A prized Norwich Cathedral asset's 550th birthday will be celebrated at a special event next week.
More than 8,000 historic books fill the shelves of the cathedral’s library and its oldest printed book, Lactantius’s Divine Institutes, was printed in Rome in 1474.
Gudrun Warren, the cathedral's librarian, said: “We often mention the oldest book in the library, so its 550th anniversary seems a perfect opportunity to look at the book in a bit more detail.
“We know the printing was completed on February 12, 1474, hence why we are having the party in February.”
A tea party will be open to all in the library between 2.30pm and 4pm on Friday and will include a short talk about the book and its context.
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The text of Divine Institutes is even older as its author lived around 250 to 350 AD.
Ms Warren continued: “Lactantius was born in Africa and became a teacher of rhetoric, working for Emperor Diocletian and later Emperor Constantine.
"Under Diocletian, Christians faced persecution and in light of this Lactantius wrote a defence of Christianity called Divinae Institutiones, or Divine Institutes.
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“Lactantius was greatly admired in the Renaissance for his classical style of writing, being known as the ‘Christian Cicero’. This popularity explains why his work is represented among the earliest Italian printed books.”
Consisting of 258 leaves of paper and written in Latin, the book also includes handwritten annotations from at least two readers.
Ms Warren added: “We don’t know when or how the book came to the cathedral but it appears in our oldest printed library catalogue, dated 1819.
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"This may tally with the age of its current binding, which is probably early 19th century; the binding bears a gilt-embossed stamp of the cathedral badge.”
This binding needs restoration and work will be undertaken later this year.
To attend the February 2 tea party, contact the library on 01603 218443 or library@cathedral.org.uk.
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