Blog

1. 

   Robert Thyer: Sophistication and Simplicity

   Thyer was Chetham’s 9th librarian, its first layman and up to that point its longest serving incumbent; he held the post for over 30 years from 1732 to 1763. He was...

   3rd June 2024 • Read more

2. 

   Richard Johnson, the First Librarian: No Surplus Surplice?

   Richard Johnson is said to have been Chetham’s very first librarian, but his back story and relationship with Humphrey Chetham is better documented than his time in that post. His...

   5th April 2024 • Read more

3. 

   Chetham’s Librarians: Lives and Legacies

   All good things must, as the saying goes, come to an end. This is sadly true of our recent exhibition, A Woman’s Write, which has been running since last summer;...

   21st March 2024 • Read more

4. 

   Humphrey Chetham’s Dinner

   There have been no verses addressed to our eponymous founder this century, we believe, until now. Volunteer and friend of the Library Kath Rigby sets that right: Humphrey Chetham’s Dinner...

   12th March 2024 • Read more

5. 

   New Librarian announced

   We are delighted to announce that Julianne Simpson will be our new Librarian from May 2024, taking on responsibility for the strategic development and day-to-day management of the organisation. Chetham’s...

   15th February 2024 • Read more

6. 

   Making Their Mark: The Women of the Book Trade

   Over the last few months, we’ve shared several posts about the female authors featured in A Woman’s Write, whose works entered Chetham’s Library’s collections prior to 1852. Despite the challenges...

   6th February 2024 • Read more

7. 

   Morbid Curiosities: Gothic Stories In The Library

   If you have been on a tour of Chetham’s Library before, you might have heard that the cabinet at the end of the Library’s Mary Wing used to contain a...

   25th January 2024 • Read more

8. 

   An interview with Fergus Wilde, the Librarian

   Librarian Fergus Wilde has worked at Chetham’s Library for close to thirty years and in May he will begin his well-deserved retirement. Before he leaves to start this new adventure,...

   4th December 2023 • Read more

9. 

   ‘Strange Knowledge of a Crow’: A Yeoman Farmer Annotates Holinshed’s Chronicle

   One of the most striking annotated books in the collection of Chetham’s Library is a copy of Raphael Holinshed’s Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, annotated by a yeoman farmer from...

   30th November 2023 • Read more

10. 

    A Bluestocking Influencer – Lady Mary Wortley Montagu

    A BLUESTOCKING INFLUENCER – LADY MARY WORTLEY MONTAGU One of the most influential English women of the 18th century, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689-1762), lives on at Chetham’s library in...

    3rd November 2023 • Read more