The autograph of Henry John Temple, Viscount Palmerston, later Prime Minister, from the end of An Act for punishing mutiny and desertion; and for the better payment of the army and their quarters (1811).

One of several volumes of incunabula bearing a distinctive 'Harleian' binding which were bought for the College by John Newcome, Master 1735-65. The distinctive gold-tooled red morocco with a diamond-shaped central lozenge is typical of volumes from the library of Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford, (1661-1724), Chancellor of the Exchequer and later Lord Treasurer. Harley built up a huge library of contemporary documents, together with much older manuscripts and early printed books.

Annotation reading "Agreed Titus Oates", one of many such notes in this copy of A confession of faith, put forth by the elders and brethren of many congregations of Christians, (baptized upon profession of their faith) in London and the country (1688). Titus Oates was one of St John's least savoury alumni.

Bookplate of Samuel Whitbread, heir to the brewery founded by his father, also Samuel (1720-1796). Whitbread embarked upon a political career after gaining his BA from St John's (1785), and became a leading figure among the Whigs, but was always insecure about his standing with the dominant aristocratic classes due to his family's background in trade. He became seen as a radical extremist, advocating peace with France and reform. His increasing alienation and long-term mental disturbance led to his eventual suicide.

Bookplate of William Wilberforce, politician, philanthropist and campaigner for the abolition of slavery, as well as one of St John's most famous alumni, from The poetical works of Charles, Earl of Crawford and Lindsay, Viscount Garnock (London, c. 1815).

Bookplate of William Windham from a Latin treatise on the state by William Bellenden (1787). Windham began his career as a member of the militia, where he attained the rank of major, and like many of his generation expressed sympathies for the Revolution in France, before witnessing the events in Paris and turning against his earlier idealism.

Bookplate of Charles Yorke, son of Philip Yorke, Earl of Hardwicke, and Lord Chancellor in Rockingham's administration, from a copy of Joseph Butler's Analogy of religion.

Bookplate of Arthur Young, agricultural reformer and experimenter, whose account of his travels in France during the period leading up to the Revolution is an important historical source. Several volumes in the Library bear this bookplate, most of which were given by Ernest Clarke.

Bookplate of George Lockhart of Carnwath, Jacobite politician who participated in the planning of the 1715 rising, from William Nicolson's Irish historical library (1724). After spending time in hiding on the continent, Lockhart returned to Britain to finish his memoirs, which were then hidden.

"John Lilburne his booke" inscribed on a fragment of printed waste bound as a fly-leaf in a volume of eleven tracts (C.11.30).