Tag Archives: Retrospective Cataloguing Project

A 17th century Recording Clerk’s library: Richard Richardson’s books

As part of the ongoing work to improve access to the Library’s printed books and pamphlets we have now added the Richardson Collection to our online catalogue. Unlike the other early books catalogued as part of the project, these books … Continue reading

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Sole survivor? A Dutch broadside by an early 18th century woman Friend

A few weeks ago we were enthralled to discover that the Library holds what is possibly the sole surviving copy of an early 18th century broadside by a little known woman Friend, Margaret Langdale (1684?-1742). It’s an undated exhortation in … Continue reading

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The Hawkins Collection: an early Quaker library, its provenance and some puzzles

We’ve recently finished cataloguing the contents of the Hawkins Collection – a remarkable private library bequeathed by Richard Hawkins (1649?-1735) to Westminster Monthly Meeting. The collection consists of 86 bound volumes containing over 1,200 individual publications – books, pamphlets and … Continue reading

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Library resources for researching World War I: peace pamphlets

It’s sometimes said that the richness of a library’s collection can be judged by the number and variety of its pamphlets. This Library has over a thousand boxes and volumes of pamphlets, which we aim to catalogue individually. Pamphlets have … Continue reading

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Horses – bits and bots: the writings of Bracy Clark, F.L.S.

It’s the Chinese Year of the Horse – not much Quaker material there you might well think. If you were researching horses and equine veterinary practice, our Library would hardly be your first port of call. You might – perhaps … Continue reading

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Chinese translations

Work to add all the Library’s printed materials to our online catalogue continues, reaching into some less visited corners of the collections. In the angle of the reading room gallery sits a collection of Quaker texts translated into foreign languages … Continue reading

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What could you borrow from an 18th-century Quaker meeting library?

“The perusal of valuable books, besides enlarging the mind, and promoting our temporal comfort and advantage, may be the means of spreading before us a pleasing view of the beauty and excellence of religion” A catalogue of the books, belonging … Continue reading

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A controversial cabinet

Sitting in the corner of the strongrooms is a wooden cabinet containing a collection of printed works known as as the “Braithwaite Collection”, gifted to the Library in 1907 under certain conditions. In his will Joseph Bevan Braithwaite (1818—1905) wrote: … Continue reading

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