New book shines light on seventeenth-century collections

Manuscripts and Special Collections was excited to host the launch of a new book, ‘Change and Continuity in Seventeenth-century Nottinghamshire’ by Dr Peter Seddon,  last week. Attendees had the chance to hear Dr Seddon discuss his work and to purchase a copy, but in a unique twist, they also had the opportunity to view some …

The phoenix in early modern print woodcuts

This blog post was written by our Special Collections Librarian in the course of her work on an upcoming exhibition at the Old Rectory Museum, Loughborough, where facsimiles of books from the Loughborough Parish Library collection will be displayed. The early Christian writer St Isidore of Seville described the phoenix in his Etymologies: ‘The phoenix …

Mysteries of the Forest

Sherwood Forest has deep roots in Nottinghamshire’s history, folklore and culture: there is perhaps no other place which is so emblematic of the county. We are fortunate enough to hold several records about this remarkable area – including a collection of two manuscript volumes featuring copies of statutes, ordinances and extracts from the forest courts. …

Marginalia in a Medical Manuscript

This is a guest post by Tabitha Gresty, who volunteered at Manuscripts and Special Collections between April and September 2023, cataloguing medicinal herbs and their uses in remedies from material held here at Manuscripts and Special Collections. Since working on the Early Modern Recipes Research project, I have been constantly amazed by the breadth of …