Lambeth Palace Library receives no public or university funding, so please do consider joining the Friends of the Library or participating in our Back-a-Book Scheme to support the Library's work.
The Friends brings together like-minded people with an interest in the Library, and provides invaluable assistance in the acquisition of rare books and manuscripts through grants to the Library.
The annual meeting of the Friends is held in the Great Hall of Lambeth Palace each summer, and is followed by a lecture by a well-known scholar and refreshments, to which all Friends are invited. Friends also receive a copy of the Library's annual report, which includes information on all the Library's activities, as well as details of books and manuscripts acquired during the year.
Please join the Friends so that, with your help, the Library may continue to develop and flourish. Click on the link to the right for a membership form.
Printed books presented by the Friends have included the famous indulgence of Leo X issued in 1516 on the eve of the Reformation, a presentation copy of Luther's tract against Henry VIII printed in 1522, the very rare Book of Common Prayer of 1559, the first prayer book of Elizabeth I, and the first English edition of Foxe's Book of Martyrs of 1563.
Manuscripts have included letters and papers of Archbishops Arundel, Sancroft, Manners Sutton and Howley, papers relating to the divorce of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, and an important series of documents removed from the study of Archbishop Laud after his arrest and recovered with the help of the Friends more than 300 years later.
A list of items presented by the Friends is attached to the right.
Friends of Lambeth Palace Library
Lambeth Palace Road
London
SE1 7JU
tel: +44 (0)20 7898 1263
The Library contains one of the most important collections of early printed books in any of the great national libraries. The Back-a-Book scheme asks for your help in preserving the Library's heritage for future generations.
Please sponsor the vital conservation and repair of a book and play a part in the Library's future. Sponsorship can be by individuals or organisations, and can be made on behalf of others, or in someone's memory. Following repair, each book will have a bookplate placed inside which will include an appropriate message of acknowledgement.
As well as suffering from general wear and tear, the libraries of both Lambeth Palace and Sion College were bombed during World War II and many thousands of the Sion books still have unrepaired bomb damage. There is therefore a need for an extensive programme of specialist repair.
We welcome all donations, but as a guide:
£30 will rebind a small volume in buckram
£150 will restore a leather binding
£250 helps conserve a volume requiring paper and binding conservation
To Back-a-Book, please complete an application form (attached, right) and return it to the Library.
The Library sells a range of postcards, displaying images of Lambeth Palace and items from the Library's collections.
Please contact the Library for further details.