Birds of America: Flights of Fancy
May 5, 2021
There are only 120 copies of Audubon’s ‘Birds of America’ known to survive, the vast majority in university or other public libraries. Different editions occupy multiple places in top 10 lists of the most expensive books ever sold. The 4th Duke of Portland, whose archive we hold, owned a complete copy of the first edition, …
Forestry and Photography
April 22, 2021
In the 11th century, Sherwood Forest covered 20% to 25% of Nottinghamshire and after the Norman invasion of 1066, was designated a Royal Forest and hunting ground. Charles I (1600-1649) was the last monarch to hunt there, and by the 18th century, large swathes had been gifted or sold to aristocratic families. Amongst those noblemen …
Microscopy
September 11, 2020
Post by Ursula Ackrill, Special Collections Librarian. “It seemed to me,” said Swammer, coming close to Peregrine, “it seemed to me, my dear Mr. Tyss, as if a flea were on your collar.” Peregrine Tyss, the protagonist of E. T. A. Hoffmann’s humorous fantasy novel ‘Master Flea’ (1822), does keep the company of a friendly …
Homage to the Arboreal World
March 27, 2020
Trees have long been of significant importance to the human species. Our relationship with trees began with their ability to satisfy neolithic needs such as shelter and nutrients, which progressively shifted towards trees’ later central contribution to the evolution of agriculture and machinery. Indeed, major socio-economic changes over the 15th to 18th Centuries saw the …
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