Libraries – Feature Fridays

January 29 2021 | Castle History

The theme for this week’s #Feature Fridays with Historic Houses is libraries.

Overlooking the moat and Anne Boleyn’s orchard is the Library at Hever Castle. 

In Tudor times this room was most likely an estate office and William Waldorf Astor tried to recreate a sense of its history when he chose it as his library. The carvings are in the style of Grinling Gibbons and made from a wood called sabicu, which is harder than ebony and dense enough to sink in water.

The ceiling is copied from Hampton Court Palace and the circular mahogany ‘drum’ table dates from around 1820.

Above the fireplace is a portrait of Johann Jakob Astor, great-grandfather of William Waldorf Astor and founder of the family’s fortune in the late 18th century.

The stunning Library originally contained 2,500 books which were bound in calf and Moroccan leather for former owner William Waldorf Astor and gilt-tooled with his coat of arms.

Many of the books in this room were printed on private presses in Paris and New York during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. The bookcases in the Library are inspired by those owned by the diarist, Samuel Pepys.

If you enjoyed this item on libraries then why not discover the previous #Feature Fridays news items:

• Chandeliers
• Maps & globes
• Feature fireplaces
• Games and pastimes
• Clocks, sundials and bells
• Stained glass
• Weddings and betrothals
• Herb gardens
• Armour and costumes
• Musical instruments
• Mazes
• Secret passageways
• Bedrooms
• American connections
• Weapons
• Follies
• Priest holes
• Orchards