News

Summer update from the Library and Record Centre

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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:

Magazines and journals

magazinesLambeth 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:

Anglican and Episcopal History
Church Monuments
English Historical Review
Families First
Historical Research
Modern Believing
New Directions
Parliamentary History
The Prayer Book Society Journal
Theology

newspapersWe also receive the following papers and magazines weekly:

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

Upcoming events

Lambeth Palace Garden Open Days with Great Hall entry and exhibition

Every first Friday of the month until September, 12 noon to 3pm
Next Open Day: Friday 2 August 

garden

An opportunity to visit the Palace’s beautiful gardens and see the progress of the new Library building! Refreshments and entertainment are provided in the garden and there will be plants for sale. The 17th century Great Hall will also be open throughout the Open Days, with a chance to view displays of some of the Library’s collections. Do come along and bring your friends and family!

There is an entrance fee of £5, which will go to a chosen charity each month, and there is no need to book.

New Library update

As of July, the Library project remains on time and on budget. The Archbishop topped out the building in May.

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The brickwork is nearing completion and is gradually being revealed as the scaffolding comes down.

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Over the summer and Autumn most of the work is concentrated on the inside of the building as all the mechanical work progresses inside.

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Staff are now heavily involved in planning for the big move of all the archives from the Library and CERC which will be taking place between June to December 2020.

Archive news

Clare Brown awarded The Lanfranc Award for Education and Scholarship

clareThe Library is delighted that Mrs Clare Brown, Archivist, was awarded The Lanfranc Award for Education and Scholarship by Archbishop Welby at the Lambeth Awards 2019, for her work in guiding readers through the archives of the Church of England, and for her exhibitions and scholarly expertise in support of Lambeth Palace Library and three Archbishops of Canterbury. In April, we bid Clare a very long and happy retirement after seventeen years of service at the Library!

Clare’s contribution over the years is too vast to summarise briefly, but we hope to give a sense of her many accomplishments. On joining the Library, Clare completed cataloguing of the papers of Archbishop Ramsey, and then led cataloguing of the Council of Foreign Relations (CFR) archive. She led work on the collaborative projects on the Library’s important collection of Greek manuscripts, with an exhibition in 2006 and the launch of the catalogue in 2016. She contributed to understanding of the Canterbury Archbishops’ Registers alongside work undertaken by the Borthwick Institute on the York Registers. Her knowledge of the history of ecumenical relations contributed to displays for visitors to the Archbishop from other churches, and her extensive knowledge of the collections and of Church of England history have benefited many Library readers and NCIs colleagues over the years. This is evidenced, not least, by the amount of enquiries Clare answered during her time at the Library – almost 3,700!

We will all greatly miss Clare’s incredible knowledge, helpfulness, her willingness to share her expertise with Library readers and colleagues alike, and especially her sense of humour.

Archival collections news

Papers from 1988 have been released for research, including some 500 files from the papers of Archbishop Runcie and further material on Anglican-Roman Catholic relations from the records of ARCIC II. Descriptions can be searched on the Library’s online archives catalogue.

Further newly-catalogued material includes records of the Lambeth Diploma and Vacation Term for Biblical Study, two initiatives founded in the early 20th century to provide theological and scriptural training for women. Library staff are also adding detail to descriptions of various series of news cuttings and photographs relating to Archbishops Benson (cartoon pictured below), Davidson, Lang and Fisher, which complement correspondence and other papers in the main series. Photographs of Lambeth Palace and garden by Sue Snell are also now catalogued.

cartoon

An annotated Bible belonging to John Taylor Smith, Bishop of Sierra Leone, was donated to the Library. The Library also received a set of playing cards produced by the Mothers’ Union.

Watercolours from the Library collections can now been seen on the new Watercolour World website.

watercolour

Recent blog posts have covered a printed work on music from the Sion College collection; a further report on records of the Court of Arches; and a conference on Anglo-Saxon manuscripts.

A digitised version of Herbert Bosham’s life of Thomas Becket incorporating folios from the Library’s MS 5048 detached from the parent manuscript held in Arras is now available.

Bosham

The 100th anniversary of the Church Assembly, predecessor of General Synod, occurs in 2019. Aside from the main archive held at the Church of England Record Centre, there are further voluminous sources in the Library collections.

An edition of the household accounts of Archbishop Laud has been published; the original document is held at the National Archives, but complements sources relating to Laud in the Library collections. Readers may be interested in a Salvation Army blog post on the history of Christianity in China; the Library also holds material on the church in China.

In the Conservation Studio

Earlier in the year, a group of students from the Consortium for the Humanities and the Arts South-East England (CHASE) visited the Library as part of their ‘Material Witness‘ training programme, which examines physical objects in the digital age. The visit was organised by Teresa Lane, PhD student at the Courtauld Institute of Art, who recently completed a six-month CHASE internship working on the Library’s illuminated manuscripts. It gave participants a behind-the-scenes look in the conservation studio and an opportunity to learn about the different approaches and techniques involved in preserving fragile books.

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Lara Artemis, Senior Conservator at the Library, led the sessions on medieval manuscripts, examining their materiality and chemistry, as well as their history and provenance. The group were shown the stunningly illuminated 13th-century Lambeth Apocalypse (MS 209) – one of the Library’s treasures – and looked at the kinds of pigments used by the artists. The students even had a go at mixing pigments and painting their own illuminations on vellum afterwards!

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The photographs above are taken from the Material Witness blog about the student’s visit to Lambeth Palace Library, which gives plenty more fascinating insights into manuscripts and their conservation.

In other news, we continue to make strides in our boxing and preparing the collections for the move. We’ve now completed around 25,000 boxes for vulnerable items in the collection, including completing the job of cleaning, measuring, boxing and organising the vulnerable Sion College Library collections stored in the Blore, one of our Library storerooms.

boxing

Sion College Founder’s Day at Lambeth Palace

Fellows and members of Sion College celebrated its Founder’s Day at Lambeth Palace on Tuesday 9 July. This year’s event included a lecture by Baroness Manningham-Buller, former Director General of MI5, who spoke on the topic of “Intelligence and Ethics”. Evening prayer in the Chapel was followed by a drinks reception in the Great Hall where attendees were able to view an exhibition of some of the newly catalogued items from the Sion College collection, now housed in Lambeth Palace Library. Also on display were books and manuscripts relating to the lecture’s theme, including Reginald Scot’s Discovery of witchcraft (1654) in which the author denounced the prosecution and torture of those accused of witchcraft as un-Christian and irrational, and a 1584 caricature of Thomas Norton, whose ruthless and enthusiastic punishment of English Catholics led to his being nicknamed the “Rackmaster-General”.

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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.

Court of Arches series Eee project report

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The project to complete the recataloguing of Arches series Eee has made good progress, especially in identifying plaintiffs and defendants and in recording names and details of witnesses. Twelve volumes have been completed, covering the years 1713-1780. The total of witness depositions in the online catalogue has risen to 5,512.

Recording the occupations of witnesses (from apothecaries to longbow string makers) has provided a wealth of opportunities for research, along with search terms such as laudanum, tobacco, coffee man, bagnio, clap, French pox, peruke maker, dram shop, dilapidations and divorce.

Amongst cases recently recatalogued is an appeal by Ann Robins against Sir William Wolseley, who, she claimed, had drugged and married her at midnight in Colwich church, Staffordshire, in 1752. Ann protested that she had married John Robins three months previously, but was the marriage register forged? The clergyman caught up in the affair made an anguished confession to his bishop (Frederick Cornwallis, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury), and died in distress soon afterwards.  Ann nevertheless won her case both in the Arches and on further appeal in the Court of Delegates. An equally sensational suit concerned the abduction of Fanny Fust from Bristol in 1787. Fanny was a rich heiress but was mentally disabled. She fell an easy prey to Henry Bowerman, who lured her into his coach with a promise of strawberries and cream, carried her off to Flanders and married her.  Happily the marriage was annulled in the Court of Arches and on appeal in the Court of Delegates. The dramatic potential of both these cases has recently been realised, the Fust case in a stage version to raise disability awareness.

More than 600 references to wills proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, held at the National Archives, have so far been added to the Library’s catalogue.

During December further Arches cases were identified as having been appealed to the Court of Delegates. A total of 371 process books recording proceedings in the Court of Arches, which were sent up to the Court of Delegates on appeal, have now been identified at the National Archives. Details of all of these, including order numbers in the National Archives series DEL 1, have now been added to the Lambeth Palace Library catalogue of archives and manuscripts. A few Arches cases were also identified in other series of the Delegates’ records but for these no process books survive in DEL 1.

Making these connexions between the Arches and the Delegates records is important not only because the Delegates’ records often bring to a conclusion the cases which passed through the Arches, but also because the process books sent to the Delegates often contain copies of Arches documents which no longer survive at Lambeth. A number of such process books were sampled at TNA. It is also likely (although not apparent from the catalogue) that some process books in the Delegates’ archive earlier than 1660 record lost proceedings in the Court of Arches. In addition, the work of connecting the two series of records brought to light innumerable variants in spelling of names and places and frequently corrected mistaken readings in the Houston index of Arches cases.

In the TNA online catalogue many of the entries for process books in DEL 1 (based on primitive data compiled in the early 19th century) contain a note that further description is available in DEL 11/12. These further descriptions were in fact published in Jesse Addams, ‘A catalogue of processes in the registry of the High Court of Delegates, from 1609 to 1823’ (London, 1824). These descriptions are being added to the Lambeth Palace Library catalogue of archives and manuscripts. These descriptions are valuable, often recording the case at first instance in the lower court, making it clear which party first brought the case against the other (whereas in the appeal courts the order of the parties is often confusingly reversed, X versus Y becoming Y versus X, depending on who is the appellant against the initial sentence).

As a small sequel, law reports on Arches cases identifiable in WH Bryson, ‘Miscellaneous reports of cases in the Court of Delegates from 1670 to 1750’ (Richmond, Virginia, 2016) will be added to the LPL catalogue.

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Arches Bbb 1279 (CLAVERING V CLAVERING)

A Helping Hand

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Mary Clayton-Kastenholz has been working as a conservation assistant at Lambeth Palace Library for the past month. Prior to this she volunteered with the printed books team assisting with cataloguing and collections care tasks. In this blog post Mary discusses her work as a conservation assistant.

In addition to assisting with the ongoing boxing and cleaning projects that are preceding the move to the new building, I have been helping to conserve some flat objects from the Church of England Record Centre. Most of these documents are from a series known as ‘chancel plans’; architectural drawings of the front section of churches drafted in the late 19th century, depicting proposed restoration schemes. These documents are an important, active legal record for the Church; in many localities, ownership of certain houses can still come with a formal obligation to care for the local church chancel (‘Chancel repair liability’). It is important for the Record Centre that these documents are accessible, stable, and clean for reader access.

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Starting to clean G.2774 (CERC) with a chemical sponge

To clean these documents, I have used a ‘smoke sponge’, so called because it can be used to remove smoke damage and soot, as well as effectively removing surface dust and dirt. To begin I would first carefully unfold the document, setting aside any other items that may have been stored inside. In the case of the chancel plans, the outer document often contained several pieces of tracing paper illustrating aspects of the proposed 19th century renovations; often these also required surface cleaning. Once unfolded, I would weigh the document in several places, and carefully use the sponge to lift the dirt using a diagonal dabbing motion. Tracing paper, which becomes extremely brittle over time, is only cleaned where dirt is visible, usually on a few outer edges. Dirt on the tracing paper usually sits very loosely on the surface, so it is possible to remove it with almost to no pressure. With the larger paper chancel plans I would clean the whole surface taking care not to disturb any inscriptions in pencil. I was expected to test any other media (ink and water colour) to make sure they are not going to come off. The smoke sponge is made of vulcanised rubber or a synthetic equivalent and is essentially an aerated eraser which can remove any material drafted in graphite.

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Deed 40966 (CERC) before and after cleaning

I then used a Stabler Mars eraser, to carefully rub away any particularly ingrained dirt areas, but only on the edges and at a distance from the media on the page. Once the surface had been cleaned, I used a soft goat’s hair brush to brush away any loose dirt and miniscule pieces of sponge. Both sides of a document are cleaned, and in some cases the reverse sides, before they were rehoused in archival boxes. It is important to note that conservation surface cleaning does not return an item to its original state. The process described only removes surface dirt that is not deeply ingrained. Documents that have been exposed to high humidity often look very similar before and after cleaning, as the dirt sinks in and sets in the paper when it is exposed to moisture.

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ECF/11/4/392 (CERC) before and after cleaning

Once cleaned, the documents are carefully encapsulated in Melinex (archival quality polyester film) which is cut to a size just larger than the document and sealed on three sides. Any pieces of tracing paper that had been folded inside the plan are fully encapsulated, as any handling risks immediately damage to these fragile documents. The encapsulated tracing paper elements are then stored inside the Melinex envelope with the outer plan, so that all the elements that were stored together when they came to the lab are also together when they return.

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G.2774 (CERC) after a full clean

An interesting consequence follows the flattening and encapsulation of documents; when they are returned to the storage facility they take up far more lateral space than when they left. In their new form they are best stored in plan chests or large conservation-grade portfolios rather than in archival boxes. In planning the equipment for the new library, more plan chests and wide shelves are being projected, so that there will be space to store objects that change format as a result of their conservation.

Coming to a Close

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The latest blog post comes from Alexandra Wade (Preservation Project Assistant), who tells us about the conservation work that has been carried out on Lambeth Palace Library’s manuscript collection over the past 18 months.

In May of 2017 I joined the conservation team at Lambeth Palace Library as a Preservation Project Assistant. I was assigned to a specific project to clean and box 590 volumes in the early manuscript sequence; a project funded by the National Manuscript Conservation Trust (NMCT).

“In 2013 a cataloguing project funded by the Library Trustees completed in 2013, prompted a closer look at the collections condition and storage as well as promoted further use of this material. It was decided that a clean and re-boxing program was needed to protect and preserve the collection from environmental and handling damage as well as prepare the material for the move to the new library building in 2020.

MS 466

The binding of MS 466 

The early part of the manuscripts sequence contains a number of volumes from the Augustinian priory of Llantony, and they include such treasures as an Anglo-Saxon glossed psalter from the early 11th century (MS 427). Consequently, they are among the most important part of the holdings and a central resource for those using the Library’s reading room and other public services. They also form the subject of requests for loans to exhibitions, such as MS 306, a collection of 15th/16th century chronicles once owned by the antiquary John Stow, which was lent to Palace Green Library, Durham, for the ‘Magna Carta and the Changing Face of Revolt’ exhibition in 2015.”[1]

The overall focus was to undertake a programme of condition checking, cleaning and protecting.  This started with: a quick survey to identify initial conservation issues, which led on to mechanically dry cleaning each manuscript; whilst collecting any fragments including debris in the gutters; and to create a bespoke phase box.

MS 253

Ingress dirt within MS 253

Most of the collection is parchment which is often very susceptible to moisture. The material can expand in damp conditions rapidly and dramatically and we were keen to avoid this issue. By choosing a dry mechanical cleaning method we were able to remove the dust but add no dry or wet particulates to the original material.  A smoke sponge was used; originally developed for removing fire damage and soot from a wide range of materials; it is now a staple in conservation studios. Preservation Equipment Limited describes it as: “made of either vulcanized natural rubber, or our synthetic latex free material.”[2] The sponge is made with very tightly packed air bubbles throughout. When one puts pressure on the sponge when holding it, it creates a slight vacuum, sucking material and debris up into the sponge. It had a very positive effect on the text, paper and parchment. A decision was made not to take the sponge over the text. The inks used on texts of this age can be unstable and prone to breaking apart under pressure, therefore the sponge was only used on the marginalia and blank areas of the leaves.

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Examples of hakes brushes and smoke sponge used in dry cleaning

To clean the main body of the leaves a hake brush was used. These are: “[f]lat, wide, soft, white goat hair brushes, gentle enough for delicate Japanese papers and tissues. Used for dusting, washing, sizing, mounting, gluing or spreading any thin media.”[3] Although exceptionally soft, these brushes are unable to be taken over red, green, or blue inks as these inks are more unstable than black ink and will lift if disturbed. Cleaning was carried out around these areas. Over time I acquired a selection of other natural hair brushes in different sizes that allowed removal of dust and debris from the guttering and from the folds in the pages.

The library and stores will be moving to a new, purpose-built building in 2020, therefore for the past year the conservation team has been packaging the volumes ready for transportation. To do this in-house a Zund project cutter was purchased which allows templates to be designed to suit our needs. There are two kinds of boxes: four flap and clam shell, which are allocated depending on the depth of the volume.

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The manuscript sequence is now boxed

Using a book measurer, the exact dimensions of every book were taken and using the catalogue as reference, the correct name and item number were confirmed. Boxes are produced flat and then folded before fitting them to the book. We chose not to use a template that would require glue to assemble them but instead used tabs. This reduces the risk of adhesives finding their way onto the books over time and creating a conservation issue in the future.

Whilst undertaking the cleaning items of interest were found in the guttering of the books. Things such as: pressed flowers, finger nails, flies, and loose leaves of other material have all been found in texts. Instead of removing this material it has been kept it in situ, sometimes housed in an acid free paper to protect it if required. The manuscript number is written onto the envelope; should it ever be separated from its original document it can be slipped back into place. In the interest of maintaining the provenance of the item and the text, the additional piece must be re-inserted where it was found.  There has been a push in recent years to examine bindings, and the material that may be trapped in a binding and in the debris in the guttering. Such information may add provenance and understanding to the way the contemporary owners of these books lived, worked, and studied.

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An unlucky fly within the pages of MS 20

The additional finds have been well received by tour groups and MS 573, within which the Islamic Star of David shown below was found, is to be the subject of our Item of Interest blog for this month. The additional finds (dust, pollen, seeds, hairs, friable pigment etc) can be scientifically analysed further to enhance any provenance data or to discover new historical context.

Judgements were made on the condition of the manuscript and in some cases, it was decided to place handling suggestions on the box and on the digital records. Consideration was given to: how secure the manuscript block was, if the manuscript leaves were detaching from the binding, the effectiveness of the binding cover as a protection for the manuscript leaves, specific damage to leaves, evidence of pest damage, and weakening of the binding components (both structurally and materially)-balanced alongside the risk of producing the manuscript to search room readers and for filming. This safeguards the manuscript from poor handling practices and protects the manuscript from stress damage. This first phase of cleaning allowed us to flag materials that may need future conservation in a further phase of work.

BeforeAfter2

An example of damage and the ingress dirt that can accumulate

The project was showcased to students visiting from Camberwell College of Arts and West Dean College, and tour groups from various backgrounds. By being in the studio I have been able to learn from the projects that colleagues are undertaking at the same time, some of which overlap with this project. I have also attended courses and lectures on topics that correspond with the collection and undertake additional research. Being able to handle, inspect, and work on the books provides depth and further understanding to their remote learning. It has been a great pleasure and privilege to be able to work on this project and the experience afforded to me has been invaluable.

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Examples of manuscripts ready to exhibit at a Conservation Evening event

In total we have now cleaned 552 manuscripts and boxed 554.

[1] J. Atkinson, ‘Initial report’, National Manuscripts Conservation Trust, 2016 P. 1

[2] Preservation Equipment Limited, Smoke Sponges [website], 2018, https://www.preservationequipment.com/Catalogue/Cleaning-Products/Sponges-Cloths/Smoke-Sponges (accessed 2/06/2018)

[3] Preservation Equipment Limited, Hake Brushes [website], 2018, https://www.preservationequipment.com/Catalogue/Equipment-Tools/Brushes/Japanese-Brushes/Hake-Brushes (accessed 2/06/2018)

Christmas update from the Library and Record Centre

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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.

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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.

Day 15 MU-PM-16-4-1This month’s new books!

Some highlights from our most recently acquired new books include:

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’

StarkeyTuesday 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)

Conservation workTickets £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.

Moral welfareThe 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.

Vicar General Seal

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 Parish 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.

Parish and people

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.

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Provenance of a more domestic nature appears in a collection of Lent-sermons, Quadriga salutis. Two early 18th 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:

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“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,).

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“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.

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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).

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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!

Screenshot 2017 cropped