This image shows one of the beautiful volumes from Lambeth Palace Library's set of the Aldine Aristotle, which belonged to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, a collector of books and patron to several bookbinders.

The five volumes, bound as six and containing tracts by Theophrastus, Philo and others, were printed in Venice between 1495-8, by Aldus Manutius (with the assistance of Alexander Bondini). The superbly decorative bindings were made for Dudley, by a shop that bore his name. The brown calf boards are tooled in gold and feature Dudley's large badge of a bear holding a ragged staff, between his large set of golden initials.

The title pages of these volumes contain a manuscript cipher which is thought to have been used by Dudley and Queen Elizabeth I, as the two were rumoured to have been lovers. This, as well as many other remarkable manuscripts, archives and books, can be viewed as part of the Library's upcoming exhibition, "Treasures of Lambeth Palace Library", which celebrates the Library's 400^th anniversary and runs from 17^th May - 23^rd July 2010.