In ad 731, in the fifty-ninth year of his life, Bede concluded his Ecclesiastical History of the English People with an autobiographical note in which he stated that 'it has always been my delight to learn or to teach or to write' (v. 24, p. 567). The Ecclesiastical History gives us our primary route into the early Anglo-Saxon world, yet the sources for our knowledge of the famous scholar-monk's life are sparse: his brief autobiographical note, which includes a list of his own writings; an account of his death by one of his pupils, Cuthbert; his correspondence, notably the letters he wrote to Egbert and Plegwin; his prefaces to his prose Life of Saint Cuthbert and to Book IV of his On First Samuel. These can be contextualized somewhat by other written sources, such as the anonymous Life of Ceolfrith and passages in the Anglo- Saxon Chronicle which are based upon earlier annals, and by archaeological excavations and the remains of the material culture of the age. But for deeper insight into Bede's personality and philosophy of life we are reliant upon close reading and analysis of the nuances of his own works, in various areas of study, and upon examination of those things most familiar to him: his home, the twin monastery of Wearmouth-Jarrow, its buildings, fittings and artefacts and, most importantly, the books he so loved - those he consulted and those that he helped to produce in his roles as author, editor and scribe.