by Gladstones Library | Friday, 25th March 2016

One of the Library’s most popular events returns with a democratic twist for 2016. Our Museums at Night events have seen us drink tea with Alice, ascend to poetic heights, wallow in the Gothic and shake hands with the Victorians. This year, to celebrate our first DemFest, we’re offering you to share your favourite political moments with the audience in our magnificent Reading Rooms. It’s rare that we allow talking in there so grasp this moment!

by Gladstones Library | Tuesday, 22nd March 2016

I despair increasingly of the democratising potential of Twitter. But it has achieved one good thing for me: it’s where I first heard about Gladstone’s Library.

by Gladstones Library | Monday, 21st March 2016

I first heard about Gladstone’s Library in 2011 when I picked up a leaflet at the Hay Festival. I am a huge fan of William Gladstone, a Prime Minister who, for all his failings, really tried to improve the lot of ordinary people. So I was delighted to discover his library existed, and furthermore that it was possible to stay there. I was in the midst of writing my novel Echo Hall at the time and the idea of a writing retreat at Hawarden was very tempting. But, it’s a long way from Oxford and being a busy working parent it wasn’t until 2013 that I finally managed to make the trip.

by Gladstones Library | Friday, 18th March 2016

Welcome to a new series on the Volume blog, What We're Reading, in which members of the Library team divulge their current reads and what they think of them. This week, it's my turn: Kirsten-Rose Brooks, one of the three library interns, avid reader and aspiring writer. 

by Gladstones Library | Friday, 18th March 2016

As part of a seminar on Book Illustration organised by the Association of Independent Libraries, our very own Library Assistant Gary Butler gives a paper on the visualisation of science in nineteenth century literature at The Leeds Library on Friday, 15th April.

by Gladstones Library | Wednesday, 16th March 2016

If you are lucky enough to stay at Gladstone’s Library for a whole month, and I was, it is almost inevitable that, by the end of your stay, there will be things that get left behind and other things you will take away. I could get metaphysical about leaving behind a month of my life that had now become the past but, instead, I’ll tell you about the washing I left. Now is not the time for intimate detail but you’ll be relieved to know the washing was clean and had been left hanging on a rack. I was soon reunited with it when it arrived in the post neatly parcelled up as a kind of living proof that my stay at the Library hadn’t all been a dream…(cue wavy images, floaty music…). 

by Gladstones Library | Friday, 11th March 2016

Dear W.E.G.,

Let me introduce myself: I'm Mary, the greenest Intern in Gladstone's Library, having begun 10 days ago. You may remember me from the 2am chat I had with you on the eve of my interview, when nerves stopped me sleeping and your portrait kept side-eyeing me. As I learn more about this place, I feel I'm getting to know you; let me reciprocate, then, by telling you about my first week here.

by Gladstones Library | Friday, 11th March 2016

How important is the relationship between art and religious belief? At the beginning of April we welcome Debbie Lewer of the University of Glasgow to the Library, to deliver a fascinating course on the connections between the two.

by Gladstones Library | Thursday, 10th March 2016

Gladstone’s Library runs an extensive and varied selection of residential courses each year. For periods ranging from overnight stays to week-long residencies, we invite you to retreat from the hustle and bustle and routine of everyday life and stay with us to find inspiration and contemplation.