Probably acquired as early as the 16th century. It contains 4 volumes, 3 of which are in the armorial binding of Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester (c. 1532-1588), with his bear and post stamp; the other volume bears the arms of Henry VIII on the front covers. All the volumes have at the foot of the title page what has been interpreted as a cryptogram of 'Elizabeth' and 'Leicester´'. It is possible that these books reached the library from Mary Queen of Scots.

Finding aids

The collection consists of 5 volumes. Classmarks for books in this collection have the prefix Dud and can be found on the online catalogue here.

References

See GH Bushnell, in The Book Collector, 7 (1958), p130.

Oxford Dictionary of National Bibliography entry for Robert Dudley.

Dudley Collection

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Images of the collection