Blog

1. Christmas closing times

   The Library will be closed to readers and visitors from noon on Wednesday 21 December until 9 a.m. on Tuesday 3 January 2011. We would like to wish all our...

   14th December 2011 • Read more

2. Christians Awake!

   Find out more about the history of this much-loved Christmas carol, written by the Manchester poet John Byrom, on our 101 Treasures page this week.

   14th December 2011 • Read more

3. Gorton Parish Library

   Have a look at our 101 Treasures page this week to find out why a library of books intended for the Parish Church of St James in Gorton has found...

   7th December 2011 • Read more

4. Rocque of ages ago

   John Rocque’s exquisite 1746 map of London is quite simply a national treasure. Chetham’s Library copy has obviously seen plenty of use but remains a thing of enormous beauty which...

   30th November 2011 • Read more

5. Woe to the fattest

   In Friday’s post we looked at Edward Carpenter’s political tract England’s Ideal, part of a bound collection of thirty miscellaneous pamphlets we recently acquired from Modern First Editions of Ilkley....

   28th November 2011 • Read more

6. Rotten to the core

   You might rightly assume that a library with a list of past users including Karl Marx, Daniel Defoe and John Wesley would not be short on works of penetrating social...

   25th November 2011 • Read more

7. Roll up, roll up

   There’s a real treat for lovers of all things medieval over on the 101 Treasures pages this week. This beautiful paper volvelle forms part of Astrologica, a work of astrology...

   24th November 2011 • Read more

8. Hello Boys!

   This alluring threesome may be found on the pages of Theodor de Bry’s Emblemata nobilitati et vulgo scitu digna which is showcased this week on our 101 Treasures page. The...

   16th November 2011 • Read more

9. Philip’s bird

   Those of you who enjoyed meeting Philip the Monster may be interested to make the acquaintance of this magnificent creature known as Avis Philippensis – or Philip’s bird. She makes...

   14th November 2011 • Read more

10. Introducing Philip the Monster

    This splendid fellow goes by the name of Monstrum Philip, and is to be found surrounded by some of his favourite things in James Petiver’s Catalogus classicus & topicus of...

    11th November 2011 • Read more