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Latest posts

  1. Unbound

    18th June 2026 • Read more

  2. Chetham’s Library Welcomes New Doctoral Students

    5th June 2026 • Read more

  3. The Mummified Cat in the Library Roof

    18th May 2026 • Read more

  4. Thomas de la Warre’s Trans-Atlantic Manuscript

    10th May 2026 • Read more

Archive: 2026

  1. A partial image of the painted foredge of a book, the pages of which are made from palm leaves. To the left (the centre of the foredge) the palm leaves are painted read, while to the right, they are gold. A floral design in red against a gold background separates the two sections. The wooden covers are similarly coloured, and are held together by a leather strap with holes and a buckle.

    Unbound

    Everyone is familiar with the old adage that one shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but adhering to the most literal sense of that saying is sometimes more easily...

    18th June 2026 • Read more
  3. A row of single beds covered with blankets stand with their heads against a medieval stone wall. Through a ‘Tudor’ arch, another room containing more beds and a medieval arched window is visible. Above, a medieval timbered roof is visible.

    The Mummified Cat in the Library Roof

    Readers are advised that this post contains a photograph of a mummified cat and rat which they may find distressing. Over the years, the medieval buildings that now house Chetham’s...

    18th May 2026 • Read more
  6. A handwritten letter in a cursive hand, beneath which are several signatures.

    Lost and Found in the Library

    In the early years of the nineteenth century, Chetham’s Librarian John Taylor Allen (1812–21) made a remarkable discovery in his apartment at the library: a treasure trove of the private...

    20th March 2026 • Read more
  8. The title page of John Dee’s copy of Agostino Nifo’s Euthici Augustini. The title is printed in a gothic type in lines of decreasing length to form an inverted triangle shape, with a cross at the bottom. Above the title, the words ‘Joannes Dee 1557. 4. Maii. Londini’ have been written in a calligraphic hand in ink.

    The Afterlives of John Dee’s Books

    By the 1570s, John Dee had established at his home of Mortlake what has been described as the largest and most diverse library in Elizabethan England, containing—according to Dee—three thousand...

    28th February 2026 • Read more
  10. A painted manuscript illustration of a bearded man wearing a conical hat and loose robes

    John Dee and Alchemy

    When John Dee initially sought appointment as the warden of a collegiate church following his travels on the continent, Manchester was far from his mind. Instead, he had fixed his...

    29th January 2026 • Read more
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