Merry Christmas from
the Library and Record Centre!

Lambeth Palace Library and the Church of England Record Centre regularly embark on new projects and acquire and catalogue new material, from rare books and manuscripts to modern publications.  These posts provide a brief update on some of our latest acquisitions, projects and upcoming events, to keep you up-to-date with our most recent news.

New books

Enjoy reading one (or more!) of our recently acquired new books. Highlights include:

• 100 churches, 100 years, edited by Susannah Charlton, Elain Harwood and Clare Price (London: Batsford, 2019). More information available here.
• Anglican Catholicism: unchanging faith in a changing world, by Fr Jonathan Munn (London: Anglican Catholic Church – Diocese of the United Kingdom, 2017). More information and reviews available here.
• Anglican women novelists: Charlotte Brontë to P.D. James, edited by Judith Maltby and Alison Shell (London: T&T Clark, 2019). More information and reviews available here.
• Armsbearing and the clergy in the history and canon law of western Christianity, by Lawrence G. Duggan (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2019). More information available here.
• Being human: bodies, minds, persons, by Rowan Williams (London: SPCK, 2018). More information and reviews available here.
• The case for liturgical restoration, edited by Joseph Shaw; preface by Raymond Cardinal Burke (Brooklyn, NY: Angelico Press, 2019). More information and reviews available here.
• Charles at seventy: thoughts, hopes and dreams, by Robert Jobson (London: John Blake, 2018). More information and reviews available here.
• Converting Britannia: evangelicals and British public life, 1770-1840, by Gareth Atkins (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2019). More information available here.
• Costly Communion: ecumenical initiative and sacramental strife in the Anglican Communion, edited by Mark D. Chapman, Jeremy Bonner (Leiden: Brill, 2019). More information and reviews available here.
• The desecularisation of the city: London’s churches, 1980 to the present, edited by David Goodhew and Anthony-Paul Cooper (London: Routledge, 2019). More information and reviews available here.
• The divine office in Anglo-Saxon England, 597-c.1000, by Jesse D. Billett (London: Published for the Henry Bradshaw Society by the Boydell Press, 2014). More information available here.
• Dynastic politics and the British reformations, 1558-1630, by Michael Questier (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019). More information and reviews available here.
• English alabaster carvings and their cultural contexts, edited by Zuleika Murat (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2019). More information available here.
• English aristocratic women and the fabric of piety, 1450-1550, by Barbara J. Harris (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2018). More information available here.
• Eternal light: the sacred stained-glass windows of Louis Comfort Tiffany, by Catherine Shotick; with an essay by Elizabeth De Rosa (Lewes: Richard H. Driehaus Museum, Chicago, in association with D. Giles Limited, 2019). More information available here.
• Fight valiantly: evil and the devil in liturgy, by Tom Clammer (London: SCM Press, 2019). More information available here.
• The invention of the emblem book and the transmission of knowledge, ca. 1510-1610, by Karl A.E. Enenkel (Leiden: Brill, 2019). More information available here.
• John Henry Newman: a very brief history, by Eamon Duffy (London: SCPK, 2019). More information available here.
• The landscape of pastoral care in thirteenth-century England, by William H. Campbell (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018). More information available here.
• A man of one book?: John Wesley’s interpretation and use of the Bible, by Donald A. Bullen (Milton Keynes: Paternoster, 2007). More information and reviews available here.
• Politics, religion and ideas in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Britain: essays in honour of Mark Goldie, edited by Justin Champion, John Coffey, Tim Harris and John Marshall (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2019). More information available here.
• Priests de la resistance!: the loose canons who fought fascism in the twentieth century, the Revd Fergus Butler-Gallie (London: Oneworld, 2019). More information available here.
• The promise of Anglicanism, by William L. Sachs and Robert S. Heaney (London: SCM Press, 2019). More information and reviews available here.
• Protestant pluralism: the reception of the Toleration Act, 1689-1720, by Ralph Stevens (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2018). More information and reviews available here.
• A rite on the edge: baptism and christening in the Church of England, by Sarah Lawrence (London: SCM Press, 2019). More information and reviews available here.
• Rood screens, by Richard Hayman (Oxford: Shire Publications, 2018). More information available here.
• Ships of Heaven: the private life of Britain’s cathedrals, by Christopher Somerville (London: Doubleday, 2019) More information and reviews available here.
• St Albans Cathedral wall paintings, by M.A. Michael (London: Scala, 2019). More information available here.
• Thomas Fuller: discovering England’s religious past, by W.B. Patterson (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018). More information and reviews available here.
• Travels with a primate: around the world with Robert Runcie, by Terry Waite (London: SPCK, 2019). More information and reviews available here.
• A vicar in Victorian Norfolk: the life and times of Benjamin Armstrong (1817-1890), by Susanna Wade Martins (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2018). More information and reviews available here.
• Westminster Abbey: a church in history, edited by David Cannadine (London: Yale University Press, 2019). More information available here.
• Who is my neighbour?: the global and personal challenge, edited by Richard Carter and Samuel Wells (London: SPCK, 2018). More information and reviews available here.
• Who’s buried where in London, by Peter Matthews (Oxford: Bloomsbury Shire, 2017). More information and reviews available here.

Magazines and journals

Lambeth Palace Library also collects a variety of magazines and journals. You are very welcome to visit the Reading Room to consult these too. Some of our recently received titles include:
Church Archaeology
Churchman
Ecclesiastical Law Journal
Ecclesiology Today
The Friends Quarterly
Historical Research
The Huguenot Society Journal
Journal of Ecclesiastical History
Journal of Religious History, Literature & Culture
Modern Believing
Parliamentary History
The Prayer Book Today
Privacy & Data Protection
Reformation
Royal Historical Society Transactions

We also receive the following papers and magazines weekly:
The Church of England Newspaper
Church Times
The Tablet
TLS (The Times Literary Supplement)

Please note that since October 2019, Lambeth Palace Library is closed on Fridays. This is to give the staff time to prepare the collections for the move to the new library building. Opening hours will be 10am to 5pm on Tuesday and Wednesday, and 10am to 7.30 pm on Thursday.

 

Upcoming events

‘Bishop Symon Patrick (1626-1707) – unsung hero of the Restoration Church of England’

Dr Nicholas Fisher
Thursday 26 March, 6pm (admittance from 5:30pm)

In 2018, Nick Fisher was the first recipient of a Lambeth doctorate after the scheme had been rebranded ‘Lambeth Research Degrees in Theology’.  His thesis explored the writings and career of Symon Patrick from Rector of St. Paul’s, Covent Garden, to Bishop of Ely. This illustrated talk will explore the religious tensions of Charles II’s reign and suggest that Patrick’s contribution to the national Church has been unjustly neglected.

All are welcome, but those wishing to attend should book a free ticket at https://nickfisherlambeth.eventbrite.co.uk, or email melissa.harrison@churchofengland.org not later than Friday 20 March.

Day conference on the seventeenth-century book collector Richard Smith (1590-1675) and his library

Wednesday 27 May (further details to follow)

Speakers will include Peter Lake, Jason Peacey, Andrew Foster, Vanessa Harding, David Pearson, Alan Nelson and Kenneth Fincham.

The Books of Henry Bradshawe, nephew of the regicide

Professor Alan Nelson (University of California, Berkeley)
Tuesday 9 June, 5:30pm (admittance not before 5pm)

The name of Henry Bradshawe, and the family seat in Marple, Cheshire, in the seventeenth century, are familiar to bibliographers and to the book trade. According to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, John Bradshawe the regicide, being childless, bequeathed ‘all my Law Bookes,’ along with books ‘on divinity, history and other books’ to his nephew Henry, who maintained the family library until his death in 1698. This traditional account is an extreme simplification of the true story, which must start with the realization that books from the Bradshawe family library carry the ownership signatures of at least four Henry Bradshawes. Books from the library are scattered across the English-speaking world.

In association with the University of London research seminar on the History of Libraries. All are welcome, but those wishing to attend should book a free ticket at https://alannelsonlambeth.eventbrite.co.uk, or email melissa.harrison@churchofengland.org not later than Friday 5 June.

Annual General Meeting of the Friends of Lambeth Palace Library, followed by a lecture by Professor Richard Gameson: ‘Codex and Colour: the pigments of Lambeth Palace manuscripts’

Thursday 18 June, 2:30pm (admittance not before 2pm)

One of the most striking aspects of medieval manuscripts is their ravishing colours. Scientific advances mean that it is now possible, using non-invasive techniques, to identify the pigments that were used to produce the illuminations in question. This lecture will report the findings from recent investigations of illuminations in Lambeth Palace Library, explaining the processes that were used, summarising the pigments that were identified, and contextualising them within broader patterns of medieval and renaissance painting.

This meeting, open to Friends of Lambeth Palace Library, will be followed by tea. Friends should book in advance with Melissa Harrison, Lambeth Palace Library, melissa.harrison@churchofengland.org  or telephone 020 7898 1400.

 

New Library update

The project remains on time and on budget, and detailed planning for the move is taking place. The scaffolding is coming down on the whole building, with the front elevations now clearly visible.

View of the Library from Lambeth Bridge

Internally, all shelving units have been installed and the installation of timber bookcases in the Reading Room is also nearing completion.

Shelving units installed

View from inside the east wing Reading Room

Externally, the landscaping works for the Palace are progressing with the brick features and extensive soft landscaping. This will continue into 2020 and will include extensive planting and a wetland habitat. The external landscaping works on Lambeth Palace Road will commence in January 2020 with remodelling of the footpath immediately outside the site (with pedestrian access maintained at all times).

External facade and wetland area

Library staff enjoyed visits to the site in November to view the latest progress of the build.

The new Library offers spectacular views of the surrounding area, a few glimpses of which can be seen below:

View from the seminar room

Knight Harwood have been running workshops for children at The Evelina Children’s Hospital, as part of the project’s commitment to engaging with the surrounding community. In their latest workshop, on 27th November, patients enjoyed building their versions of the new Lambeth Palace Library out of Duplo and Lego, with the help of the developers from Knight Harwood, teachers from Evelina Hospital School and play specialists. Children and young people, aged 18 months to 13 years old, had a perfect view of the new library, which is being built just across the road from Evelina Hospital, inspiring them to construct their own versions of the building. The full article can be read here on Evelina Hospital’s website, and the children’s designs are on display in front of Evelina Hospital School.

The results of one of Knight Harwood’s workshops with the Evelina Children’s Hospital

 

Archive news

A large amount of material has continued to be digitised and made available through the Library’s online image gallery. Recent highlights include a range of manuscripts from Sion College (best opened in Chrome):
http://images.lambethpalacelibrary.org.uk/luna/servlet/s/223kgv
http://images.lambethpalacelibrary.org.uk/luna/servlet/s/v817bq
http://images.lambethpalacelibrary.org.uk/luna/servlet/s/tjh7xd

Sion L40.2L7 f.13r

An English translation of Tacitus’ Annals (MS 683) held by the Library and dating from c.1600 was the subject of an article in the Times Literary Supplement: https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/royally-adorned/ and other press coverage regarding corrections made by Elizabeth I. The volume has also been fully digitised.

MS 683 f.2r

The Library’s archive collections have featured heavily in some recent publications:
https://www.authorhouse.com/en/bookstore/bookdetails/794245-the-cowley-fathers-in-philadelphia
https://www.palgrave.com/gb/book/9783030271299

Appraisal and cataloguing work continues on the papers of Archbishop George Carey. In addition a range of other material has been catalogued, such as archives of the Nikaean Club, the Liturgical Commission, the Joint Liturgical Group and Lord Wharton’s Charity, and papers of various 19th century Archbishops of Canterbury, Henry Evington, Bishop of Kyushu, and correspondence regarding the Book of Common Prayer (1928).

Staff have hosted a range of visits, ranging from academic institutions such as the Open University and Royal Holloway (University of London) to professional groups such as notaries public.

 

Lambeth Palace Library and Church of England Record Centre Collection and People Migration Project

Teams are getting-ready for the big move next year to the new Lambeth Palace Library site at the end of the Lambeth Palace Garden, which is due for handing over in April 2020.  In the meantime, planning has been working towards scheduling the move of people and collections across the year 2020; and finishing-off some of the final mapping (where things are going in the new building) and protection (cleaning, boxing etc) of collections.  Activities have included clearing out old kit and equipment (a few skips worth!) both at CERC and LPL; and over 34,000 boxes being made for books moving across to the new library, which also included cleaning them all!

Next steps are working through protection needs for CERC, finishing off Morton’s Tower and ending with protection of the most vulnerable collections in the Great Hall.  Exciting times ahead as next year is a busy move year for us with all Library and Record Centre staff being involved in some aspect of move supervision for collections, kit and equipment.

Don’t forget – you can also keep up-to-date with our news and events, and enjoy glimpses of some of the treasures in our collections, by following us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.