The finely illuminated opening page illustrated here belongs to the Library's oldest printed Bible, a Latin Vulgate and the first Bible to be printed in the burgeoning mercantile centre of Venice. Continuing the tradition of medieval book construction most early printed books did not possess title pages, and were not in fact identified by their titles.

The finely illuminated title page of the first printed edition of Julius Caesar’s works, produced by the first printers to move outside of Germany.

17th-century gilding and gauffering of the textblock. The design on the edges incorporates images of birds alighting on foliage and a Jesuit device. From a volume containing a copy of the first printing of the Bible in Armenian (Amsterdam, 1666).

17th-century fore-edge gilding and gauffering from Biblia en lengua espanola (Amsterdam, 1661).

19th-century double fore-edge painting from The life and remains of Henry Kirke White (London, 1843). It incorporates scenes of Nottingham and St John's College, Cambridge, one of which appears if the pages are fanned one way, and the other if fanned in the other direction.

A 19th-century fore-edge painting of St John's College, dating from after 1831 as it shows the Bridge of Sighs, from an undated London edition of The life and remains of Henry Kirke White.

19th-century fore-edge paintings from one of a two volume set of The remains of Henry Kirke White 10th ed. (London, 1823). It incorporates scenes of King's Parade and St John's College, Cambridge.

19th-century fore-edge paintings from one of a two volume set of The remains of Henry Kirke White 10th ed. (London, 1823). It incorporates scenes of Nottingham and Newark Castle, together with a portrait of White.

18th-century English 'Cambridge'-style calfskin binding with gold-tooling. From an Arabic New Testament printed for the S.P.C.K. in 1727.

17th-century Dutch sprinkled calf, bound for the printers Louis and Daniel Elzevir, whose device can be seen stamped on the spine in gilt. The Elzevir press is still a major publishing house. From their 1661 printing of Henricus Regius' Philosophia naturalis.