The National Trust owns 130 historic libraries in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and about 220,000 books, in about 400,000 volumes.
It is one of the largest owners of old books in the country, and unique because it saves not only books, but whole libraries - libraries still kept in major historic buildings, in the places where they were originally assembled and read.
The largest collection is at Blickling Hall, in Norfolk, acquired in 1940, with some 12,343 books. The smallest may have only a handful of titles, though even these may be important.
The five at Arlington Court, in Devon, include a very beautiful illuminated manuscript, for example. A few of the libraries have books which were introduced by the Trust to fill empty shelves - at Montacute House, in Somerset, the Library is filled by books transferred from Herefordshire in the 1940s.
But most of the libraries and their collections are those which were actually in the historic properties when the Trust took them over. They are therefore unique, and an important part of the story of every historic house.
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