Holkham Hall, Norfolk, Library of the Earl of Leicester
Owner Id00012777
TypeCorporate body
GenderUnknown
Other InformationThomas Coke (1697-1759), 1st Earl of Leicester of the first creation; Thomas Coke, 'Mr Coke of Norfolk' (1752-1842), 1st Earl of Leicester of the second creation; shelfmarks are written in pencil inside the upper cover or on an endleaf; see de Ricci, English Collectors, 42-3; W. O. Hassall, A Catalogue of the Library of Sir Edward Coke, Yale Law Library Publications, 12 (London, 1950), esp. pp. x–xi, xviii–xix; idem, 'Portrait of a Bibliophile II: Thomas Coke, Earl of Leicester 1697-1759', Book Collector, 8 (1959), 249-61; David Rogers, 'The Holkham Collection', Bodleian Library Record 4 (1953), 255-67; see also C. W. James, Chief Justice Coke, his Family and Descendants at Holkham (London, 1929), and (on 'Coke of Norfolk') DNB; A. M. W. Stirling, Coke of Norfolk and his Friends, new edn (London, 1912), with references to the library at Holkham ad indicem; Holkham, ed. Leo Schmidt, Christian Keller, and Polly Feversham (Munich, etc., 2005); for the armorial book stamp see Davenport 122-3 and the British Armorial Bindings database; Hassall p. xviii notes that two ostrich crest stamps were used: one, with a coroneted ostrich, by Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester (1697-1759), and the other, by Thomas Coke (1754-1842), later 1st Earl of Leicester of the second creation, with an uncoroneted ostrich holding in its mouth a horseshoe, and standing on a cap of maintenance, being the crest of the Coke family (although the Armorial Bindings database shows three); for illustrations of various book-plates and stamps see John Blatchly, Some Suffolk and Norfolk Ex-libris: Bookplates and Labels relating to East Anglian Owners, Artists and Printers (London, 2000), 12-17.
Most of his manuscripts and incunabula were acquired during the Grand Tour (1712-18). Some of Holkham's books were sold by Thomas Edward William Coke (1908-1976), 5th Earl of Leicester, in 1951 to the British Museum, in 1953 to the Bodleian Library.
Other Identifierhttps://aeolus.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/collections/incunables/provenances_for_mei.xml#xpointer(//*[@id=
Activity
Start (year)1718
MARC Area Codee-uk
PlaceHolkham Hall (Geonames Id: 7731711)
Profession / Type of InstitutionLibrary
CharacterisationAristocracy
Last Edit2022-10-05 17:19:44