Archive: 2011

1. “I am treasuring these last few days of peace…”

   Exactly seventy-three years ago this week, a young Iris Murdoch sat down and wrote a letter to her friend Ann Leech. Believing the country to be on the brink of...

   28th September 2011 • Read more

2. The mystery of Humphrey Chetham

   Take a look at our 101 Treasures page this week to find out more about the portrait of Humphrey Chetham which hangs in the Reading Room. Who painted it and...

   21st September 2011 • Read more

3. The Grey Lady of Chetham’s

   Does Chetham’s have a ghost? That’s often the question that people ask when they enter the medieval building through the dark stone cloister, ring the ancient bell on the heavy...

   16th September 2011 • Read more

4. Manchester Weekender 2011

   Come along to Chetham’s on Sunday 16th October for a family friendly guided tour of the Library and the Curios and Curiosities exhibition, as well as the chance to hear...

   14th September 2011 • Read more

5. Elegance and Decadence

   Eagle-eyed viewers may have spotted Chetham’s Library in scenes from the final episode of the BBC4 programme Elegance and Decadence: The Age of the Regency last night. In this third...

   14th September 2011 • Read more

6. Curios and Curiosities: A Very Peculiar Assortment of Treasures

   Our new exhibition is now open! Come and see a celtic stone head, a death mask and a nineteenth-century sex manual, as well as a book of spells with instructions...

   2nd September 2011 • Read more

7. Saxton’s Atlas of England and Wales

   Find out more about Christopher Saxton’s great achievement in this week’s feature in the 101 Treasures of Chetham’s series. The beautiful sixteenth-century map shows all the counties of England and...

   2nd September 2011 • Read more

8. A right royal read

   This week in the 101 Treasures series we take a look at a very special copy of the works of Prosper of Aquitaine. Have a look on the website to...

   26th August 2011 • Read more

9. You’re under arrest!

   The Librarian recently returned from a Scottish holiday to the Moray Firth, where he spotted this rather alarming sign on the A98 at Portsoy. Knowledge, clearly, is no guarantee against...

   24th August 2011 • Read more

10. Birds and their nests

    This week’s feature in the 101 Treasures of Chetham’s series explores the exquisite work of James Bolton in his Harmonia Ruralis, a two-volume work describing and illlustrating the birds of...

    19th August 2011 • Read more