Home University Library of Modern Knowledge

The Home University Library of Modern Knowledge was a series of popular non-fiction books from the first half of the twentieth century that ran to over 200 volumes.

The authors were eminent scholars in their fields and included Isaiah Berlin, Harold J. Laski, Hilaire Belloc, Bertrand Russell and John Masefield.

The first book in the series was Parliament: Its History, Constitution and Practice by Courtenay Ilbert, published in 1911 by Williams and Norgate in London and Henry Holt and Company in New York.

Oxford had another chance to buy the series when the offices of Thornton Butterworth were destroyed in The Blitz in 1940.

Eyre & Spottiswoode took most of the Thornton Butterworth business but Oxford were able to acquire the Home University Library for only £4750.