The books of the British Isles that fascinate me are those whose contents and language are unknown, for they were destroyed in the upheavals of invasion or religious conflict. Many of the important lost works were probably Anglo-Saxon and in the first part of this essay, I will outline the scale of destruction that occurred following the Dissolution of the Monasteries, under Henry VIII. But there are also hints and legends of manuscripts written possible before the Roman occupation, by the native races of these islands. When they were discovered, over 1300 years ago, the language was indecipherable to all but a few scholars. In one city, a great opportunity was missed to transcribe and translate these works into one volume, which may have included histories, accounts of the natural world, poetry and mythologies that had links to the inhabitants of Britain, when the ice sheets melted. I call this imaginary work THE BOOK OF UNWONA, for this is the name of the only scribe, capable of its undertaking.