The Kedermister Library, at
Langley Langley may refer to:
People
* Langley (surname), a common English surname, including a list of notable people with the name
* Dawn Langley Simmons (1922–2000), English author and biographer
* Elizabeth Langley (born 1933), Canadian perfor ...
near
Slough
Slough () is a town and unparished area in the unitary authority of the same name in Berkshire, England, bordering west London. It lies in the Thames Valley, west of central London and north-east of Reading, at the intersection of the M4 ...
in the
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
county of
Berkshire
Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...
(formerly
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...
), is a rare surviving example of an early 17th-century parish
library
A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...
, preserved in situ in the decorated cupboards designed for it in 1620 in the
parish church of St Mary the Virgin.
The original vellum catalogue dated in 1638, is still hanging in the library.
Founded around 1613 by Sir John Kedermister (d. 1631), it was established to provide for the education of the rector of St. Mary's, and presented to the church in perpetuity by Sir John. A catalogue of the Library listing 307 volumes survives from 1638.
A large portion of the library still exists and, with the contemporary catalogue, provides insight into scholarship and
book collecting
Book collecting is the collecting of books, including seeking, locating, acquiring, organizing, cataloging, displaying, storing, and maintaining whatever books are of interest to a given collector. The love of books is ''bibliophilia'', and someo ...
in the 17th century.
The library is only open from June-September by appointment only.
Two of the Library's treasures, the ''Kedermister Gospels'' (an 11th-century illuminated manuscript) and the ''Pharmacopolium or a booke of Medicine'' (a manuscript
herbal
A herbal is a book containing the names and descriptions of plants, usually with information on their medicinal, tonic, culinary, toxic, hallucinatory, aromatic, or magical powers, and the legends associated with them.Arber, p. 14. A herbal m ...
of 1630) are on permanent deposit in the
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...
.
Langley, also known as
Langley Marish
Langley, also known as Langley Marish, is a suburb of Slough in Berkshire, South East England. It is east of the town centre of Slough, and west of Charing Cross in Central London. It was a separate civil parish until the 1930s, when the b ...
, was formerly in the county of
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...
, and the Kedermister Library is overseen by
Buckinghamshire County Council
Buckinghamshire County Council was the upper-tier local authority for the administrative county and later the non-metropolitan county of Buckinghamshire, in England, the United Kingdom established in 1889 following the Local Government Act 1888 ...
and governed by a charitable trust.
The name Kedermister is the most commonly used, though some sources, including the charity governing the library, use the spelling Kederminster.
Further information
*Jane Francis: The Kedermister Library: an account of its origins and a reconstruction of its contents and arrangement; ''Records of Buckinghamshire'' Volume 36 1994 pp. 62–85; ISSN 0967-2885
See also
*
Francis Trigge Chained Library
The Francis Trigge Chained Library is a chained library in Grantham, Lincolnshire, England which was founded in 1598. Located in the parvise, over the south porch of St Wulfram's Church, it has been claimed to be "the first public library" in Br ...
References
External links
Kedermister Library websiteat
Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies
Buckinghamshire Archives (prior to 2020 the Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies) is the county record office for Buckinghamshire, England. It houses the former Buckinghamshire Record Office and the former Buckinghamshire Local Studies Library. It ...
(NB: using the spelling Kederminster)
Slough History Online: Kedermister LibraryKedermister Library website
{{Authority control
1613 establishments in England
Buildings and structures in Slough
History of Buckinghamshire
Libraries in Berkshire