In more than half a century of collecting, Sir Thomas Phillipps assembled one of the largest private libraries ever created, with some one hundred thousand manuscripts and fifty thousand printed books. Many of these manuscripts would have been destroyed had Phillipps not recognized their value, and their dispersal in the century after Phillipps's death enriched many private and public collections. Phillipps was generous with his library, allowing scholars easy access to material. He also promoted scholarship through his publications, including those printed at his private press at Middle Hill.

Born at Manchester on 2 July 1792, Thomas Phillipps was the illegitimate son of Thomas Phillipps Sr. (1742-1818) and Hannah Walton. The senior Thomas Phillipps was the third son of William Phillipps, a farmer in Worcester, and Mary Cotterell Phillipps of Gloucester. As a younger son Thomas Sr. did not inherit the family farm and instead entered trade. He grew rich...