This week we hear from illustrator Teresa Flavin on some magically-illustrated books from her childhood… When I was about nine years old, my family visited a used bookshop where I discovered a fairy story with graceful line illustrations. The book was cheap enough to buy with my pocket money and though it was somewhat battered…
Category: Events
Leeds Baby Week and US. Patent 3,216,423
This week, Librarian Louise Birch takes a look at an intriguing patent for Leeds Baby Week: an “Apparatus Facilitating the Birth of A Child By Centrifugal Force”. Leeds Central Library is home to a Business and Intellectual Property Centre, part of a network of regional centres here to help out all you inventors, designers and…
November 11, 1918: A Brief History of Leeds on Armistice Day
Librarian Antony Ramm takes a look at Leeds on the day the First World War ended… When the Lord Major Joseph Henry announced to the people of Leeds that “the armistice has been signed and that fighting has been stopped from 11 o’clock this morning,” he sparked celebratory scenes which commenced almost immediately. Crowds began…
The Hallowe’en Special
This week Librarian Sally Hughes talks ghost-busting and all things spooky… With Hallowe’en upon us it’s the perfect time to point you in the direction of our most ghoulish collections here at Central Library. The first place to be is right here at our The Supernatural research guide. You can find all these books on our online…
Yorkshire Cricket History
Librarian Antony Ramm takes a brief look at Cricket resources available in the Library… The Local and Family History department at the Central Library has a strong collection of books and other material relating to Yorkshire and Leeds’ sporting history, the best of which can be seen in our Sport in Leeds Research Guide –…
Kelly – Directory of the West Riding of Yorkshire
We believe this copy of the 1912 Kelly’s Directory of the West Riding of Yorkshire to be our longest single-volume book. The 1912 Kelly’s Directory is just one in a large collection of such trade directories that the Local and Family History department holds – primarily for Leeds, but also covering the wider West Riding…
A Library at War: Leeds Central Library during WW2
Today we hear from regular guest author Mike Harwood, who tells the story of this building during the tumult of World War 2… ‘Tuesday, 31 October 1939: “Felt energetic so polished several floors and worked fairly hard. Tony came home to lunch at 1.30, and the afternoon somehow slipped away….Went to the library and got…
The History of Book Illustration
This week Central Collections Manager, Rhian Isaac discusses The History of Book Illustration through our collections here in Central Library. Illustrated texts pre-date the printed book by thousands of years but unfortunately much has been lost from early civilisations, such as Greece, China and Rome due to the fragility of the material. Ancient Egypt is the exception…
The Secret Library | Leeds Libraries Heritage Blog 