The first major acquisition for Charles II's private library at St James's Palace were some 1,400 books, the complete library of the avid book collector John Morris, who had died in 1659. Morris was a wealthy man with a good eye for books, who admired the international intellectualism of the day, an appreciation Charles II seems to have shared. The acquisition of his collection demonstrates the king's interest in the sciences, literature and theatre. Charles II's personal books were all uniformly bound by Samuel Mearne.