Blog

1. An evening’s entertainment

   Chetham’s Library had fun hosting a splendid concert given by Laetitia Sadier on Sunday. The event was part of the Abandon Normal Devices Festival and Laetitia was introduced by Phil...

   6th October 2010 • Read more

2. “I have thought of the days of old and the years that are past”

   This hand-tinted engraved self-portrait by Thomas Barritt (1743-1820) is to be found pasted into the front of one of his small scrapbooks, of which the Library holds several. Barritt, a...

   1st October 2010 • Read more

3. Laetitia Sadier

   We are pleased to be hosting an exclusive performance by legendary musician Laetitia Sadier at the Library on Sunday evening. Laetitia, a founder member of the post-rock outfit Stereolab, recently...

   29th September 2010 • Read more

4. A book of emblems

   More madness from the shelves at Chetham’s Library, this week in the form of these delightful engravings from Francis Quarle’s Emblems. The idea is to represent Christian truths using verse...

   24th September 2010 • Read more

5. We shall be pleased to accept the polecat

   We are still adding to our collection of material about Belle Vue Zoo and Pleasure Gardens. Until this remarkable and well-loved establishment closed in the 1970s, it was Manchester’s principal...

   10th September 2010 • Read more

6. Wife in a bag

   This wonderfully mad illustration is taken from The Economy of Beauty, ‘a series of fables addressed to the ladies’, which is one of the books we are currently minding for...

   1st September 2010 • Read more

7. On the radio

   Chetham’s Library features on the BBC Radio 4 programme What’s the Point of… the Public Library, broadcast yesterday but available on BBC iPlayer until Tuesday 7th September and well worth...

   1st September 2010 • Read more

8. Twittered!

   Chetham’s Library has been included in the Guardian‘s latest TwiTrip! In this series, Guardian journalist Benji Lanyado journeys around England, guided by tweeted suggestions from Twitter followers, and live-blogging about...

   25th August 2010 • Read more

9. A pressing situation

   The wooden hand printing press which has stood for many years at the top of the Library stairs was this week dismantled and removed to Alan May’s workshop in Stone,...

   23rd August 2010 • Read more

10. Fountains galore!

    Among the library’s early printed German books can be found the Nova architectura curiosa or Bau und Wasser-Kunst by Georg Andreas Boeckler, printed in Nuremberg in 1704. This lengthy work...

    20th August 2010 • Read more