The National Trust has published a new book - Treasures from Lord Fairhaven’s Library at Anglesey Abbey - telling the story of how a fortune made in America was spent on a collection of books, pictures and objets d’art for the East Cambridgeshire property.

The vaulted library at Anglesey Abbey contains over 5,000 books collected by Huttleston Broughton, 1st Lord Fairhaven.

As well as tracing how the Fairhaven millions were made, the book features 50 examples of Lord Fairhaven’s collection, highlighting his particular enthusiasm for fine bindings and colour plate books, principally from the late eighteenth, nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

More unexpected items include an autograph manuscript of the hymn Onward Christian Soldiers, a ticket to a Victorian royal wedding and a first edition of Ian Fleming’s You Only Live Twice.

Mark Purcell, libraries curator for the National Trust and co-author of the book, said: “Many of our libraries were collected over hundreds of years - but the library at Anglesey Abbey was collected over a relatively short period from 1926 until Lord Fairhaven’s death in 1966, and reflects a man of considerable wealth who could buy anything which took his eye”. Treasures from Lord Fairhaven’s Library at Anglesey Abbey by Mark Purcell, William Hale and David Pearson is published by the National Trust in association with Scala Arts & Heritage Publishers Ltd (ISBN 978-1-85759-826-1) priced £19.95. Copies are available from the Anglesey Abbey Gift Shop.

*Anglesey Abbey is at Lode, on the B1102 between Quay and Swaffham Bulbeck.