Blog

1. 

   Early bindings at Chetham’s library – part 2 (Leather)

   For much of the early history of printing, books were distributed unbound by printers due to the high costs involved with book binding. This expense was often passed on to...

   13th December 2016 • Read more

2. 

   Early bindings at Chetham’s library – part 1 (Vellum)

   This afternoon’s blog post is the first of two that are a part of the work done by Nathan Shipstone, here with us this year as part of a highly...

   25th November 2016 • Read more

3. 

   Chetham’s Library Announced as Arts & Heritage Meeting Point2 Museum

   We are delighted to announce that we have been named as one of the ten museums taking part in the Meeting Point 2 project run by Arts&Heritage and funded by...

   16th November 2016 • Read more

4. 

   A History of Manchester Fiction

   We are thrilled to have acquired a collection of North West fiction that was put together by the scholar and bibliophile Eddie Cass. Cass collected books on many subjects –...

   9th November 2016 • Read more

5. 

   Dame of Dialect

   ‘I have laboured in the field of Lancashire literature for over half my life-time, and have tried to bring forth the pure gold hidden beneath the surface of the people’s...

   6th October 2016 • Read more

6. 

   Seventeenth Century Crowdfunding with Knyff and Kip

   ‘Knyff and Kip’ sound like a nineteenth-century vaudeville act, but were actually artists and engravers from the Netherlands, born in the mid-seventeenth century. Leendert Knyff and Johannes Kip were responsible...

   28th September 2016 • Read more

7. 

   The Bees

   Apiarists are keeping bees on city roofs and the bee is a recognisable Manchester icon that symbolises the industry and vibrancy of our city. We find bee images across the...

   22nd September 2016 • Read more

8. 

   Cats vs Dogs

   The University Library of Leiden was divided into two rows of bookcases for folios, with the smaller books arranged at the back. On the left is mathematics, philosophy, literature and...

   5th August 2016 • Read more

9. 

   Calendar Girls… and Boys

   Whilst it is true that the collections at Chetham’s were built up in a very deliberate, conscious manner, with each book being selected by governors and librarians because it fulfilled...

   3rd August 2016 • Read more

10. 

    Fashionable Amusements

    One of our wonderful Manchester scrapbooks is always referred to as ‘Cambrics’ – a rather curious name which simply describes the original fabric which covered the scrapbook. Within the book...

    21st July 2016 • Read more