Library History
Heythrop has one of the finest libraries of its kind in the United Kingdom. Its history began with that of the College at Louvain in 1614, moved to Liège in the 1620s, and then back to England in 1794. In England it was first located in the remote fastness of Stonyhurst in Lancashire then split in two: the theological books going to St Beuno’s in North Wales, the philosophical ones remaining at Stonyhurst. The two parts of the Library were re-united at Heythrop Hall in Oxfordshire in 1926, and have remained together in all the College’s subsequent moves.
Staff and students come and go but books for the most part stay put. The collection grew in size over the almost four hundred years, until it is now estimated to be some 180,000 volumes in size. We know that some boxes of books, and those thought at the time to be the most precious, were sent in 1794 to a house outside Liège for their safety - and then, when the staff and students left, they seem to have been forgotten. Moreover, the barges on which those fleeing the French were to travel down the River Meuse (Maas) were over-loaded, and more boxes were sold on the quay, perhaps including boxes of books. There were no numbers for the books at Liège, but in 1848 it was estimated that ten tonnes of books were sent to St Beuno’s as the theology library.
This Library was chiefly the collection used by the Jesuit lecturers and controversialists who lived at Liège. The Library has great quantities of books bought, it seems, in order to be refuted, which means it does not only contain those works judged "orthodox".. It also served as the community Library for general reading, at least down to its move to London.
The Library has benefited by many generous donations down the years. In particular it has inherited the collection of Edward Baddeley (d. 1868), a member of the Inner Temple specialising in ecclesiastical law.
Heythrop has a large pre-1800 collection of books, many dating from the days of the persecution of Roman Catholics. As a location, Heythrop is to be found in the short-title catalogues of rare English books. It has some forty books called "incunabula" or "incunables" because printed before the end of 1500 ("in cuna" is Latin for "in the cradle": printing with moveable type was perfected only c. 1455). Its most valuable book, however, is a copy of St John’s Gospel which in AD 692 was buried in the coffin of St Cuthbert, and which came into the possession of the College in 1769. It can be seen in the exhibition room at the British Library, to which it has been loaned.
The Library remains the property the Society of Jesus in 1970 and over the years they have generously financed the development of the collection.