February update from the Library and Record Centre

February 11, 2020February 10, 2020 lampallibArchitecture, Archives, Church of England, Church of England Record Centre, Conservation, events, Lambeth Palace Library, Libraries, Manuscripts, Religion, Special CollectionsLeave a comment

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:

The accidental Anglican: the surprising appeal of the liturgical church, by Todd D. Hunter (Nottingham: Inter-Varsity Press, 2011). More information and reviews available here.
Anglican baptismal liturgies, edited by Phillip Tovey (Norwich: Canterbury Press, 2017). More information available here.
An Anglican covenant: theological and legal considerations for a global debate, by Norman Doe (Norwich: Canterbury Press, c2008). More information and reviews available here.
The Anglican imagination: portraits and sketches of modern Anglican theologians, by Robert Boak Slocum (Abingdon: Routledge, 2017). More information available here.
Anglican women on church and mission, edited by Kwok Pui-Lan, Judith A. Berling and Jenny Plane Te Paa (Norwich: Canterbury, 2013). More information available here.
Archbishop William Sancroft: a cross-grained life, by John Tiller (Donnington: Shaun Tyas, 2019). More information available here.
The beauty of holiness: the Caroline divines and their writings, edited by Benjamin Guyer (London: Canterbury Press Norwich, 2012). More information available here.
The Bible in the life of the church, edited by Clare Amos (Norwich: Canterbury Press, 2013). More information available here.
Brokering the Good Friday Agreement: the untold story, edited by Mary E. Daly (Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, 2019). More information available here.
The Canons of the Third Lateran Council of 1179: their origins and reception, by Danica Summerlin (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020). More information available here.
Cardinal Basil Hume: a pilgrim’s search for God, by Gertrude Feick (Leominster, Herefordshire: Gracewing, 2019). More information available here.
Chaplains in early modern England: patronage, literature and religion, edited by Hugh Adlington, Tom Lockwood, Gillian Wright (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2013). More information available here.
Christ in all things: William Temple and his writings, by Stephen Spencer (Norwich: Canterbury Press, 2015). More information available here.
Debating the sacraments: print and authority in the early Reformation, by Amy Nelson Burnett (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2019). More information and reviews available here.
The discipline of intimacy: the joy and awe of walking with God, by Charlie Cleverly (Colorado Springs: David C. Cook, 2019). More information available here.
Elizabeth I: translations, 1592-1598, edited by Janel Mueller and Joshua Scodel (Chicago; London: University of Chicago Press, 2009). More information available here.
Firmly I believe: an Oxford Movement reader, by Raymond Chapman (Norwich: Canterbury Press, 2006). More information and reviews available here.
For sinners only: the book of the Oxford Groups, by A.J. Russell ([S.l.]: Bottom of the Hill Publishing, 2014). More information available here.
George Whitefield: the first transatlantic revivalist, by Nigel Scotland (Oxford: Lion Books, 2019). More information available here.
Grasping the heel of heaven: liturgy, leadership and ministry in today’s church, edited by Aidan Platten (Norwich: Canterbury Press, 2018). More information available here.
Happiness and holiness: Thomas Traherne and his writings, edited by Denise Inge (Norwich: Canterbury Press, 2008). More information available here.
A heart strangely warmed: John and Charles Wesley and their writings, edited by Jonathan Dean (Norwich: Canterbury Press, 2014). More information available here.
The immortal commonwealth: covenant, community, and political resistance in early reformed thought, by David P. Henreckson (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019). More information and reviews available here.
Irish Anglicanism, 1969-2019: Essays to mark the 150th anniversary of the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland, edited by Kenneth Milne and Paul Harron (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2019). More information available here.
John Henry Newman and the path to sainthood, by Julien Chilcott-Monk (Norwich: Canterbury Press, 2010). More information available here.
John Owen between orthodoxy and modernity, edited by Willem van Vlastuin, Kelly M. Kapic (Leiden: Brill, 2019). More information available here.
The making of a Tory evangelical: Lord Shaftesbury and the evolving character of Victorian evangelicalism, by David Furse-Roberts (Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2019). More information and reviews available he re.
Medieval Londoners: essays to mark the eightieth birthday of Caroline M. Barron, edited by Elizabeth New and Christian Steer (London: University of London Press, 2019). More information available here.
Middle English devotional compilations: composing imaginative variations in late Medieval England, by Diana Denissen (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2019). More information available here.
Nuns’ literacies in medieval Europe: the Antwerp dialogue, edited by Virginia Blanton, Veronica O’Mara, and Patricia Stoop (Turnhout: Brepols, 2017). More information available here.
Part of the one church?: the ordination of women and Anglican identity, by Roger Greenacre; edited by Colin Podmore (Norwich: Canterbury Press, 2014). More information available here.
Patient reading/reading patience: Oxford essays on medieval English literature, by Ralph Hanna (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2017). More information available here.
A point of balance: the weight and measure of Anglicanism, edited by Robert Boak Slocum and Martyn Percy (Norwich: Canterbury Press, 2013). More information available here.
The practical mystic: Evelyn Underhill and her writings, edited by Raymond Chapman (London: Canterbury Press Norwich, 2012). More information available here.
Religion around John Donne, by Joshua Eckhardt (University Park, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2019). More information and reviews available here.
Religion around Mary Shelley, by Jennifer L. Airey (University Park, Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2019). More information and reviews available here.
Renewing the face of the earth: a theological and pastoral response to climate change, by David Atkinson (Norwich: Canterbury, 2008). More information available here.
Richard III: the self-made King, by Michael Hicks (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2019). More information available here.
Sacred and secular martyrdom in Britain and Ireland since 1914, by John Wolffe (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2019). More information and reviews available here.
Unbelievers: an emotional history of doubt, by Alec Ryrie (London: William Collins, 2019). More information and reviews available here.
The wills of our ancestors: a guide to probate records for family and local historians, by Stuart A. Raymond (Barnsley: Pen & Sword Family History, 2012). More information available here.
Wonder beyond belief: on Christianity, by Navid Kermani (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2019). More information available here.
Worship-shaped life: liturgical formation and the people of God, by Ruth Meyers and Paul Gibson (Norwich: Canterbury Press, 2010). More information available here.

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 are now 10am to 5pm on Tuesday and Wednesday, and 10am to 7.30 pm on Thursday. Additionally, 30th April 2020 will be the last day that the Lambeth Palace Library reading room will be open and also the last day that the Church of England Record Centre reading room will be open before the opening of the new building in early 2021. There might also be a delay in answering some types of enquiries.

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:

ABTAPL Bulletin
Anglican and Episcopal History
Archives: the journal of the British Records Association
Bible Lands
Crucible: the journal of Christian social ethics
Churchman
Ecclesiastical Law Journal
English Historical Review
Journal of Ecclesiastical History
Families Worldwide
Franciscan
Journal of Paper Conservation
Theology

We also receive the following papers and magazines weekly:

The Church of England Newspaper
Church Times
The Tablet
TLS (The Times Literary Supplement)

Upcoming events

Dr Nicholas Fisher: ‘Bishop Symon Patrick (1626-1707) – unsung hero of the Restoration Church of England’.

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.

Professor Alan Nelson (University of California, Berkeley): ‘The Books of Henry Bradshawe, nephew of the regicide’.

Tuesday 2 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 29 May.

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 Library project continues to progress to time and budget and is now approaching completion with key systems being commissioned ahead of handover at the end of April.

From June to the end of the year we’ll be moving in the collections – which will finally bring under one roof (with solar panels on top!) all of the archives of the National Church Institutions that are currently stored in far less than ideal conditions in both Lambeth Palace and the Record Centre in Bermondsey. We’ll have more information as the year progresses about the closure of the Record Centre and among other things the move of the Records Management team to Church House.

The New Library was listed as one of ‘Five buildings to watch out for in 2020′ in the Architects’ Journal. You can read the article online here.

The images below show some great views of the New Library, captured recently by drone:

2020 Getting ready to move!

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

Already into the new year and we have kick started preparations for moving teams and the collections into our lovely new building! The new library is at commissioning stages with a handover date of April 20th, and we are on target to move in soon after. A great deal has been achieved in terms of collection management and care, including cleaning, boxing over 35,000 items and finishing off preservation tasks for collections held in Morton’s Tower and CERC; as well as organising and mapping collections in readiness for a move starting around early June 2020 and finishing with the Great Hall collection being moved in October-November 2020.

Luciana Marques, Preservation Project Assistant; and Alison Day, Archivist- both seen lifting, condition checking and boxing large vellum bound manuscripts currently stored in the Audience Chamber in Morton’s Tower

CPD event for library and archive teams on an Introduction to the History and Preservation of Historic Photographs ending with a curator led tour of the V&A Photography Centre

Fiona Johnston, Conservator and Arianna Mangraviti, Preservation Project Assistant assessing the cleaning and packing needs for our gold finishing hand-tools

Image of a watermark found on conservation papers in the current conservation studio

Fiona and Maria organising our conservation papers for the new studio

Maria Martinez Viciana, Preservation Project Assistant, attempting to delaminate a heavily water damaged parchment manuscript for the legal team to see specific details

Archive news

The vast majority of the papers from Archbishop Robert Runcie’s time in office (1980-1991) have now been catalogued and made publicly available. Significant progress is also being made with the appraisal and cataloguing of the papers of Archbishop George Carey. A range of other material has also been catalogued, such as small manuscript accessions relating to the Church Lads Brigade, Bishop Hensley Henson and the author Kathleen Bliss.

Recent archive accessions have included further material from the Community of St Andrew, an Anglican religious order founded in 1861. Discussions with some other potential donors are ongoing, but no new material will be considered in 2020 because of the needs of the library move.

The discovery of a translation of Tacitus as being by Elizabeth I, which is contained in the library manuscript MS 683, was the subject of a great deal of media coverage: https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/royally-adorned This manuscript has been digitised and is available on the library’s online image gallery:
http://images.lambethpalacelibrary.org.uk/luna/servlet/s/mn624k

A large number of glass plate photographs of cathedrals taken by a Reverend Mann (MS 5180-5184), dating from around 1900, were also recently added to the image gallery.

Newly catalogued items

Among our newly catalogued rare books is a work that complements the Library’s already strong collection of twentieth-century private press editions of biblical texts. The Psalter or Psalms of David from the Bible of Archbishop Cranmer (Mile End: Essex House Press, 1902) is one of 250 copies ‘edited from the Cranmer Bible of 1540’ and contains woodcut initials and decorations designed by the editor, Janet Ashbee. The Essex House Press, founded in 1898 by C. R. Ashbee after the death of William Morris, was intended as a successor to Morris’s Kelmscott Press and employed some of his former staff. Essex House captured the sentiment of the Arts and Crafts movement and became one of the most successful private presses of the era, producing more than 70 titles.

Another recent accession now available in the online catalogue is The Little Library (London, c.1868), a charming group of miniature Religious Tract Society works which are housed in their own decorated box. There are ten titles in all, each consisting of eight pages of text in their original orange paper covers: Lucy and Her Rose-Tree; The Cottage Child; The Busy Bee; The Marys of the Bible; The Two Sisters; Obey Your Parents; The Holy Day; Rosa and Frank; Speak Kind Words; The Little Boy’s Faith. Acquired with the support of the Friends of Lambeth Palace Library, these ten join a further 28 titles from the Little Library series which were presented to the Library by Mr Cliff Webb.

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.

Christmas update from the Library and Record Centre

December 16, 2019December 16, 2019 lampallibArchives, Books, Church of England, Church of England Record Centre, Conservation, Elizabeth I, Friends of Lambeth Palace Library, Illuminated manuscripts, Lambeth Palace Library, Libraries, Manuscripts, Rare Books, ReligionLeave a comment

Merry Christmas from
the Library and Record Centre!

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 T oday
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)

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)

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)

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.

September update from the Library and Record Centre

September 16, 2019September 16, 2019 lampallibArchitecture, Archives, Books, boxing, Church of England Record Centre, Conservation, events, Friends of Lambeth Palace Library, Lambeth Palace Library, Library, Preservation, project, Religion, ServicesLeave a comment

New books!

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

The Anglican communion at a crossroads: the crisis of a global church, by Christopher Craig Brittain and Andrew McKinnon (University Park, Pa.: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2018). More information available here.
The book in Britain: a historical introduction, edited by Zachary Lesser; written by Daniel Allington, David Brewer, Stephen Colclough, Sian Echard, Zachary Lesser (Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2019). More information available here.
Books and bookmen in early modern Britain: essays presented to James P. Carley, edited by James Willoughby and Jeremy Catto (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 2018). More information available here.
The buildings of England: Sussex: West, by Elizabeth Williamson, Tim Hudson, Jeremy Musson and Ian Nairn (London: Yale University Press, 2019). More information and reviews available here.
The Eusebian Canon Tables: ordering textual knowledge in late antiquity, by Matthew R. Crawford (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019). More information available here.
A field guide to the English clergy: a compendium of diverse eccentrics, pirates, prelates and adventurers; all Anglican, some even practising, by Fergus Butler-Gallie (London: Oneworld, 2018). More information and reviews available here.
Herbert of Bosham: a medieval polymath, edited by Michael Staunton (York: York Medieval Press, 2019). More information available here.
A history of the Bible: the book and its faiths, by John Barton (London: Allen Lane, 2019). More information and reviews available here.
In conversation: Rowan Williams and Greg Garrett (New York: Church Publishing, 2019). More information and reviews available here.
The materials and techniques of medieval painting, by Daniel V. Thompson (New York: Dover Publications, 1956, 2018 printing). More information and reviews available here.
Medieval Welsh pilgrimage, c1100-1500, by Kathryn Hurlock (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018). More information available here.
Money and coinage in the Middle Ages, edited by Rory Naismith (Leiden: Brill, 2018). More information available here.
Priests and their books in late Anglo-Saxon England, by Gerald P. Dyson (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2019). More information available here.
The Professor and the Parson: A story of desire, deceit and defrocking, by Adam Sisman (London: Profile Books, 2019). More information and reviews available here.
The Renaissance reform of the book and Britain: the English Quattrocento, by David Rundle (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017). More information available here.
Queenship at the Renaissance courts of Britain: Catherine of Aragon and Margaret Tudor, 1503-1533, by Michelle L. Beer (London: Royal Historical Society, 2018). More information available here.
The role of the scroll: an illustrated introduction to scrolls in the Middle Ages, by Thomas Forrest Kelly ( New York : W.W. Norton & Company, 2019). More information and reviews available here.
Songs of Praise: the nation’s favourite churches, by Andrew Barr (Oxford: Lion, 2006). More information and reviews available here.
The textual culture of English Protestant dissent 1720-1800, by Tessa Whitehouse (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015). More information available here.
T homas Cromwell: a life, by Diarmaid MacCulloch (London: Allen Lane, 2018). More information and reviews available here.
Two Huguenot brothers: letters of Andrew and James Coltée Ducarel 1732-1773, edited by Gereard de Lisle and Robin Myers (London: The Garendon Press, 2019). More information available here.
A vicar’s wife in Oxford, 1938-1943: the diary of Madge Martin, edited by Patricia and Robert Malcolmson (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2018). 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:
Crucible: the journal of Christian social ethics
Churchman
F aith and worship
The Friends Quarterly
Historic Churches
Journal of Anglican Studies
Journal of Ecclesiastical History
Journal of Paper Conservation
The Library: Transactions of The Bibliographical Society
Privacy & Data Protection

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 from October 2019 Lambeth Palace Library will be 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

‘Wanting more and wanting better’

Bishop Richard Harries
Monday 23 September, 5pm (entrance not before 4:30pm)

The usual assumption is that Christianity disapproves of us wanting things. Thomas Traherne takes a very different line, saying we don’t want enough. But when we have moved out of innocent bliss into a world of sin and suffering, how do we manage this wanting?

In association with the Traherne Society. All are welcome, but those wishing to attend should book a free ticket at https://richardharrieslambeth.eventbrite.co.uk or email melissa.harrison@churchofengland.org not later than Tuesday 17 September.

‘William Holcot’s books: recantation and repentance in Reformation England’

Professor John Craig (Simon Fraser University)
Tuesday 26 November, 5:15pm (entrance not before 4:45pm)

William Holcot was a mid-Tudor gentleman, bibliophile and lay reader in the early Elizabethan church, whose experience of recantation during the reign of Queen Mary powerfully shaped his thoughts and actions during the Elizabethan period. Very little survives from Holcot’s life but the few pieces that do enrich our understanding of a particular stream of Elizabethan Protestantism. This event will be followed by a drinks reception.

In association with the University of London seminar on the Religious History of Britain 1500-1800. All are welcome, but those wishing to attend should book a free ticket at https://johncraiglambeth.eventbrite.co.uk, or email melissa.harrison@churchofengland.org not later than Friday 22 November.

Christmas reception for the Friends of Lambeth Palace Library and their guests

Wednesday 4 December, 6pm (admittance from 5:30pm)

Christmas reception held in the State Drawing Room in Lambeth Palace.

Tickets £10 per head, to include wine and mince pies. To book, please send names in advance to Melissa Harrison, melissa.harrison@churchofengland.org or telephone 020 7898 1400, not later than Friday 22 November.

New Library update

Work on the new library is progressing well and the programme remains on track to complete in April 2020.

From the street, the completed brickwork for the east and west wings are now clearly visible. Scaffold only remains in place to the central tower which will start to be dismantled from October 2019.

Internally, considerable progress has been made. The archive spaces are nearing completion with the final shelving units arriving at the start of the month ready for installation.

The spaces which will be occupied by the staff have also progressed well. Finishes to the floors, ceilings and walls have started over the last period and will continue to the end of the project. Joinery is being put into the Reading Room, so we are now starting to see the wood panelling.

Freezers in cold store — *Freezers in the cold store*

Externally, an exciting phase will start in the next quarter when the landscaping works for the Palace gardens commence. This will include extensive planting and a wetland habitat. The pond wall will be set out this week, and the excavations of the base of the pond started.

Lambeth Local History Fair

The Library was thrilled to have a stall at the Lambeth Local History Fair, a now annual event that kicks off Lambeth Heritage Festival, which runs throughout September. This year the Fair was held in Brixton Tate Libary on Saturday 7th September, and saw dozens of local societies and local history organisations come together to showcase their services, alongside a programme of illustrated talks, tours and walks. Library staff were pleased to talk to a large number of visitors and let them know how the Library and Record Centre could be useful to their research.

The full programme for the Lambeth Heritage Festival 2019 can be found here.

Archive news

Material catalogued and now made available in recent months has included:

Papers of the English Hymnal Company (ref: EHC), 1905-2000.
Correspondence regarding the Book of Common Prayer (1928), mainly between Lambeth Palace and Colonel H M Oldham (ref: MS 5149), 1926-1959.
Letters and reports to Cyril Eastaugh, Bishop of Peterborough on South Africa (ref: MS 5150), 1965.

The Library’s collections have also been used in a range of recent publications and resources including:

https://canterburypress.hymnsam.co.uk/books/9781786221834/cowley-fathers
Henson diaries https://henson.durham.ac.uk
Salvation army book https://www.salvationarmy.org/ihq/news/inf230719

Further content has been added to the Library’s public image management system: http://images.lambethpalacelibrary.org.uk/luna/servlet, including a range of manuscripts (MS 1, MS 284, MS 774, MS 1143, MS 1502, MS 2022, MS 5082) and material from Sion College (Sion L40.2/E25, Sion L40.2/E42, Sion L40.2/E44, Sion L40.2/L2 and Sion L40.2/L7).

In the Conservation studio

Over 30,000 items have been boxed, with a big focus now on protecting CERC collections for the move next year. We are currently working through the procurement process for potential movers and, once awarded, the process of preparing the day-by-day scheduling of the move will begin. In addition, the team are preparing for the studio move, as well as helping with new library requirements.
Only 217 days until we get the keys to the new building!

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.

Collections on church architecture: fonts

September 5, 2018August 24, 2018 lampallibChurch of England Record Centre, Fonts, H. Sanderson Stewart, H. Sanderson Stewart Collection, St. Luke Hodnet, St. Peter's IpswichLeave a comment

One of the many joys of working with archives is the surprising nature of the work: even the most unexpected collections can pose fascinating questions, in this instance a collection of 13 binders (the H. Sanderson Stewart Collection) filled with pictures of English church fonts, along with sometimes amusing commentary from the photographer. Taking three diverse examples, I hope to show not only the range of fonts in this collection but also how the archive collections can give rise to fascinating questions and answers.

STEWART 2 - Stone
My interest in this collection was started by the above font in Stone, Staffordshire. These images carved some 800 years ago stand as allegorical, typological, tropological, thematic and stylised pictures. How one looks at them raises questions around theology, contemporary understanding of the bestiary tradition, and local understanding and interpretation of religious events and characters. The way that secular concerns influenced the choice of decoration is particularly evident in my third example below. These early fonts also stand as an important reminder that far from being the preserve of a religious or ‘intellectual’ elite the stories and symbology of the bestiaries were available to, and addressed, lay people and concerns.[1] This is not to imply a literal study of decoration, but rather a rich visual and oral tradition in which the fonts and their carvings played an important role. It is important to remember throughout this brief examination of a small number of fonts is that no carving or picture of animals has one single meaning. They are filled with ambiguities and contradictions and represent a flexibility inherent in much nonrepresentational art.

The first font to consider is Stone, Buckinghamshire. This is assumed to be a 12th century work, with the carving being contemporary to the font.[2] There have been many attempts to interpret the carvings, from Heracles’ 12 labours,[3] to Christ’s descent into hell, or the resurrection. The sequence of images surrounding the font is now thought to represent a suma illustrating the then understood essential works of God – that of foundation and restoration. This is an understanding based on Gregory the Great’s Moralia in Job and the historical understand of Platonic cosmology and science [for a more in-depth account of the history of this theological idea see the book by Mary Curtis Webb cited below].

The description of the image as the “descent into hell” describes the central figure as Christ, posed with outstretched hands, one pointing towards a large fish, identifiable as a whale or leviathan (the whale signifies the devil, who deceives those he drags down to hell; those of weak faith who give in to the sweet odour of worldly desires will be swallowed up by the devil). The hand however holds a knife showing its eventual fate. Against the figure’s right leg one can see a salamander. This was a very common symbolic animal with clearly defined characteristics and a place in Christian imagery. The salamander represents righteous people, who can withstand fire, just as the Book of Daniel recounts the escape unharmed from the fiery furnace. Interestingly enough the Abbey at Reading, where this font originated, has a list of the books held there during the 12th century. These included Augustine’s City of God, as well as collections of contemporary bestiaries. So we know that the imagery and symbolism discussed here were well known to the people involved in designing, commissioning, and building the font.

The most clearly identifiable figure in this mix is the dragon on the right side of the figure. The representation of this is clear to anyone with even a passing knowledge of traditional imagery. It is here shown with its back to the central Christ figure showing its rejection of God and to further clarify the image it holds a dammed soul in its hands, as shown by the flaming haired face on the far right.

Further support for this interpretation comes via the bird pecking at the dragon, on the right of the picture. Here the bird is identified as a vulture – not a bird one normally associates with Christian imagery nowadays. However, in the writings of Isidore of Seville you can find the claim “The vulture (vultur) has its name from its slow flight (volutas), which is a result of its large body. The females do not engage in sex, but conceive without intercourse”. This is then moralised, as those who say that Christ’s birth to a virgin is impossible are to look to the example of the vulture, which gives birth without mating.

Furthermore, in Pope Gregory’s Moralia one finds “Rightly is the Mediator between God and man called a Vulture”; he writes, “Who, while remaining in the loftiness of His divine nature, marked as from a kind of flight on high the carcass of our mortal being here down below, and let Himself drop from the region of Heaven to the lowest place. On our behalf He vouchsafed to become man. While He sought the dead creature, He found death among us, Who was deathless in Himself.” One can also see similarities between the image carved here and the Cambridge bestiary.

On the left hand side of the figure there is the wolf. The wolf has a long and fascinating story attached to it from the bestiaries; from the simple “Like the wolf, the devil always sees mankind as prey and circles the sheepfold of the faithful, that is the Church” to “As the wolf cannot turn his neck, so the devil never turns towards the correction of penitence.”

There is much more to discuss about this font but there are 13 binders of pictures and two other examples to look at. However, this is a fascinating tale of how the adaptation of biblical stories, theology and late classical ideas on nature and science interacted with one another.

STEWART 10 - Ipswich

Another font of interest is that of St Peter’s, Ipswich, Suffolk. This font whilst being simpler than the other poses some very interesting questions and opportunities, firstly about how these artists decided to represent animals that they would never have seen, and secondly the question of their production. The carving of church fonts had, over time, become a large-scale enterprise and had developed into different schools and local fashions. This font, being carved of Tournai marble (a blue-black carboniferous limestone), is readily identifiable and traceable to that region. It is most striking therefore how far the work has travelled. Fonts of this material are found throughout Europe and contain similar motifs and designs and form. They have the same dimensions and traditionally repeated images or motifs, and where they do contain figures or biblical scenes the figures are clearly done in similar fashion and are as readily identifiable as the stone on which they are carved. Considering all this, it has been established that there was a vigorous industry exporting these fonts which extended from the 12th century to the end of the 15th. You can trace them back to the Meuse valley in modern Belgium with a recognised art style called Mosan. This school of art was concentrated in the area around Liege and the Benedictine monastery of Stavelot. The art produced by the Mosan school includes architecture and sculpture from ivory carving and stone sculpture, to illuminated manuscripts and other forms of miniature painting. Mosan art has been most renowned for its metalwork, including goldsmithing, enamelwork and jewellery art. Some of the most well know medieval artists of the Mosan school include the goldsmith Godefroid de Claire (c.1100-73) and the goldsmith Nicholas of Verdun (c.1156–1232), who was also one of the leading enamellers of the Middle Ages.[4]

For this particular font the animals depicted are meant to be lions. This has some obvious connotations and some less than obvious ones. From Isidore of Seville to Bartholomaeus Anglicus it is said that the forehead and tail signify their virtue and that lions with curly manes are weak but those with straight hair are strong and violent. And so on the font we see lions with large tails and no mane. They are known for their claws and so those are emphasised, and the faces show the curiously human faces found so often in the bestiaries.

STEWART 4 - Hodnet

Other attempts at a lion can be found in the font in St Luke, Hodnet, Shropshire. Here one sees an attempt at a lion with the tail curved over the body and still lacking a mane. The peculiarities of this font can be explained by the interpolation of secular factors into church design, that being the commissioning of a new font. To begin with, one of the interesting thing to note here is that whilst the animal looks like the heraldic lion most people are familiar with, in that instance the animal is in actuality called a leopard, an animal with surprisingly negative connotations: “The leopard is the degenerate offspring of the adulterous mating of a lion (leo) and a pard”; as well as “The leopard is a beast most cruel, and is gendered in spouse-breach of a pard and of a lioness”.[5] Why then would they be on a font? The simple answer is that this attitude and connotation had shifted and evolved by the end of the 12th century as the heraldic symbol was adopted by the Plantagenet kings Richard and John, first for use in seals and later as heraldic symbols.[6] The eagle here again is clearly heraldic rather than looking to symbolise a bestiary eagle. However the connotations of both are similar. The bird also has many clear Christian associations but, in this instance and more importantly perhaps, it appears on the family crests of the Paget family including William Paget who served as the member of parliament for Lichfield in the 16th century before being made 1st Baron Paget of Beaudesert in Shropshire. His arms included heraldic lions (leopards) and eagles.[7]

The other image is more traditional, consisting of a peacock, an animal that can be found throughout this period with recognisable connotations: “The flesh of the peacock is so hard that it does not rot, and can hardly be cooked in fire or digested by the liver”.[8] It was also meant to shed and regrow its feathers each year symbolising immortality and rebirth.

This brief introduction to fonts and symbolism has, I hope, shown the diversity of information even simple archival collections can provide and the links that can be drawn in from a wealth of sources. This is only a small glimpse of the material readily available in the archive. The Stewart collection on fonts is available to consult at the Church of England Record Centre.

NOTES

[1] Strickland, Debra Higgs, and Hassig, Debra. The Mark of the Beast : The Medieval Bestiary in Art, Life, and Literature. New York ; London: Garland Pub, 1999.

[2] Webb, Mary Curtis, and Greenwood, Gillian. Ideas and Images in Twelfth Century Sculpture : The Transmission of Ideas and Their Visual Images from the First to the Twelfth Centuries. 2010.

[3] Ettlinger, Ellen. “The Font at Stone” Records of Buckinghamshire, Vol 17 part 4, 1964.

[4] “Mosan Art” http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/history-of-art/mosan-school.htm

[5] Badke, David “The Medieval Bestiary”, Leopard, http://bestiary.ca/beasts/beast547.htm

[6] Woodward, John. A Treatise on Heraldry, British and Foreign, with English and French Glossaries. New and Enlarged ed. Edinburgh ; London: W. & A.K. Johnston, 1896.

[7] Jack, Sybil M. “Paget, William”. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/21121

[8] Badke, David “The Medieval Bestiary”, Peacock, http://bestiary.ca/beasts/beast257.htm

Christmas update from the Library and Record Centre

December 22, 2017December 22, 2017 lampallibArchives, Books, Christmas, Church of England, Church of England Record Centre, Conservation, David Starkey, Friends of Lambeth Palace Library, Lambeth Palace Library, News, Reformation, Religion, Sion College Library, Sion College Library Provenance ProjectLeave a comment

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. Every two months, we post here a brief update on some of our latest acquisitions, projects and upcoming events, to keep you up-to-date with our most recent news.

Happy Christmas from all the staff at Lambeth Palace Library and the Church of England Record Centre!

Our Christmas opening times can be viewed here – we reopen after Christmas on Tuesday 2nd January. The online catalogues of both Lambeth Palace Library and the Church of England Record Centre (including our image database) can be searched via our website at any time.

Library Advent Calendar!

Join us on Facebook for the final days of our Library Advent Calendar, as we open a door every morning onto a different Christmas scene from our collections. Find our Facebook page here or follow the hashtag #LPLAdventCalendar.

This month’s new books!

Some highlights from our most recently acquired new books include:

Church history: an introduction to research methods and resources, by James E. Bradley & Richard A. Muller (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2016). More information and reviews available here.
Experiences of charity, 1250-1650, edited by Anne M. Scott (Farnham: Ashgate, 2015). More information available here.
The friaries of medieval London: from foundation to dissolution, by Nick Holder (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2017). More information available here.
The history of England’s cathedrals, by Nicholas Orme (Exeter: Impress Books, 2017). More information and reviews available here.
Joan, the fair maid of Kent: a fourteenth-century princess and her world, by Anthony Goodman (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2017). More information and reviews available here.
Luther on the Christian life: cross and freedom, by Carl R. Trueman (Wheaton: Crossway, 2015). More information and reviews available here.
Mastering Christianity: missionary Anglicanism and slavery in the Atlantic world, by Travis Glasson (New York; Oxford: Oxford University Press, c2012). More information and reviews available here.
Medieval anchorites in their communities, edited by Cate Gunn and Liz Herbert McAvoy (Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 2017). More information available here.
The Oxford history of Anglicanism: vol. V (Global Anglicanism, c.1910-2000), edited by William L. Sachs (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018). More information available here.
A parson in wartime: the Boston diary of the Reverend Arthur Hopkins, 1942-1945, edited by Patricia and Robert Malcolmson, with Ann Stephenson (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2017). More information available here.
Reading the Bible in the Middle Ages, edited by Jinty Nelson and Damien Kempf (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2015). More information and reviews available here.
Thomas Aquinas: a historical and philosophical profile, by Pasquale Porro (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2016). More information and reviews available here.
Witchcraft, the devil, and emotions in early modern England, by Charlotte-Rose Millar (Abingdon: Routledge, 2017). More information and reviews available here.

For more regular updates on new accessions to the library, please follow us on Facebook.

Upcoming events

Dr David Starkey: ‘Henry VIII and Luther: A Reappraisal’

Tuesday 6 February, 5.15pm (admittance not before 4.45pm)

David Starkey is the author of important books on Henry VIII and the Tudor court and is well known as a regular contributor to both radio and television. In association with the University of London seminar on the Religious History of Britain 1500-1800. All are welcome, but those wishing to attend should book a free ticket at www.davidstarkeylambeth.eventbrite.co.uk, or email juliette.boyd@churchofengland.org not later than Friday 2 February.

An evening with the Library’s conservators, with an opportunity to view the conservation studio and discuss techniques and treatments with the Library’s conservation staff

Thursday 19 April, 6pm-7.30pm (admittance not before 5.45pm)

Tickets £15 per head (£10 for Friends of Lambeth Palace Library), to include a glass of wine. Numbers will be limited. Please note that the conservation studio is reached by a medieval spiral staircase. Friends and guests are welcome, but please book in advance with Juliette Boyd, Lambeth Palace Library, juliette.boyd@churchofengland.org or telephone 020 7898 1400, not later than Friday 13 April.

News from the Archives

Newly-catalogued collections include papers of Derrick Sherwin Bailey (1910-84) [MSS 5124-5126], a clergyman who served on the Church of England Moral Welfare Council, dealing with issues of sexual ethics. He gave evidence to the Wolfenden Committee for its report on homosexuality, published in 1957. The material complements existing collections, including records of the Moral Welfare Council at the Church of England Record Centre.

The Library also received the kind gift of an impression of the Vicar General’s seal, belonging to Archbishop Laud, recovered in digging the foundations of London Bridge in 1827, and presented by Viscount Melville to Archbishop Howley in 1830. It was formerly owned by Walter Money, the noted historian, antiquarian and archaeologist.

The Friends of the Library purchased an unpublished treatise dating from c.1660 by an unnamed female writer [MS 5121] and a manuscript of three tracts from George Morley (d. 1684), Bishop of Worcester [MS 5122]. The Friends are also funding a further project to enhance catalogue descriptions to the records of the Court of Arches.

Further blog posts included information on the archive of P arish and People relating to movements for change in the 20th-century Church. The archive of the Council on Foreign Relations featured in the Church Times. The Library was used for filming for David Starkey’s ‘Reformation: Europe’s Holy War’. The Church of South India marked its 70th anniversary; the Library holds records relating to its inception in 1947. Events of interest to Library users include the Reformation London symposium and an exhibition at Fulham Palace, former home of the Bishops of London. Other useful resources, complementing sources in the Library relating to the Great War, include a digitised index of army chaplains from 1914-18 at the Museum of Army Chaplaincy.

Uncovering the history of books in the Sion College collection

The Sion College Library collection is more discoverable than ever before as we have continued to add records to our online catalogue. Along the way we are gaining some fascinating insights into the histories of some of the books in the collection. Interesting discoveries of monastic books have recently been made, including an edition of Giuseppe Simone Assemani’s (1687-1768) Kalendaria ecclesiae universae (A82.0/AS7), which was printed in Rome in 1755. Originally intended as a twelve-volume set, only six volumes were produced which were translated from Latin into Greek. The text examines the Church calendar and Slavic Christian Saints, but the provenance of this copy is particularly intriguing. Woodcut armorial bookplates appear on the endpapers of each volume along with a red armorial ink stamp on the half-title pages, evidence that the book once belonged to Kloster Muri (“Monasterii Murensis”), a Benedictine Cloister located near Muri in Aargau, Switzerland, that was abolished in 1841. From here it appears to have travelled to the nearby Aargauische Kantonsbibliothek (indicated by the red stamp), eventually forming part of Sion College’s holdings.

Provenance of a more domestic nature appears in a collection of Lent-sermons, Quadriga salutis. Two early 18^th century inscriptions were left by William Baker marking the birth of two of his children, who were named after their parents, Mary and William. It is not uncommon for significant family events to be found recorded in this way within a family Bible or on the flyleaves of another treasured book. They provide a useful document through which we can build an intimate picture of different households, charting their expansion and their unfortunate contraction following the passing of relatives. In this instance they also give us a charming insight into the possible accents and pronunciations used by the individuals, some of the text here being written out phonetically:

“Mary Douglas of William and his wife, bourn ys th. 12th dey of Jan:ry helf anower before 12 of ye clock mid time a day” (A67.3a/C24 08,).

“No[vem]b[e]r 15th 1717 Will son of Will Baker and Mary his wife was bourne at 3 of ye clock in ye morning” (A67.3a/C24 19).

Robert Beverley Jr. (ca. 1667-1722) was an historian of early colonial Virginia, as well as a planter and political figure. His most notable work is his History and Present State of Virginia, published originally in London in 1705, which documents the history of early life in the colony. This French translation held in the Sion collection was printed in Amsterdam in 1707 and is an unmatched source for the Virginia of its time with sections on Native Americans, politics, flora, fauna, and agriculture (B81.10/V81B). The book also has a noble provenance, containing the bookplate of Ludwig Rudolph (1671-1735), Duke of Braunschweig-Lüneburg and Prince of Wolfenbüttel.

Other significant owners are also coming to light as we explore the Sion collection. A recent exciting find was the armorial binding of the Royalist Sir Nicholas Crisp (1599?-1666), with his gilt stamped arms appearing on Saint Thomas Aquinas’ Diui Thomae Aquinatis doctoris angelici Opera omnia (A51.2/Aq5).

The stamp was added to the Sion Provenance Project and we were subsequently contacted by the British Armorial Bindings Database, who informed us that is was as yet unrecorded. We are now contributing data relating to other stamps that have been identified, helping to update and extend the information already in the database.

Help us to uncover history on our Sion Provenance Project!

The Sion Provenance Project continues to grow with more material being added which you can peruse or you can offer us much appreciated help by having a go at deciphering inscriptions or identifying former owners of some of the Sion volumes. Perhaps over the Christmas period you might want to have a go?! We’d love to hear your comments and suggestions and we would be especially grateful if you could help us spread the word about the project and get more people involved!

New books!

Magazines and journals

Upcoming events

Dr Nicholas Fisher: ‘Bishop Symon Patrick (1626-1707) – unsung hero of the Restoration Church of England’.

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

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

Wednesday 27 May (further details to follow)

Professor Alan Nelson (University of California, Berkeley): ‘The Books of Henry Bradshawe, nephew of the regicide’.

Tuesday 2 June, 5:30pm (admittance not before 5pm)

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)

New Library update

2020 Getting ready to move!

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

Archive news

Newly catalogued items

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Merry Christmas from the Library and Record Centre!

New books

Magazines and journals

Upcoming events

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

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

The Books of Henry Bradshawe, nephew of the regicide

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’

New Library update

Archive news

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

Share :

New books!

Magazines and journals

Upcoming events

‘Wanting more and wanting better’

‘William Holcot’s books: recantation and repentance in Reformation England’

Christmas reception for the Friends of Lambeth Palace Library and their guests

New Library update

Lambeth Local History Fair

Archive news

In the Conservation studio

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Happy Christmas from all the staff at Lambeth Palace Library and the Church of England Record Centre!

Library Advent Calendar!

This month’s new books!

Upcoming events

Dr David Starkey: ‘Henry VIII and Luther: A Reappraisal’

Tuesday 6 February, 5.15pm (admittance not before 4.45pm)

An evening with the Library’s conservators, with an opportunity to view the conservation studio and discuss techniques and treatments with the Library’s conservation staff

Thursday 19 April, 6pm-7.30pm (admittance not before 5.45pm)

News from the Archives

Uncovering the history of books in the Sion College collection

Help us to uncover history on our Sion Provenance Project!

Share :

Merry Christmas from
the Library and Record Centre!