David Pearson is Director of the University of London Research Library Services, with extensive experience of managing and working in major research collections. He is also a respected scholar in the field of book history, whose articles and books (including Provenance Research in Book History, 1994, Oxford Bookbinding 1500-1640, 2000, and English Bookbinding Styles 1450-1800: A Handbook, 2005) have focussed on various aspects of the ownership and binding of books.