Archive: 2014

  1. Deck the Halls

    The torrential rain this past couple of days on top of last week’s ‘weather-bomb’ sent us to volume viii of The Boys Own Bookshelf, Indoor Games and Recreations: A Popular...

    Read more
  2. A fresh look at the Belle Vue project

      Today we are delighted to introduce another of our work placement students, Courtney Stickland of the University of Manchester, who is working alongside Kathy on the Belle Vue Project...

    Read more
  3. The Ariel Poems

      In 1927, long before the Christmas shopping frenzy of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, a young director from the publishing company Faber and Gwynne came up with an innovative...

    Read more
  4. Manchester: Alchemical City

    Don’t miss Jeanette Winterson’s new documentary ‘Manchester: Alchemical City’, which airs on Radio 4 next week. Jeanette, who is one of our Honorary Patrons, takes a personal look at the...

    Read more
  5. An early work of botany, and a political cow

       A reader recently requested this splendid folio work by the seventeenth-century French physician and botanist Dionys Dodart in collaboration with the engraver Nicolas Robert. Dodart (1634-1707) was elected to...

    Read more
  6. Lunchtime closure

    Some of you may know that we have been trialling lunchtime openings since the beginning of the academic year. Regrettably we have now made the decision to revert to closing...

    Read more
  7. From Flanders Fields to Worsley Hall

    One hundred years ago many of the great houses of Great Britain were converted into temporary hospitals to treat wounded servicemen home from the fighting on the Western Front. Worsley...

    Read more
  8. On the radio

    Catch us on BBC Radio 6 Music on Sunday afternoon between 2-4pm, when Guy Garvey looks at Manchester’s rich library heritage as part of 6 Radio’s week of special library-themed...

    Read more
  9. Happy Birthday William Hogarth!

    William Hogarth was born on this day in 1697. You can read more about our wonderful collection of prints from his studio on our 101 Treasures page here.

    Read more
  10. A ghost-cat for Halloween

    Haunted England: A survey of English Ghost-lore by Christina Hole, illustrated by John Farleigh, Batsford, 1940. This fearsome moggy is the subject of a local legend relating to the parish...

    Read more