Francis Bacon Society Library

The Francis Bacon Society library was deposited in the University of London Library at Senate House in 1956, with a further, smaller deposit of books made in 2000. It is the possession of the Francis Bacon Society (known from its foundation in 1885 to 1948 as the Bacon Society), established by Mrs Henry Pott  (Constance Mary Fearon Pott, 1833-1915) to promote Sir Francis Bacon generally, to exculpate him from the charge of treason, and to urge that Bacon wrote the plays of Shakespeare.

The library contains about 1,500 books and pamphlets, of which 33 were printed in the sixteenth century, 275 in the seventeenth century, and 163 in the eighteenth century. The library’s primary focus is on books and pamphlets by and about Sir Francis Bacon. Other holdings include a seventeenth-century set of the works of Jacob Cats and nineteenth-century school textbook editions of Shakespeare plays.

Several prominent Baconians gave books to the library, which contains, for example, over 250 works formerly owned by Mrs Henry Pott, and nearly 200 with the bookplate of Bertram G. Theobald, author of Exit Shakespeare (1931) and Enter Francis Bacon (1932) among other works.  A relatively high proportion of books have been annotated by former owners, providing a fascinating personal light into elements of the Baconian theory. Cataloguing was completed in 2007, and records for all works can now be found on the main catalogue. To gain an overview of the library, do a mixed classmark search on B.S.

The collection complements the Durning-Lawrence Library.

shl.specialcollections@london.ac.uk 020 7862 8470