The 'Sunken Library': An extraordinary collection of books found in a 17th century shipwreck

The Mariner's Mirror Podcast

In August 2014, a group of amateur divers revisited a known shipwreck from the seventeenth century but found that shifting tidal patterns had exposed much more of the wreck than had previously been seen, including a number of wooden luggage chests. Over the course of two days around a thousand items were brought up from the wreck, comprising silk textiles, women’s clothing, furnishing items and objects related to life on board ship, many in a remarkable state of preservation. The divers also retrieved a large number of leather bookcovers, the remains of books packed into one of the luggage chests. By paying close attention to the manufacture and design of these bookcovers we are able to gain significant insights both into the collection and the identity of its possible owner, as well as understanding better the international connections of books and their readers at this date. To find out more Dr Sam Willis speaks with Dr Janet Dickinson whose research focuses on the nobility and the court in early modern England and Europe and who recently formed part of an Anglo-Dutch project studying the remains of these remarkable books.

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