Today we delve back into the Central Library Stacks to bring you a recipe taken from English Housewifry Exemplified by Elizabeth Moxon, 1764. The first page of the book tells us that the following are available. In above four hundred and fifty receipts, Giving directions in most parts of cookery; And how to prepare various…
Beautiful Bindings – A Record of the Black Prince
Welcome to our new feature series ‘Beautiful Bindings’ where we dig out treasures from the library stacks to show you just how elaborate the art of book binding has been throughout the years. Today’s item is A Record of the Black Prince by Noel Henry Humphreys, 1849. The intricate book cover has been created using…
Lepidoptera in the Library
Spring is definitely here, trees are heaving with blossom, daffodils are swaying gently in the breeze and the butterflies are back. To celebrate this re-emergence of colour into the natural world we bring you a selection of our heritage Butterfly and Moth stock. Now those of you who don’t consider yourselves Lepidoptera fans shouldn’t flutter…
Shakespeare 450
April 23rd 2014 marks the 450th year of Shakespeare’s birth and here at Leeds Central Library we intend to do the anniversary justice with a celebration or two. With hundreds of copies of the Bard’s work in stock we wanted to show off some of our heritage Shakespeare stock not usually seen by the public….
Leeds Central Library Tiled Hall
The Municipal Buildings opened April 17th 1884 by Mayor, Alderman Edwin Woodhouse, after a competition was held to design them. It was won by George Corson, whose plans included dividing the buildings into the ‘business’ side, which fronted on to Calverley Street, and the ‘popular’ side which led on to Centenary Street, now the…
Celebrating 150 Years of Rugby in Leeds, 1864-2014
From 1st April to 20th April 2014 in our newly refurbished Arts Space on the 1st floor we hosted an exhibition celebrating the history of Rugby in Leeds. Panels for each decade displayed information and photographs depicting the sport in Leeds. The 1860s started it off with an advert in the Leeds Mercury for “persons…
Lights, Camera, Action…Libraries
You could be forgiven for thinking you’d seen a ghost roaming the corridors of Leeds Central Library today, however the dapper gentlemen in bowler hats and ladies in bustles walking down the stairs were actors filming a new adaptation of Vera Brittain’s ‘Testament of Youth’. This first instalment of Brittain’s memoirs covers the period of…
Early Theatre in Leeds
We have a lot of fantastic theatres and entertainment on offer in Leeds now but how did it all start? From our playbills collection you can get an idea of some of the earliest theatre entertainment. The first theatre was built in Leeds in 1771 prior to which Leeds had relied on travelling companies of…
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