William Byrd II created the most diverse library in colonial America. His collection of belletristic literature was unsurpassed. His collection of law books rivaled that of John Mercer's, generally considered the largest in colonial Virginia. He owned the best art-book collection in America prior to the nineteenth century, the best architectural library prior to 1750, the greatest medical library in colonial Virginia, the largest collection of Anglican works in the colonies, and, prior to Benjamin Franklin, the best collection of histories and travels in colonial America. With over twenty-five hundred titles in over thirty-five hundred volumes, the Byrd collection was one of the two largest private libraries in colonial America. Although the Mather collection has been estimated to have been the larger of the two, much less is known about it.

Born in Virginia on 28 March 1674, the son of William Byrd and Mary Horsemanden Filmer, William Byrd II was...