Part I. History of Libraries; Book I. The Libraries of the Ancients: 1. Introductory; 2. General view of the libraries of the ancients; 3. Passages from Greek writers relating to ancient libraries; 4. Passages from Latin writers relating to ancient libraries; 5. The destruction and dispersion of ancient libraries; and the researches after their fragments; Book II. The Libraries of the Middle Ages: 1. Foundation and growth of the monastic libraries; 2. The libraries of the English Benedictines; 3. The libraries of the German, Flemish, and Swiss Benedictines; 4. The libraries of the Italian and French Benedictines; 5. The libraries of the mendicant orders; 6. The economy of the monastic libraries; 7. Decline of learning in the monasteries; 8. The dissolution of the monasteries and dispersion of their libraries; 9. Royal, noble and plebeian collectors in the middle ages; Book III. The Modern Libraries of Great Britain and Ireland: 1. Formation and growth of the several collections which eventually became the library of the British Museum; 2. Growth of the national library from the establishment of the British Museum to the acquisition of the library of King George III; 3. Progress of the national library from the acquisition of the Arundelian MSS. to the bequest of the Grenville Library, in 1846; 4. Further progress of the library of the British Museum, from the acquisition of the Syriac MSS. of St. Mary Deipara, to the opening of the central reading-room (1847-57); 5. Cursory view of the contents of the more important collections now included within the library of the British Museum; 6. The origin and growth of the Bodleian Library of the University of Oxford; 7. The state and prospects of the Bodleian Library; 8. The minor university libraries, and the collegiate of Oxford; 9. The public library of the University of Cambridge; 10. The minor libraries of Cambridge; 11. The public library of Humphrey Chetham in the city of Manchester; 12. The cathedral libraries of England; 13. The archiepiscopal library at Lambeth; 14. The libraries of the English Inns of Court.