Selections from the Vicars’ Library of St Mary’s Marlborough

TALK: In 1678 William White bequeathed his library to Cornelius Yeate Vicar of St Mary’s to pass down to successive vicars (more information in Ilse Nikolsky’s piece on this website).

In 1985, to protect and preserve the manuscripts, the library was placed on permanent loan to the Bodleian Library in Oxford. On 29th April 2026 Nick presented a talk on six manuscripts from the library at the Bodleian as part of our MHS visit to Oxford.

This talk focusses on those six manuscripts as well as providing wider perspectives. The earliest selected, John Foxe’s “Actes and Monuments” or “Book of Martyrs” was published in 1610. Religious tracts of the times are also included as is the “Eikon Basilike – the workes of King Charles the Martyr” (1662) and a 1687 travel guide!

SPEAKER: Nick Baxter (MA) is a local historian, author, lectures widely on local history subjects and leads guided walks.