Robert Hooke's Collection of Architectural Books and Prints

When Christopher Wren visited Paris in 1665-66, he famously returned with 'almost all France in paper'. His friend and colleague Robert Hooke, however, was not so lucky; his collection of architectural books and prints was acquired from London. This article outlines the contents of Hooke's architectural library and considers the general availability of architectural publications in late seventeenth-century London. Hooke's library of over three thousand volumes was dispersed at auction on 29 April 1703. The sale catalogue, preserved in the British Library and annotated with the prices reached, lists numerous architectural publications, evidence of Hooke's secondary activities as an architect. Most of these books are mentioned in the diary he kept from March 1672 to September 1683, when his architectural career was at its height. As a result, both the contents of his library and the chronology of his reading are documented, even though the books themselves are mostly lost.