Our current exhibition in the Library, ‘Joe Orton in 1964’, which runs until 31 August 2014, commemorates the 50th anniversary of Orton’s first major success, Entertaining Mr Sloane. The Joe Orton Archive was purchased by the University in 1997 and can be viewed by appointment in the Special Collections reading room. When I was working […]
When Joe Orton’s play Entertaining Mr Sloane was performed in the West End in 1964, it provoked both virulent criticism and glowing praise – he enjoyed both in equal measure. The critic W.A. Darlington was particularly disgusted. ‘Not for a long time have I disliked a play so much …’ he wrote. ‘I feel as […]
Penny Bloods, popular from the 1840s to the 1860s, were so named because of their preoccupation with the gory and sensational. As the name suggests, these serialised novels, published either in periodicals or in weekly autonomous numbers, sold for only one penny – affordable by the growing ranks of the literate working-class. By contrast, novels […]
Joe Orton’s Entertaining Mr Sloane was first performed at the New Arts Theatre Club 50 years ago today. When he was asked to provide a 200-word biographical note for the programme, he responded: ‘Here is the biography of Joe Orton. He’s too dull for 200 words. I hope 58 is enough,’ and offered the following […]
The funeral of Sue Townsend began today with a public celebration of her life at De Montfort Hall. The service opened with a moving eulogy delivered by the humanist celebrant, Nicci Gerrard, and included tributes from school friends, the city mayor, Sir Peter Soulsby, Sue’s literary agent, and Chris Stafford from Curve, representing Leicester’s Theatres. […]
It was with great sadness that we learned last week of the death of one of our depositors, Sue Townsend, the creator of the Adrian Mole diaries and one of the most popular British novelists of the late twentieth century. Her work was read not just in the UK but across the world. When I […]
For a University the size and age of Leicester the Library has a surprising rich collection of incunabula (books printed before 1501). The invention of the printing press during the 15th century saw the beginning of mass production and mass circulation of texts and images across Europe. Our earliest printed work dates from the very […]
From the majority of people I’ve spoken to it seems that few expected to work in academic libraries after leaving university. And the same goes for me. During university I’d spent time considering future career plans but librarianship hadn’t been one of them; simply because I knew very little about it. It wasn’t until after […]
Welcome to our first blog post! The aim of the blog is to expand awareness of the items within our collection and of the resources we have available. As each blog post will be written on an item of interest by a different team member we hope to demonstrate the diversity of the items within […]
The University Library holds internationally important collections of rare books, manuscripts and archives from as early as the twelfth century. Our collections include iconic items such as the diaries of Joe Orton, the first draft of The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole 13 ¾, and a first edition of The Origin of the Species by […]
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