As we edge towards Christmas Helen O’Neill, our Archive, Heritage and Development Librarian, takes a peek at Christmas advertisements in 1914 and looks at the depiction of the Christmas Truce both today and 100 years ago. In the five days preceding 12 December 1914 the Post Office reported that 250,000 parcels had been sent to…
Beyond the sparkle, glitz and John Lewis adverts that saturate the nation’s sensibilities during the ‘festive’ period, The London Library’s fifteen miles of shelving offer a glimpse into the more forgotten, obscure customs and ideas surrounding the theme of Good Will. As well as Christmas with Rumpole, Poirot, and Nancy Mitford nestled in the Literature…
Archive Advent Calendar: 10 December 2013 I promised something “dark and racy” yesterday to wash down our Beeton’s Christmas pudding and here it is. The brewer and philanthropist Edward Cecil Guinness (1847-1927) appears in the Library’s membership records in 1879 when he was the owner of the second largest brewery in the world. An astonishing…
Introduction Join us for an archival countdown to Christmas as Helen O’Neill, Archive Heritage and Development Librarian treats us every week-day between now and Christmas Eve to a small tasty nugget from the archive… An archival countdown to Christmas… 9 December 2013 Over the next three weeks join me for an advent calendar with a…
A very early London Library blog post explored the Library’s 1890’s stacks (or ‘back stacks’ as they affectionately known!). Home to our Science & Miscellaneous, History and Topography collections, the clanking floors, unusual architecture and magical atmosphere certainly create one of the most intriguing spaces in the Library. The Science & Miscellaneous collection is particularly…
The final installment for 2011 from our new intake of Graduate Trainees… After a busy November, settling in to the Library, learning to navigate the collections and looking ahead to the next step on the Librarian career ladder, our trainees are certainly deserving of a restful Christmas break. Here, Alice looks to the wonderful Science…
With fewer than 3 weeks until Christmas – how on earth has it arrived so swiftly? – we’re sure we’re not the only ones having a last-minute panic about certain people who are hard to buy for! While we won’t ordinarily be using the blog to talk about things we have for sale, we thought…
Whether we like it or not, the festive season will soon be upon us! But amid the commercial frenzy of gifts and baubles, one of the gentler and more literary Christmas customs endures among die-hard traditionalists: writing and sending seasonal cards. The London Library has issued its own Christmas card since 1986, and in recent…