Blog

  1. Dear Diary…

      Diaries and life writing is the subject of this week’s 101 Treasures page, which is newly updated today. We have a large and growing collection of diaries dating from...

    15th November 2013 Read more
  2. Mr Chambers and Persephone

    Whilst browsing through the Pickles Collection* recently, we came across a small book called Mr Chambers and Persephone. Written by Christopher Whitfield, it was published in 1937 by the Golden...

    14th November 2013 Read more
  3. The Diaries of Dora Turnor

      What do The Times Top Twenty Hotels for Christmas have in common with our new exhibition? Easy! Stoke Rochford Hall near Grantham in Lincolnshire, which is now a luxury...

    13th November 2013 Read more
  4. Manchester Poets

    This photograph shows the Sun Inn on Long Millgate, now sadly demolished but once known as Poets’ Corner owing to the regular meetings of writers and poets which were held...

    8th November 2013 Read more
  5. Beware the Basilisk

    One of our volunteers brought these two volumes to our attention recently, having removed them from the shelves for conservation work and discovered that they had been rather extensively eaten....

    8th November 2013 Read more
  6. The Political Apple Pie

    We recently acquired from the bookseller Christopher Edwards a collection of fifteen pamphlets, mainly the work of William Hone, published between 1817-1821. The Library already holds examples of a number...

    7th November 2013 Read more
  7. Captain Peacock

    Visitors to our gents’ loo this afternoon might have been surprised to find it already occupied by this beautiful chap who we have rather inevitably nicknamed Captain Peacock. After following...

    6th November 2013 Read more
  8. November

    Here’s a calendar for the new month from a Dutch Book of Hours, which isn’t the most sparkling manuscript in the collection, but is an attractive work nonetheless, with some...

    1st November 2013 Read more
  9. A head in the dandelions

    This account of the Manchester medic Daniel John Leech was found by one of our volunteers Paul Carpenter in a box from the Leech collection. It was taken from Ernest...

    31st October 2013 Read more
  10. The Edward Watkin Collection

      You may remember our recent post on forgotten Mancunian Sir Edward Watkin, and the sterling work undertaken on the collection by our volunteer Catriona. These images are from Watkin’s...

    17th October 2013 Read more