Parish Libraries and Women’s Book ownership: Katherine Lumley’s Books

A CREMS seminar in which Hannah Jeans examines the books signed by Katherine Lumley in the Stainton Parish Library and what they reveal about early modern women book owners.

Hannah Jeans of the University of York presents a paper on the Stainton Parish Library, left to Stainton vicarage in 1694 by vicar Richard Lumley and now held by York Minster Library. Around 60 texts in the collection are signed by a woman, probably Richard's wife Katherine Lumley, and are unusual for an early modern woman: mostly in Latin, Greek and Hebrew, with few English books and many humanist-education staples aimed at men. The paper explores what these claimed texts reveal about Katherine Lumley as a book owner, her identity as a potentially multi-lingual clergyman's wife, and women's roles in parish libraries more generally. Attendance is in person in H/G15, Heslington Hall, or online via Zoom; seminars start 15 minutes after the advertised start time.