Many National Trust libraries are rich in natural history books.

The most obvious, of course, are the great colour-plate books found in considerable numbers in houses like Anglesey Abbey in Cambridgeshire, Calke Abbey in Derbyshire and Saltram House in Devon.

But there is much more besides: humble 17th-century gardening books at Charlecote Park in Warwickshire or Erdigg in Wales; the works of learned Renaissance botanists and zoologists at Blickling in Norfolk and Kedleston Hall in Derbyshire, 19th-century bird books at Nostell Priory in Yorkshire, and myriads of books about hunting, shooting and fishing at Llanerchaeron in Wales.

Collection highlight

'Macropus fuliginosus, Western grey kangaroo'
illustration from 'Mammals of Australia' by John Gould, (London, 1845 - 1863) at Calke Abbey in Derbyshire.

©NTPL / John Hammond