January 28th this week marked the anniversary of the publication of the Jane Austen classic Pride & Prejudice. To celebrate we bring you a staple from any Austen era ball, a recipe for White Soup. We are first introduced to the delicacy by Mr Bingley in Austen’s classic; “As for the ball, it is quite a…
Author: Leeds Libraries
Famous Last Words
When they decided to stage a production of the historical tragedy Jane Shore in the summer of 1817, no one at the Leeds Theatre suspected that a very real tragedy was about to strike. Here’s a scan of the original playbill – now nearly 200 years old – advertising that dramatic night. It’s one of…
2015 Anniversaries
It is well known that the next 12-months see several anniversaries of major significance: the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta (1215); the 600th anniversary of Agincourt (1415); and the 200th anniversary of Waterloo (1815). But those three anniversaries are not the whole story, with 2015 also marking several other events of historical and literary importance:…
Map of Murder
One of the more unusual items amongst our large collection of historical maps at Leeds Central Library goes by the name of ‘Regina v. William Higgins and Others’. The title refers to a court case that took place in late 1850 and the map is a ‘Prosecutor’s Plan’ from the time, showing the part of…
Christmas books
Readers of this blog will surely agree that few things in life go together better than Christmas and reading a good book. And, while there can be nothing held against anyone who chooses otherwise, Christmas is surely the appropriate time to find yourself reading a good book about Christmas. A quick search of our library…
Slightly Spooky
Everyone loves a ghost story at Christmas, don’t they? These real-life tales of haunted houses (above) are taken from the first volume of the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research. Originally launched in 1882 to, in its members’ own words, make “an organised and systematic attempt to investigate that large group of debatable phenomena…
Read More: Legendary Poets meet
by Antony Ramm, Information and Research, Central Library This is an entry in our Read More series. These are ‘long-form’ articles, where staff offer a curated and detailed look at areas of our book collections, usually based around a specific theme or subject. These posts aim to guide the interested reader through to those books that offer a…
Old Leeds Cold Cures
When coughs and colds sweep the offices of The Secret Library – as they do around the beginning of every winter – it’s not a pretty sight. But we are, after all, a hardy bunch, accustomed to the draughts and drips of a 130-year-old building, so we soldier on. And one of our most invaluable…
The Secret Library | Leeds Libraries Heritage Blog 