Archive: 2011

  1. Christmas closing times

    The Library will be closed to readers and visitors from noon on Wednesday 21 December until 9 a.m. on Tuesday 3 January 2011. We would like to wish all our...

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  2. Christians Awake!

    Find out more about the history of this much-loved Christmas carol, written by the Manchester poet John Byrom, on our 101 Treasures page this week.

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  3. Gorton Parish Library

    Have a look at our 101 Treasures page this week to find out why a library of books intended for the Parish Church of St James in Gorton has found...

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  4. Rocque of ages ago

    John Rocque’s exquisite 1746 map of London is quite simply a national treasure. Chetham’s Library copy has obviously seen plenty of use but remains a thing of enormous beauty which...

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  5. Woe to the fattest

    In Friday’s post we looked at Edward Carpenter’s political tract England’s Ideal, part of a bound collection of thirty miscellaneous pamphlets we recently acquired from Modern First Editions of Ilkley....

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  6. Rotten to the core

    You might rightly assume that a library with a list of past users including Karl Marx, Daniel Defoe and John Wesley would not be short on works of penetrating social...

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  7. Roll up, roll up

    There’s a real treat for lovers of all things medieval over on the 101 Treasures pages this week. This beautiful paper volvelle forms part of Astrologica, a work of astrology...

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  8. Hello Boys!

    This alluring threesome may be found on the pages of Theodor de Bry’s Emblemata nobilitati et vulgo scitu digna which is showcased this week on our 101 Treasures page. The...

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  9. Philip’s bird

    Those of you who enjoyed meeting Philip the Monster may be interested to make the acquaintance of this magnificent creature known as Avis Philippensis – or Philip’s bird. She makes...

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  10. Introducing Philip the Monster

    This splendid fellow goes by the name of Monstrum Philip, and is to be found surrounded by some of his favourite things in James Petiver’s Catalogus classicus & topicus of...

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