It’s been reported in the news this week that a copy of the so called “Wicked Bible” is to be auctioned at Bonhams in November. This edition of the King James Version was printed in 1631 and then hastily withdrawn after a printing error was discovered in the Ten Commandments. A crucial word was omitted from […]
On 27 October 1664, John Evelyn was appointed one of four Commissioners charged with the care of the sick and wounded and prisoners of the Dutch War. One of his core beliefs was that it was the obligation of a gentleman to participate directly in public life, to be ‘usefull to the publique’* and he […]
This week I attended the Discovering Collections, Discovering Communities conference in the impressive Lowry Centre at Salford Quays. Now in its third year, the gathering is designed to foster collaboration between archives and academic research. This year’s theme was exploring new digital destinations, which attracted a bumper crowd of 500 delegates from national libraries and […]
Fifty years ago, in October 1965, mass demonstrations against the Vietnam War took place in the US and pacifist David J. Miller burnt his draft card, becoming the first person to be convicted and eventually imprisoned for doing so. For anyone interested in making a study of the protest movement, the Special Collections at Leicester […]
On 13 September 1666, only a few days after the Great Fire of London had finally been quenched, John Evelyn presented Charles II with a survey of the ruins, ‘for it was now no longer a Citty’*, and a design for the new London, drafted with extraordinary speed – but then Evelyn had long been […]
While repackaging the photograph series in the University Archives recently Rebecca, our intern, spotted that his weekend marks the 40th anniversary of the official opening of the new University Library by Philip Larkin on 27 September 1975. An honorary graduate of the University, the poet was also a former member of its library staff, having joined […]
While working on some book moves we are presently carrying out, I rediscovered the rather wonderful Death’s Doings illustrated by Richard Dagley, first published in 1822. This volume belongs to a long tradition on the Dance of Death theme, which dates back to medieval times, when death from war and violence, disease, poverty, childhood mortality […]
Visitors to Special Collections often ask how we preserve the rare books, manuscripts and archives in our collection. Much of what we do could be described as preventative care. This starts as soon as someone visits us to consult an item, as we ask them only to bring pencils or digital devices into the reading […]
Our look back at past elections in Special Collections is rounded off today with a gallery of from an impressive volume of East Derbyshire Election Cartoons, 1868. The book was printed and published by Richard John Smithson of Chesterfield. Shown here are 21 political cartoons. Numbers 1-18 (Liberal Cartoons) were drawn by J. Priestman Atkinson, […]
From my reading of The Wyvern: a Topical, Critical & Humorous Journal published in Leicester around the turn of the century, I was shocked to learn that serious outbreaks of smallpox continued to be a problem in the city right up until 1902-4. During the second half of the 19th century, the corporation struggled with […]
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