Blog

1. 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...

   11th December 2014 • Read more

2. 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...

   3rd December 2014 • Read more

3. 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...

   27th November 2014 • Read more

4. 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...

   19th November 2014 • Read more

5. 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...

   13th November 2014 • Read more

6. 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...

   12th November 2014 • Read more

7. 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.

   10th November 2014 • Read more

8. 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...

   31st October 2014 • Read more

9. Travels and discoveries far and near

     We are very sorry to be saying goodbye to David Thomas, who has been volunteering with us on the Belle Vue project over the last few months. David is...

   20th October 2014 • Read more

10. Men and the Fields by Adrian Bell, with drawings and lithographs by John Nash

    In addition to the exceptional collections of early printed books in the Library we also have a huge variety of more modest volumes with their own quirky charm and which...

    17th October 2014 • Read more