Unlike the other ‘bullet books’, these volumes were stored in the ‘cages’ of Marsh’s Library and were damaged by rifle fire from the rebels in Jacob’s factory.

The bullet mangled the top right corner of A Retractive from the Romish religion (London, 1616), an anti-Catholic book written by the schoolmaster who taught the young Oliver Cromwell.

Next, the bullet cut through a book by Christopher Carlile, a controversial Church of England clergyman.

However, it scarcely grazed the third book, which was written by a Jesuit priest.