TWO rare and historic books owned by Tavistock Subscription Library will be going under the hammer at Bonham’s the auctioneers in London next month and are expected to fetch several thousand pounds.

The books — given to the library by the Duke of Bedford — describe in detail, with superb illustrations, some of the plants and trees growing in the Duke’s estate at Woburn Abbey in Bedfordshire at the time the books were printed in the 1820s.

Bonhams’ experts are placing the two books for sale in their Fine Books and Manuscripts auction on March 29 with estimates for both together of around £8,000.

The books are: Hortus Ericaeus Woburnense, which is a catalogue of heaths in the collection of the Duke of Bedford, which was printed in 1825 and Salictum Woburnense, a catalogue of willows, indigenous and foreign, in the collection of the Duke of Bedford, which was printed in 1829. It is one of only 50 copies printed and contains more than 100 hand coloured engraved plates.

Library chairman Simon Dell said that the sale would greatly benefit the library.

‘Holding on to these potentially valuable volumes did not make sense in reality,’ he said.

‘These beautiful books have no real significant focus for our declared subjects of interest and in view of their possible value the trustees decided that their monetary value would be put to better use improving and maintaining our library and collection rather than gathering dust out of sight.’

The books being sold by the library next month are just two of many gifts from Russell family members who began a long association with the library when in 1810 John, 6th Duke of Bedford, John Russell, and his wife Georgiana subscribed 10/6d each for membership.

The library perhaps provided the Duke and Duchess with some respite from the building and landscaping work at Endsleigh Cottage, their new country retreat near Tavistock which, after the Duke’s death in 1839, became home for the dowager Duchess.

Humphry Repton was the landscape designer for Endsleigh, and also for Woburn Abbey where the Duke was particularly proud of his plant collections.

A series of catalogues was commissioned beginning with Hortus Ericaeus Woburnensis in 1825 followed by Salictum Woburnense in 1829. The library received a copy of each of these books and later, Pinetum Woburnense published in 1839. All three were recorded as part of the library’s Woburn collection in 1897 but Pinetum Woburnense has since disappeared.

From 1810 the list of library subscribers grew steadily until in 1822 there were 95 names in the catalogue.

The Dukes of Bedford are inextricably linked with Tavistock and subscription library history and will continue to form a significant element in the library’s collection.

The books won’t be lost to the library entirely because every page has been photographed and in due course the books will once again be part of the library’s collection, in the digital catalogue.