by Rhian Waller | Tuesday, 22nd January 2019
In this regular series, library staff ‘spotlight’ a single item, or a set of items, from the thousands of print and archive items held in the collections here at Gladstone’s Library. Read on and discover more about the items on our shelves…
by Rhian Waller | Monday, 26th November 2018
You know that moment, when you really should be hard at work. When you really should be reading your way through a particularly dense chapter that is connected to the subject of your next book, with loads of footnotes and references which you have to laboriously work your way through, holding down the page number, consulting the back of the (heavy) book, with the name of the author, the publisher, the date of publication, and let’s face it, all the boring information you need. And your neck begins to ache, and you think you really must stretch your legs, at least stand up and take a turn along the shelves where the grass suddenly seems greener, and the books seem far more glamorous and fascinating. And so you do...
by Rhian Waller | Thursday, 18th October 2018
The month of Halloween is in full flow; the nights draw closer, the mornings mistier, and that black cat at the end of the street grows ever more ominous each time you pass. So, as every fancy dress lover’s favourite day of the year looms over us like a pumpkin-shaped apparition, there has never been a more appropriate time to look into the spookier side of our collections here at Gladstone’s Library…
by Rhian Waller | Thursday, 13th September 2018
You may have been on one of our Glimpses (our short tours of the library) before but, I promise you, you haven’t been told about these books yet!
by Rhian Waller | Friday, 08th June 2018
Upon hearing the phrase Gray’s Anatomy, images may come to mind of the popular American TV series set in a Seattle hospital; however a much different medium bears the origin of this name. Within William Gladstone's own collection there exists a 3rd edition copy of Gray’s Anatomy. Not as some might suspect, a novelised version of the TV series, but rather a complete 'descriptive and surgical' look at anatomy.
by Rhian Waller | Friday, 20th April 2018
21st April is World Curlew Day, the first annual international event with the aim of raising awareness of the Curlew, one of the most recognisable of wading birds (numenius arquata). According to the RSPB, there are 66,000 breeding pairs in the UK, with 140,000 individual curlews wintering on our shores and estuaries each year.
by Rhian Waller | Friday, 30th March 2018
Here at Gladstone’s Library is where, alongside other collections, the personal collection of William Gladstone himself can be found. A collection that the public can come to peruse and enjoy at their own leisure in such a wonderful setting.
by Rhian Waller | Monday, 05th February 2018
To celebrate International Women’s Day today, our archivist Dawn Ridding draws our attention to her favourite, and less well-known member of the Gladstone family, Catherine Gladstone, wife of Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone for 59 years, until his death in 1898.
by Rhian Waller | Thursday, 18th January 2018
Library Intern Katie Ruffley has curated this month's display which is on W.E. Gladstone's habit of marginalia, or writing in books. In this blog, Katie discusses some of the difficulties faced when trying to create a display about books – as well as the contentiousness of whether to write, or not to write, in the margins...
by Rhian Waller | Friday, 15th December 2017
Gifting the perfect book to a person is one of the great joys of life; creating a perfect partnership which you can just feel in your bones will last.
With that in mind and as a little Christmas treat, the Gladstone's Library team have gathered together some of our books of the year and reading recommends perfect for stockings. If you are still looking for that perfect gift for someone special, we hope you can find inspiration within this guide!
by Rhian Waller | Wednesday, 08th November 2017
Every month the library team curates a new display for visitors and everyone who uses the library, highlighting the many wonderful collections we have on our shelves. This month, Intern Elspeth Brodie-Browne has put together an exhibit on one of the great figures of the French Revolutionary period, who died 200 years ago…
by Rhian Waller | Tuesday, 24th October 2017
History is littered with bitter rivalries - Sparta and Athens, Lancaster and York, Tom and Jerry. But in recent centuries few have come close to matching the antagonism and divergence in styles that existed between two of Britain’s most significant leaders of the Victorian period, William Gladstone and Benjamin Disraeli. And what better way to learn about their rivalry than with the aid of every history student’s favourite source, (mostly because it beats sifting through mountains of unrelated papers), the satirical cartoon.
by Rhian Waller | Thursday, 19th October 2017
I know what you're thinking, the title ‘Class mark K’ is pretty vague, but I just didn’t know how else to describe this magical corner of the Annex, where I lost a good hour of my day because of the sheer number of books that I just wanted to delve into...
by Rhian Waller | Monday, 27th February 2017
The Closed Access section of the Reading Rooms contains some of the Library’s oldest and rarest literary works and collections. It includes about 15 Incunabula, texts printed between 1450 and 1501, as well as a collection of books once owned by the Glynne family, of whom Catherine, William Gladstone’s wife, was a member.
One of the books housed in Closed Access is Samuel Wesley’s The Life of our blessed Lord & Saviour. An Heroic Poem.
by Rhian Waller | Friday, 07th October 2016
Our founder, William Ewart Gladstone, was not the only famous figure connected to Flintshire. Thomas Pennant, a famous polymath, naturalist and traveller of the Eighteenth Century, was born and lived in Flintshire.
by Rhian Waller | Friday, 01st July 2016
A Reading List for Gladstone’s Library.
Bloody Mary, The Life of Mary Tudor - Carolly Erickson (1996)
This biography contains information not only on the early life and the short but ruthless reign of Mary I, but the political manoeuvring which took place after the death of Edward V on 16th July 1553, when, on his deathbed, he named Lady Jane Grey as his successor, despite his father’s Third Act of Succession. This left both of Henry VIII’s daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, without a legal claim.
The book details how Mary then raised an army to take the throne for herself and the turning of the Council of Lords on Jane and John Dudley.
*Available in Gladstone's Library at shelfmark M 27 M1 / 12
by Rhian Waller | Friday, 01st July 2016
A ‘dictator’ is defined as ‘a person exercising absolute power, especially a ruler who has absolute, unrestricted control in a government without hereditary succession’ (www.dictionary.com).
During the 20th century, Europe experienced some of the most manipulative and cunning dictators in history, including Mussolini, Hitler and Stalin. Below are a series of reading lists relating to this topic, to some of the most brutal dictators Europe has known.
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by Rhian Waller | Wednesday, 18th November 2015
14th – 22nd November is national Explore Your Archive week, an initiative conceived by The National Archives and The Archives and Records Association aiming to showcase archives and tell amazing stories. To tie in with this, we‘ve decided to delve into our own archival collections and do some exploring of our own…
by Rhian Waller | Friday, 10th July 2015
Work Experience student Matthew Grubbe explores the topic of Racism using books from the Gladstone's Library collection.
by Rhian Waller | Friday, 10th July 2015
Work Experience student Tesni Jones looks at Russian literature from the Soviet period.
by Rhian Waller | Friday, 10th July 2015
Work Experience student Danielle Povey puts together a Reading List exploring the expression of the Islamic faith through a selection of books from the Gladstone's Library collection.
by Rhian Waller | Tuesday, 09th June 2015
by Rhian Waller | Friday, 20th September 2013
Vanessa Gebbie, Writer-in-Residence at Gladstone's Library, explains how in finding a seat in which to work she found inspiration.
by Rhian Waller | Tuesday, 06th August 2013
You never know what you might discover when looking through the shelves of Gladstones Library. In the room which contains the whole collection of the books Gladstone originally donated over 30,000 v
by Rhian Waller | Wednesday, 10th July 2013
The title is certainly intriguing. Intriguing too is the fact that Gladstone clearly read this autobiography (the author remains anonymous) carefully, as attested by his many pencil written annotations.
by Rhian Waller | Monday, 10th June 2013
Gladstones Library is certainly not short of history books, especially when it comes to the Victorian era. However, history is inevitably the view of the past that someone holds which causes their vie
by Rhian Waller | Monday, 03rd June 2013
The range of subjects Gladstone was interested in never ceases to astonish me. Whilst in Gladstones Library, I recently stumbled upon a little thin book with an unusual cover three horizontal bands
