The Great Fire of London raged from Sunday 2 September to Wednesday 5 September 1666, and destroyed the homes of up to 70,000 ihabitants of the city. The death toll traditionally was thought to be small, with only six deaths recorded. This may, however, be a consequence of the social hierarchy of the time, and deaths of poor Londoners may have gone unnoticed and unrecorded.
The Library's copy of Annus Mirabilis is bound together in one volume with several other booklets including works on Biblical exposition and calendrical measurement. It was donated to the College by Charles Otway, a former Fellow of St John's who donated one of the largest personal collections of books to the College Library.