Blog - Page 5 of 32 - Gladstone's Library

28 April 2022

Beautiful, Borgesian, Benign - a Blog by Writer in Residence Glen James Brown

I like the idea of the library as a sentient thing—something that can see inside into our skulls as we struggle with plot knots, school revision, whatever project we are bending our passions towards. And then it shifts itself about—subtly, it has over a century of practice—so the next time we glance at a certain shelf, the answers to our problems are right there, spine out.

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31 March 2022

HERBOOK: Women book owners in the Gladstone’s Library Collections

Since March is Women’s History Month, it seemed appropriate to spotlight some of the women book owners recently identified within the collections.

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28 March 2022

Mothers in the Archive

I began to reflect on women’s experiences of maternity two hundred years ago: a time when maternal and infant mortality were far higher than today, when women had limited control over how many children they bore, and when difficult births were typically endured with little or no pain relief.

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25 March 2022

Cataloguing the Anne Ramsden Bennett Archive

The Anne Ramsden Bennett Archive is the first collection that I have catalogued. It has given me the unique opportunity to learn about cataloguing, and to learn more about the role of women in the publishing industry in the nineteenth century.

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14 March 2022

Caoilinn Hughes on deadlines and serendipity

“Half-way through my two-week stay at Gladstone’s Library, I felt the need to close my laptop and notebook and to spend a day reading. To anyone who knew what I had to achieve in the following week, taking time away from Microsoft Word would have seemed reckless, if not irresponsible!”

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24 February 2022

Journeys and memories with Timmy Mallett

Timmy Mallett comes to Gladstone’s Library on Saturday 26th February to talk about his autobiography, Utterly Brilliant – My Life’s Journey. This is not his first visit, nor is he the first in his family to forge a connection with the Library. Here, the artist and author reflects on his deep links with the institution, and on the long journey that brought him back.

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8 February 2022

Chance and the charm of the Reading Rooms - an article featuring author Melissa Harrison

Many volumes in the Gladstone’s Library collection are contemporary, but sometimes even those that were printed a century or more ago offer unique insights into current affairs. Author Melissa Harrison witnessed this first-hand when she happened across an anti-vaccination book while drafting a new novel in our Reading Rooms.

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20 January 2022

A view from a volunteer at Gladstone's Library

“As well as the history of the place, and the variety of voluntary projects that Gladstone’s Library has, the Library boasts some fabulous late Victorian era neo-gothic architecture. A building of monumental proportions, exquisitely opulent, it is well worth every single brick that went into building the place.”

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19 November 2021

Polite Delusions - a blog by Writer in Residence Isabel Galleymore

Walking through the wood, I think to myself that this warmth could be a sign of spring. When I look around, however, I remember it’s not the beginning of the year, but the end.

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22 October 2021

Book Recommendations from Alibis in the Archive 2021

If you’re looking to crack open a new crime novel, we have you covered. Alibis in the Archive, the festival of crime fiction, took place this month. In response to audience requests, several of the speakers nominated their recommended reads. Among them are somewhat neglected treasures, key works in the genre and unsung authors.

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