The story of the Chapter Library at Canterbury Cathedral in the seventeenth century is inextricably linked to the progress of the English Civil War and the subsequent restoration of the monarchy and the English church. The talk will look at the re-foundation of the Library by Isaac Bargrave in 1628, its removal to London in 1649 and the demolition of the medieval library building, followed in the 1660s by the return of the books and the construction of a new library room and a significant growth in the size of the collections.David Shaw is an Honorary Research Fellow in History (previously Senior Lecturer in Renaissance French). His research has been largely on the history of printing, libraries and the book trade in general. In 1979 to 1981 he directed a British Library funded project to catalogue the Cathedral's books printed before 1801. He is a past president of the Bibliographical Society and currently their Honorary Editor of Electronic Publications. In November 2025 he was awarded the Bibliographical Society's Gold Medal.

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