The Durham Dean and Chapter Library, also known as Durham Cathedral Library, is located in

Durham Cathedral Durham Cathedral, formally the , is a Church of England cathedral in the city of Durham, England. The cathedral is the seat of the bishop of Durham and is the Mother Church#Cathedral, mother church of the diocese of Durham. It also contains the ...

, Durham, England. Founded in 995 AD, it is one of the largest English cathedral libraries. William de St-Calais donated 46 books. In the 19th century it was located in the ''Old Frater House'', or ''Monk's Hall'', on the south side of the cathedral's

cloister A cloister (from Latin , "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open Arcade (architecture), arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle (architecture), quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cat ...

s, situated there in 1680 by the

Dean of Durham The Dean of Durham is the "head" (''primus inter pares'' – first among equals) and chair of the Chapter, the ruling body of Durham Cathedral. The dean and chapter are based at the ''Cathedral Church of Christ, Blessed Mary the Virgin and St Cu ...

John Sudbury John Sudbury was Dean of Durham from his installation on 15 February 1661 until his death on 29 November 1684. He was born at Bury St Edmunds in 1604, educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge and ordained in 1629. He was Vicar of Leigh, Kent ...

, who fitted up the building.

Holdings

There are 75,000 volumes and 60

incunabula An incunable or incunabulum (: incunables or incunabula, respectively) is a book, pamphlet, or broadside (printing), broadside that was printed in the earliest stages of printing in Europe, up to the year 1500. The specific date is essentiall ...

. Of the 2,000 manuscripts, 360 are of the medieval era. The special collections contain

early music Early music generally comprises Medieval music (500–1400) and Renaissance music (1400–1600), but can also include Baroque music (1600–1750) or Ancient music (before 500 AD). Originating in Europe, early music is a broad Dates of classical ...

. ;Christian writings The Durham Gospels, a very incomplete late 7th century insular Gospel Book (MS A. II. 17), and the Durham Gospel Fragment, a very incomplete late 7th century insular

Gospel Book A Gospel Book, Evangelion, or Book of the Gospels ( Greek: , ) is a codex or bound volume containing one or more of the four Gospels of the Christian New Testament – normally all four – centering on the life of Jesus of Nazareth and the roo ...

, are part of the library's holdings. There is also a copy of the Bible in four volumes,

folio The term "folio" () has three interconnected but distinct meanings in the world of books and printing: first, it is a term for a common method of arranging Paper size, sheets of paper into book form, folding the sheet only once, and a term for ...

, which is 600 years old. A copy of a manuscript describing the life of St Catherine of Alexandria was located in the library in the 12th century. ;History Five history books by the Venerable

Bede Bede (; ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, Bede of Jarrow, the Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable (), was an English monk, author and scholar. He was one of the most known writers during the Early Middle Ages, and his most f ...

are in the library. The library houses three copies of the

Magna Carta (Medieval Latin for "Great Charter"), sometimes spelled Magna Charta, is a royal charter of rights agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215. First drafted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Cardin ...

, including one dated 12 November 1216, and another dated 11 February 1224. The papers of George Allan, Christopher Hunter,

Joseph Barber Lightfoot Joseph Barber Lightfoot (13 April 1828 – 21 December 1889), known as J. B. Lightfoot, was an England, English theology, theologian and Bishop of Durham. Life Lightfoot was born in Liverpool, where his father John Jackson Lightfoot was an ...

, James Raine, Ian Ramsey, Thomas Randall, Sir Cuthbert Sharp, and Robert Surtees are also part of the collections.

References

{{Authority control 995 establishments Cathedral libraries Durham Cathedral Libraries in County Durham Monastic libraries 10th-century establishments in England