In 1758 the compiler of the Dunham Massey inventory noted that the library contained ‘A Great Number of Usefull Books’.

Most of these useful books are still in the house today, and there are similar books in dozens of country houses all over the country.

Libraries like those at Dunham Massey in Cheshire, Calke Abbey in Derbyshire, Dunster Castle in Somerset and Baddesley Clinton in Warwickshire are not packed full of self-consciously grand collectors’ items, but ordinary everyday books – or at least books which were ordinary and everyday when they were published. Many of these books are today extremely rare.