by Antony Ramm, Local and Family History, Central Library On the 14th of July, 1791, a group of eminent Birmingham men – including philosophers, scientists, and newly-rich industrialists – met for dinner at the Hotel on Temple Row. This in itself would not normally be cause for comment; but what sets this meal aside from similar gatherings…
Category: Treasures & Discoveries
The Chimney Corner: Secret Books From The Secret Library #1
by Antony Ramm, Local and Family History, Central Library In a new series, we’ll be taking an occasional look at individual items from our Collections. The title, if not the exact intention, of this series – The Chimney Corner – has been taken from a charming volume published by this Library Service in the 1920s and 30s: “a…
Thackeen Dhu!
By Ross Horsley, Local and Family History, Leeds Central Library How’s that for a compelling image? Unlike most of the other playbills in the collection at Leeds Central Library, you won’t find this one online at Leodis, largely because, unlike the other playbills, it doesn’t really tell you very much about the show or venue….
On John Lucas, 18th-Century Leeds and Foot-ball
by Antony Ramm, Local and Family History, Central Library With the football European Championships now well underway, this seemed like a perfect time to draw attention to one of the lesser-known treasures of our collection: the handwritten manuscript of John Lucas’ Memoranda Book. Born in 1684, Lucas was primarily known as a schoolmaster in his…
Shakespeare and the Art world
by Adam Barham, Art Library. Many artists have felt compelled to depict the plays of Shakespeare. Some are attracted to Shakespeare’s universal themes and complex characters, which inspire them to produce stirring representations of the plays’ inner meanings. Others appreciate his combination of exotic locations and sparse scene descriptions, which leave them free to create…
A.R. Turner’s Ironmongery Catalogue: The Communication of History
Part II in a loose trilogy of posts exploring (some) meanings behind the study of local history. Part I is here and Part III is here This article is also #17 in our People of Leeds series by Antony Ramm, Local and Family History, Central Library “How much history can be communicated by pressure on a…
On Our Blog Post Dated 1st April, 2016
Fans of H.P. Lovecraft’s work – in particular, his Necronomicon – will have no doubt spotted our April Fool’s joke last Friday, aptly described by a colleague as a “goof and a spoof“. For everyone else, it’s time for us to come clean: we don’t really hold a book with the contents as described in that blog…
On a Mysterious and Unusual Book
As recently as our last post, we described the excitement we feel when an interesting item from our collections is brought to our attention by a reader or customer. Another such case has emerged this week: a visitor from Massachusetts asked to see a series of books held in our Special Collections that touched on the…
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