Duke Humfrey's Library is named after
Humphrey of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Gloucester, a younger son of
Henry IV of England. He was a connoisseur of literature and commissioned translations of classical works from Greek into Latin. When he died in 1447, he donated his collection of 281 books to the University. This was considered a very generous donation, as the university at the time only had 20 books and all classes were taught via oral lectures; prior to
Gutenberg's circa 1450 invention of the movable type press, books were hand-copied and were only for the very wealthy. The library was constructed as a second storey to the
Divinity School between 1450 and 1480 in order to house the collection. In 1550, during the
Reformation, the King's Commissioners despoiled the library in order to destroy the vestiges of Roman Catholicism in the country. Some of the books were taken and hidden by people in their homes to protect them- they are slowly returning to circulation, and in 1556 the furniture was removed by the university. Today, only three of Humfrey's original books remain in the library. The MS. Duke Humfrey c. 1 was reacquired in the 2020s, with a history of ownership from
Jean le Bon, King of France in the mid C14th to Lancastrian royalty in England by early C15th. The Library was refitted and restored from 1598 by
Sir Thomas Bodley and between 1610 and 1612, the east wing (now the Arts End) was added. The west wing (now the Selden End) was built 20 years later. The books in the oldest part are in housed in oak bookcases at right angles to the walls, with integral desks. The ceiling consists of panels painted with the
arms of the university. Up until the opening of the new
Weston Library in 2015, Duke Humfrey's Library functioned as a reading room for maps, music and pre-1641 rare books; it now serves as an additional reading room for users of the library. == Collections ==