Presenting... The Enemies of Books

23 OCTOBER – 18 DECEMBER 2023

Visit our new temporary exhibit about bookworms and learn how these pests can munch their way through libraries.

There is more than one type of bookworm found in a library. Although we might think of a bookworm as someone who loves books, the real ones are attracted to a book's physical material, not its content. Used as a general name for any insect that feeds on books, bookworms include booklice, termites, cockroaches, common furniture beetles, silverfish, firebrats, carpet beetles, rice moths, and many more. These pests can be a serious threat to library and museum collections, due to their minuscule size and ability to hide in small spaces.

The images below are of historic examples of books damaged by bookworms. They were given to the Museum's first Hope Professor of Zoology, John Obadiah Westwood (1805-1893) by the Bodleian Library and Worcester College and were displayed in an exhibition at the Museum until 1951, alongside these labels written by Westwood himself.

The presenting case is a small grey case found near the Museum's reception

A cover of a bible with holes and grazing lines which has been eaten by bookworms

Bookworm-eaten Bible with accompanying hand-written label. The Bible was passed to the Museum from the Bodleian Library in the mid-nineteenth century.

A handwritten label reading "Bible destroyed by a large species of Book-Worm or larva of a species of Anobium"

Label reads: Bible destroyed by a large species of Book-Worm or larva of a species of Anobium.

Cover of an antique book (Quaestiones et responsiones) with tunnelling from a bookworm

This chewed-up book cover was on display in the Museum until 1951 accompanied by a hand-written label

A handwritten label reading "Cover of a Syriac Cersion of 'Quaestiones et responsiones Basilii et Gregorii'. Received from the Bodleian Library in 1861, gnawed by the Book-Worm. In January 1865 I extracted a living, not full-grown larva of the Anobium"

Label reads: Cover of a Syriac Version of 'Quaestiones et responsiones Basilii et Gregorii'. Received from the Bodleian Library in 1861, gnawed by the Book-Worm. In January 1865 I extracted a living, not full-grown larva of the Anobium. [Signed] J.O.W.