2017 – Collections – Special Collections

Finding one of the oldest examples of printing in Britain: the story of the Caxton leaf

Written by Erika Delbecque, UMASCS Librarian, as part of the 2017 Being Human festival: Lost and Found. The leaf on my desk was stained, torn in places, and fairly unremarkable. Unlike […]

Archive Animals- Ducks

Written by Bethan Davies, Trainee Liaison Librarian. After a special visit from our friend Hodor from Reading University Library, we decided to take a deeper look at our duck related […]

New exhibition: From Italy to Britain: Winckelmann and the spread of neoclassical taste

Although Johann Joachim Winckelmann may not be a household name today, his influence on British art, design, and architecture was profound. Our new exhibition, ‘From Italy to Britain: Winckelmann and […]

#ReadaBookDay – Our top suggestions!

In celebration of #ReadABookDay, members of staff at The MERL and Special Collections have been sharing their favourite books from within our collection on Twitter. This blog post looks in […]

Ladybird: Art from the Auction House

Clare Plascow (Collections Officer) describes her exciting auction experience, a rare opportunity to see examples of John Berry’s work for Ladybird during MERL’s extended hours tonight… and her love for kippers… […]

Recently Acquired Ladybird Artwork- Extended Hours Exhibition

Don’t miss this special opportunity to view our recently acquired additions to our Ladybird Archive! Thanks to our partnership with Ladybird Books Ltd, Special Collections will be displaying a total […]

Brian Aldiss (1925-2017)

We were sad to hear that Brian Aldiss (born 1925), one of Britain’s most notable writers of science fiction, passed away earlier this week. Author of the Helliconia trilogy, one of Aldiss’ […]

Wonderful Wizard of Oz

The Sainsbury Singers are performing The Wizard of Oz from 17th – 20th May 2017 at the Hexagon, Reading. They visited us here at Special Collections a few weeks ago […]

Recent acquisition: a 1908 fine printed edition of ‘The Romaunt of the Rose’

Written by Fiona Melhuish (UMASCS Librarian) One of the most significant additions to our rare book collections in recent years has been a copy of a 1908 edition of The […]

The ‘New Women’: women writers of the 1890s

Written by Fiona Melhuish, UMASCS Librarian The art and literature of the 1890s is one of the strengths of the University’s Special Collections. However, although these holdings, along with the […]