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New Librarian announced
We are delighted to announce that Julianne Simpson will be our new Librarian from May 2024, taking on responsibility for the strategic development and day-to-day management of the organisation....
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Humphrey Chetham’s Dinner
There have been no verses addressed to our eponymous founder this century, we believe, until now. Volunteer and friend of the Library Kath Rigby sets that right: Humphrey Chetham’s Dinner What was for...
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Chetham’s Librarians: Lives and Legacies
All good things must, as the saying goes, come to an end. This is sadly true of our recent exhibition, A Woman’s Write, which has been running since last summer; in that time, we’ve explored the...
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Richard Johnson, the First Librarian: No Surplus Surplice?
Richard Johnson is said to have been Chetham’s very first librarian, but his back story and relationship with Humphrey Chetham is better documented than his time in that post. His life spanned the...
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Robert Thyer: Sophistication and Simplicity
Thyer was Chetham’s 9th librarian, its first layman and up to that point its longest serving incumbent; he held the post for over 30 years from 1732 to 1763. He was a Manchester man, the son of a silk...
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Thomas Jones: Chetham’s Greatest Librarian
As we continue our journey through the lives of Chetham’s Librarians, one name stands out above all others: that of Thomas Jones, a man with a reasonable claim to the title of ‘Chetham’s greatest...
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Chetham’s Library Hosts the Transnational Early Modern Book Conference
On 29th May, Chetham’s Library hosted the second day of the Transnational Early Modern Book Conference. Organised by postgraduate researchers Seren Morgan-Roberts and Ellen Werner, the conference...
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Tinkler, Tailor, Librarian, Thief
For as long as there have been libraries, there have been people willing to steal from them; and as a result, book-owners have always taken measures to prevent theft. From the ancient world into the...
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Harmonia Ruralis or an essay towards a Natural History of British Song Birds
Birds and bindings More than twenty years ago, in the dark and dusty underground reference stacks of Manchester Central Library, I first came across the two volumes of James Bolton’s illustrated book,...
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A Royal Tudor Bed and a Northern Rogue
Visitors to Manchester have the rare opportunity to see the original marriage bed made for Henry VII (the first Tudor King) and Elizabeth of York, as well as an infamous forgery, this summer. This new...
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