This volume is a tribute to the value of one of the world's great private libraries. Thirteen historians have selected texts which together offer an illustration of the remarkable resources preserved by the Lambeth Palace Library for the period from the Reformation to the late twentieth century.

The "Gentleman's magazine" section is a digest of selections from the weekly press; the "(Trader's) monthly intelligencer" section consists of news (foreign and domestic), vital statistics, a register of the month's new publications, and a calendar of forthcoming trade fairs.