announcing that an unnamed person had promised £1200 towards a Library. After some little time Lord Keeper Williams disclosed himself as the donor, and some further advances were promised. The Library was commenced in 1623, and the books finally placed in it in 1628. The style of the building is Jacobean Gothic, and its interior, with the whitewashed walls and dark oak roof and bookcases, is singularly striking. John Evelyn visited it while at Cambridge in 1654, and describes it as "the fairest of that University"; after 250 years the description still holds good.
The upper part of the Library has been little altered since it was built. The intermediate (or lower) cases were heightened to the extent of one shelf for folios when Thomas Baker left his books to the College; but two, one on either hand next the door, retain their original dimensions, with the sloping tops to be used as reading-desks.
At the end of each of the taller cases, in small compartments with doors, are class catalogues written about 1685. These catalogues have been pasted over original catalogues written about 1640; small portions of the earlier catalogues are yet to be seen in some of the cases. Of the treasures in manuscript and print only a slight account can be given here. One of the most interesting to members of the College is the following note by John Couch Adams:—
"1841 July 3. Formed a design, in the beginning of this week, of investigating, as soon as possible after taking my degree, the irregularities in the motion of Uranus, wh. are yet unaccounted for; in order to find whether they may be attributed to the action of an undiscovered planet beyond it; and if possible thence to determine the elements of its orbit, &c. approximately, wh. wd. probably lead to its discovery."
The original memorandum is bound up in a volume containing the mathematical calculations by which Adams carried out his design and discovered the planet Neptune.
Lord Keeper Williams, who was instrumental in building the Library, presented to it many books; amongst others, the Bible known as Cromwell's Bible. Thomas Cromwell employed Miles Coverdale to revise existing translations, and this Bible was printed partly in Paris and partly in London, "and finished in Aprill, a.d. 1539." Two copies were printed on vellum—one for King Henry VIII., the other for Thomas, Lord Cromwell, his Vicar-General. This College copy is believed to be that presented to Cromwell, and is now unique, the other copy having disappeared from the Royal Library; the volume is beautifully illustrated, and has been described as "the finest book in vellum that exists."
One of the show-cases in the centre contains the service-book which King Charles I. held in his hand at his coronation, and the book used by Laud on the same occasion, with a note in Laud's handwriting: "The daye was verye faire, and ye ceremony was performed wthout any Interruption, and in verye good order." The same case contains the mortuary roll of Amphelissa, Prioress of Lillechurch in Kent, who died in 1299. The nuns of the priory announce her death, commemorate her virtues, and ask the benefit of the prayers of the faithful for her soul. The roll consists of nineteen sheets of parchment stitched together; its length is 39 ft. 3 in., and its average width is about 7 in. There are in all 372 entries of the ecclesiastical houses visited by the roll-bearer for the purpose of gaining prayers for the soul of Amphelissa. The roll-bearer visited nearly all parts of England: there are entries by houses at Bodmin and Launceston in Cornwall; at Dunfermline and St. Andrews in Scotland; each house granting the benefit of its prayers, and concluding in each case with the formula, "Oravimus pro vestris: orate pro nostris." As a collection of contemporary handwritings, such a document has great value; and it is interesting to note that in 600 years the roll has had only two owners, the Priory of Lillechurch and the College, which succeeded to its possession.
In this case there is also an IOU of King Charles II.: "I do acknowledge to have received the summe of one hundred pounds, by the direction of Mr. B., Brusselles the first of April 1660. Charles R." The "Mr. B." was John Barwick, a Fellow of the College, afterwards Dean of St. Paul's. The date seems to indicate that the money was advanced to enable Charles to return to England for the Restoration.
In the other show-case there is a very curious Irish Psalter of the eighth century, with crude drawings. Its value is much increased by the fact that the Latin text is interlined throughout with glosses in the Irish dialect.
Of printed books one of the choicest is a very fine Caxton, "The Boke of Tulle of old age; Tullius his book of Friendship." The volume contains the autograph of Thomas Fairfax, the Parliamentary General, who entered the College in 1626. It was presented to the College by Dr. Newcome, Master from 1735 to 1765. To Dr. Newcome the College owes a very fine collection of early printed classics; among these is a copy of Ovid, printed by Jacobus Rubaeus at Venice in 1474; this was formerly in the possession of Lorenzo de Medicis.