George John Spencer, second Earl Spencer, was a career politician and diplomat who continued his family's long tradition of book collecting through his magnificent library at Althorp House. A founding member and the first president of the Roxburghe Club, he is a prime example of the wealthy, aristocratic bibliophile during the bibliomania of the early years of the nineteenth century.

Spencer was the eldest son and heir of John, first Earl Spencer (1734-1783). The Spencer family had owned property in Northamptonshire since Tudor times. The first earl was the son of John Spencer, the favorite grandson of Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, and the youngest son of another great book collector, Charles, third Earl of Sunderland (q.v.). This first John Spencer married Georgiana Caroline Carteret, daughter of Earl Granville, and John, their only son, was created Viscount Spencer of Althorp in 1761, and first Earl Spencer in 1765. The first...