Editing Exeter Cathedral (section)

===Library===
[[File:Exeter Cathedral Lady Chapel, Exeter, UK - Diliff.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Lady Chapel, where the library was originally located]]
[[File:Exeter Cathedral Lady Chapel, east window.jpg|thumb|upright|left|The Lady Chapel east window, inserted post-war replacing Victorian glass which was destroyed during WWII]]
{{Quote box
 |quote  = Si quis illum inde abstulerit eterne subiaceat maledictioni. Fiat. Fiat.<br />(If any one removes this he shall be eternally cursed. So be it! So be it!)
 |source = Curse written by Leofric on some of the books in his library<ref>{{Cite journal
  | author = Edmonds
  | title = The Formation and Fortunes of Exeter Cathedral Library
  | journal = Report & Transactions of the Devonshire Association | url= http://hdl.handle.net/2027/coo.31924106523669?urlappend=%3Bseq=29
  | volume = 106
  | page = 36
  | year = 1899
  | hdl = 2027/coo.31924106523669?urlappend=%3Bseq=29
 }}</ref>
}}
The library began during the episcopate of [[Leofric (bishop)|Leofric]] (1050–1072) who presented the cathedral with 66 books, only one of which remains in the library: this is the [[Exeter Book]] (Exeter Cathedral Library MS 3501) of Anglo-Saxon poetry.<ref>{{Citation |location = Newport, Isle of Wight |author = Edward Edwards |title = Memoirs of Libraries, of Museums, and of Archives |edition = 2nd |date = 1901 |oclc = 3115657 |ol = 14022288M |author-link = Edward Edwards (librarian) }}</ref> 16 others have survived and are in the [[British Library]], the Bodleian Library or [[Cambridge University Library]]. A 10th-century manuscript of [[Hrabanus Maurus]]'s ''De Computo'' and [[Isidore of Seville]]'s ''De Natura Rerum'' may have belonged to Leofric also but the earliest record of it is in an inventory of 1327. The inventory was compiled by the Sub-Dean, William de Braileghe, and 230 titles were listed. Service books were not included and a note at the end mentions many other books in French, English and Latin which were then considered worthless.

In 1412–13 a new lectrinum was fitted out for the books by two carpenters working for 40 weeks. Those books in need of repair were repaired and some were fitted with chains. A catalogue of the cathedral's books made in 1506 shows that the library furnished some 90 years earlier had 11 desks for books and records over 530 titles, of which more than a third are service books.<ref name="Lloyd, L. J. 1967"/>

In 1566 the Dean and Chapter presented to [[Matthew Parker]], [[Archbishop of Canterbury]], a manuscript of the Anglo-Saxon Gospels which had been given by Leofric;<ref>{{cite book|last=Sayle|first=Charles|author-link=Charles Edward Sayle|title=Annals of Cambridge University Library, 1278–1900|page=[https://archive.org/details/annalsofcambridg00saylrich/page/49 49] (footnote 3)|year=1916|url=https://archive.org/details/annalsofcambridg00saylrich|publisher=University Library|location=Cambridge|access-date=29 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306170541/https://archive.org/details/annalsofcambridg00saylrich|archive-date=6 March 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> in 1602, 81 manuscripts from the library were presented to Sir [[Thomas Bodley]] for the [[Bodleian Library]] at Oxford. In 1657 under the Commonwealth the cathedral was deprived of several of its ancillary buildings, including the reading room of 1412–13. Some books were lost but a large part of them were saved due to the efforts of Dr Robert Vilvaine, who had them transferred to St John's Hospital. At a later date he provided funds to convert the [[Lady chapel]] into a library, and the books were brought back.

By 1752 it is thought the collection had grown considerably to some 5,000 volumes, to a large extent by benefactions. In 1761 [[Charles Lyttelton (bishop)|Charles Lyttelton]], Dean of Exeter, describes it as having over 6,000 books and some good manuscripts. He describes the work which has been done to repair and list the contents of the manuscripts. At the same time the muniments and records had been cleaned and moved to a suitable muniment room.<ref name="Lloyd, L. J. 1967"/>

In 1820 the library was moved from the Lady Chapel to the chapter house. In the later 19th century two large collections were received by the cathedral, and it was necessary to construct a new building to accommodate the whole library. The collections of [[Edward Charles Harington]] and [[Frederic Charles Cook]] were together more than twice the size of the existing library, and [[John Loughborough Pearson]] was the architect of the new building on the site of the old cloister. During the 20th century the greater part of the library was transferred to rooms in the [[Bishop's Palace, Exeter|Bishop's Palace]], while the remainder was kept in Pearson's cloister library.<ref name="Lloyd, L. J. 1967" />

Today, there is a good collection of early medical books, part of which came in 1948 from the [[Exeter Medical Library]] (founded 1814), and part on permanent loan from the [[Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital]] (1,300 volumes, 1965). The most decorated manuscript in the library is a [[psalter]] (MS&nbsp;3508) probably written for the Church of St Helen at [[Worcester, England|Worcester]] in the early 13th century. The earliest printed book now in the library is represented by only a single leaf: this is [[Cicero]]'s ''[[De officiis]]'' ([[Mainz]]: [[Johann Fust|Fust]] and [[Peter Schöffer|Schoeffer]], 1465–66).<ref name="Lloyd, L. J. 1967">Lloyd, L. J. (1967) ''The Library of Exeter Cathedral''. Exeter: University of Exeter</ref>