New blog alert! 🔔 A flock of doodled chickens in a 16th-century Bible offers a surprisingly personal glimpse into life in early modern England 🐔 This blog explores how readers’ marks turn books into windows onto the past💡
🔗Read more on our blog: library.chethams.com/blog/births-...
Muslims in the Medieval European Imagination with Saaleha Iqbal 📚 A free talk on how Europeans perceived and depicted Muslims in texts from the 12th century.
📆 12 June, 6pm🔗 Book here: library.chethams.com/whats-on/muslims-in-the-medieval-european-imagination-with-saaleha-iqbal/
A poster featuring a painted portrait of Humphrey Chetham wearing a decorative cap and ruff collar. Overlaid text reads “Humphrey Chetham made Clayton Hall his home,” with additional text explaining he lived at Clayton Hall and died there in 1653, and that his legacy continues across Greater Manchester. The Clayton Hall Living History Museum logo and website appear at the bottom right.
Clayton Hall is closely tied to Humphrey Chetham, one of the most important figures in Manchester’s history. His legacy through @chethamslibrary.bsky.social and Chetham's School would go on to shape the city in lasting ways.
📚 Lost, Found… and stuffed up a chimney?!
In the 1800s, Librarian John Taylor Allen made an astonishing discovery: Humphrey Chetham’s private papers, hidden up his chimney and nearly lost forever.
🔍 Discover our new exhibition on our blog: library.chethams.com/blog/lost-and-found-in-the-library
The Afterlives of John Dee's Books ✨ Five surviving volumes from the library of John Dee, once part of the largest private collection in Elizabethan England, are now held at Chetham’s Library.
Discover the afterlives of John Dee's books in our blog ➡️ library.chethams.com/blog/the-aft...
New blog alert! 🔔 William Harrison Ainsworth imagined a dramatic story set in the very Library he knew as a teenager.
👉 Our latest blog explores how Ainsworth blended Manchester history with Gothic imagination, turning Chetham's Library into a magical setting 🔮
🔗 Read here: tinyurl.com/2fzeapvj
#WorldBookDay is this week on 5 March! 📚 To celebrate we asked our Library team what their favourite books in the collection are, and the answers were very varied 😲
Let us know your favourite books in our collection in the replies ⬇️
We have an exciting free talk coming up next week in partnership with Gorton Library 📣
Join Claire Robinson for a whistlestop history of Belle Vue and see items from our Belle Vue archive! 🎡🎪
📆 Gorton Library, 4 March, 5:30pm
🎟️ Book tickets here: library.chethams.com/whats-on/historycomesalive
Today would be the 199th birthday of Lydia Becker 🎉 A key leader in the fight for women's suffrage, she made Manchester a centre for the movement and arranged for the first woman to vote!
👉 Find out more: library.chethams.com/blog/bright-hopes-for-suffrage-lydia-becker-and-the-struggle-for-democracy
Thank you for the shoutout! ❤️
Vacancy alert! 📣
We have the exciting opportunity for a Development Officer to join our ambitious Development Team to support fundraising, donor stewardship, cultivation and events.
👉 To find out more, check out our website: library.chethams.com/about/job-vacancies
New blog alert! 🔔 Who owned our 1664 Third Folio of Shakespeare? This remarkable volume carries centuries of history inside its covers, but it’s the readers’ marks that truly bring it to life.
Read here 👉 library.chethams.com/blog/shakespeares-third-folio-early-readers-and-their-marginalia
We're taking part in National Lottery Open Week! 📣 Join us for a free open day to celebrate the launch of our ‘Lost and Found’ exhibition 🫶
📆 14 March, 1pm-4pm
🎟️ Check out our website for more information: library.chethams.com/whats-on/national-lottery-open-day
We are Chetham's Library, the oldest public Library in the UK 📚
👉 Follow us here for news, history and interesting stories from our collection!
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New blog alert! 🔔 This blog traces Dr John Dee’s lifelong fascination with the alchemical arts and explores how early chemistry, magic, medicine and experimentation converged in the mind of one of Tudor England’s most intriguing figures.🔮✨
👉 Read here: library.chethams.com/blog/john-dee-and-alchemy
