GRAY'S INN		THE HOLKER LIBRARY In 1555 one Robert Chaloner in his will left his law books to the Inn and directed that they were all to be fastened by chains. Since then either librarians have acquired more faith in human honesty or fewer bookworms are kleptomaniacs for the volumes in the Inn's fine modern library are no longer manacled. The Inn appointed its first library Keeper in 1645 at an annual salary of £3 6s. 8d. The first catalogue was compiled in 1669. The collection grew over the years and the library acquired its present name from Sir John Holker, a Master of the Bench, who bequeathed large funds for what came to be known as the 'most comfortable library in London', which was built in 1929. But twelve years later Nazi bombs destroyed books and fabric without trace except the most valuable volumes, which had been removed for safe keeping. After the war temporary premises were erected in the Walks and were opened by Sir Winston Churchill; he called them the 'architecture of the aftermath'. In 1958 Mr Harold Macmillan, the Prime Minister, opened the present Holker Library, which had been designed by Sir Edward Maufe R.A., in recognition of which work he was made an honorary Bencher. There is a comprehensive collection of British jurisprudence and also representative collections of the laws of other countries, particularly the U.S.A. It is contemplated that the Holker Library will become the main permanent home of the inter-national section of the Inns of Court libraries in due course.