Lincoln Cathedral N/A

Lincoln Cathedral Library began its life during the medieval period when manuscripts were kept in a chest , and attracted scholars from near and far. Around 1422 a chained library was constructed adjacent to the Chapter House. In 1660 the Dean of Lincoln, Michael Honywood, supervised the rebuilding of the fabric of the cathedral, damaged during the Civil Wars. In 1674 he set about erecting a new library for the cathedral, and commissioned Sir Christopher Wren to design a splendid hall for the books. Honywood donated 5,000 of his own books to the Library, including a manuscript of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. Today the library houses approximately 10,000 items, including some 260 manuscripts. One of these, the fifteenth-century Thornton Manuscript, includes the earliest written account of the death of King Arthur, and was a source for the poet Thomas Malory's Morte d'Arthur. Another of Lincoln’s treasures is the first Bible printed in the Americas in 1663, written in the Algonquian language.