This volume is an attempt to tell a tale which has not been told with any particularity and fulness since the days of Anthony à Wood, and yet a tale which, since those days, has been continually growing in interest, and engaging in fresh scenes the attention and admiration of successive generations. Fragments of the tale, it is true, have been told at times; latest of all, an abstract, brief but accurate, has been given in Mr. Edwards' valuable _Memoirs of Libraries_. But the present narrative, while it embraces a wider range, is, at the same time, independent throughout of all that have preceded it, being largely compiled from sources available only to those who are familiar with the stores of the Library and habituated to their use, as well as from private accounts and papers, for access to which, as for other kind assistance, the writer is indebted to the Librarian. Yet it is only as an _attempt_ that the volume asks to be received and judged; for a work of this kind cannot at once attain completeness. Its very size will show to those who are acquainted with its subject, that minuteness in detail cannot be expected. The difficulty has been, out of the abundance of materials, to compile an epitome which should at once be concise and yet not, through conciseness, be deprived of interest. To point out all the special treasures in each branch in which the Library is rich, as it would occupy the extent of several volumes, so it would require the combined knowledge of several students, each in his several sphere. While, therefore, no portion of the Library has been unnoticed, it will, the writer trusts, be readily pardoned, should those portions with which he is specially acquainted, and in the direction of which his own line of work specially leads, seem to any to occupy more prominence than others of equal importance. It is worthy of notice that, in tracing the growth and history of the Library, the fact of its older divisions having undergone comparatively little change in arrangement, greatly facilitates examination, and, at the same time, often imparts an interest of its own to well-nigh each successive shelf of books; for each tier has thus its own record of successive benefactions and successive purchases to display, and leads us on step by step from one year to another.