Richard Duffield (d. 1863)

Richard Duffield gained his BA from St John's in 1808, and his BD in 1819. He pursued a career in the Church, becoming Vicar of Impington in Cambridgeshire and later Rector of Frating with Thorington in Essex.

Duffield's bequest to the Library

Duffield bequeathed all the Greek and Latin works in his library to the College. This amounted to some 400 books and around 150 of these are still in the Old Library. They include classical and theological works from the 16th to the 19th centuries. Some of these have interesting provenances, one belonging to Rachel Bourchier, Countess of Bath, and bearing the earliest English bookplate produced for a woman, and another which may have been bound for William IV, Prince of Orange.

Provenance markings

The volumes given by Duffield generally bear a book label and his bookplate, although his copy of the Authorized Version of the Bible bears a gilt decorated red morocco binding bearing his name, and with his initials incorporated into the gauffering on the edges.