History of Libraries and Conservation at Lambeth Palace Library

with Dr. Giles Mandelbrote and Dr. David Rundle

Blogpost by Helen Kemp

I was excited to be visiting Lambeth Palace Library for the first time, especially since it involved finding the hidden door in the wall and giving the secret password (my name) to the gatekeeper. It was also my first attendance at a Material Witness seminar, and I was looking forward to meeting the other participants. The workshop was led by Dr Giles Mandlebrote, Librarian and Archivist of Lambeth Palace Library, together with guest speaker Dr David Rundle, Lecturer in History and Co-Director of the Centre for Bibliographical History, at the University of Essex. As a group we introduced ourselves and our research interests, and it was apparent that we brought together many different disciplines – history, literature, art history, bibliography – and period specialisms spanning some 600 years.

During…