Grants awarded in 2019

In November 2019 Warwickshire County Record Offic

This collection was formerly owned by Maureen and Monty Baker-Munton.  Maureen had been PA to Daphne’s husband, “Boy” Browning during the Second World War and continued to wo

A newly discovered book from the library of the Cambridge scholar and bibliophile Gabriel Harvey (1552/3–1631), extensively and engagingly annotated throughout, has recently been

Dorset History Centre is extremely grateful for the assistance provided by the Friends of the National Libraries in the purchase of paper and photographic records rel

This image of Brunel, in front of the giant chains used to control the launch of the massive SS Great Eastern, was to become one of the most important photographic images of the e

This album is a unique 'visitors' book' compiled by Percy and Mary Bate between 1903 and 1948, and contains 109 silhouettes of their friends and acquaintances hand-cut from black

A generous grant from the Friends of the National Libraries has supported the acquisition of a rare edition of Euclid’s Elements that quite literally stands out from othe

In March 2020 the Britten-Pears Arts purchased the Archive of Lennox Berkeley Papers to form part of the Britten Pears Archive held at the

In 2019 the Armitt Museum and Library was able, through the generosity of the Friends of the National Libraries, to purchase a fasc

The Trustees of the Cowper and Newton Museum learnt of the sale of this important letter just weeks before the auction.

The Royal College of Music has a very close link to Sir Hubert Parry.  He was appointed to teach at the college at its foundation

On 21 November 2019, with generous assistance from the Friends of the National Libraries, the National Library of Wales purchased at auction a small group of letters of the

In 2019 the Kent History and Library Centre was awarded a grant to acquire two contrasting items.

Grant of the manor of Smewyns, White Waltham, Berkshire, to John Norreys of Bray, 1558. 

In 2015-2016 Northumberland Archives (then under the management of Woodhorn Charitable Trust) raised £186,000 to purchase an important archive – the records of Dickson, Archer &am

Winchester has a special connection with John Keats, who spent two months in the city in the summer and autumn of 1819.

Jenny Lane (1835-?) was the eldest daughter of George Lane, a market gardener in Pulborough, Sussex.

Cambridge University Library has acquired this exceptionally rare book of Orthodox liturgy and theology in Old Church Slavonic, thanks to

These three letters from Richard Cobden to François Barthélemy Arlès-Dufour provide an important insight into both Cobden’s political views and his family l

Dorset County Museum (DCM) is extremely grateful for the assistance provided by the Friends of the National Libraries in the purchase of this important series of letters which add

No sooner had we collected John Pattenden’s survey from Stowmarket than we were alerted to

This map shows a sizeable Wealden estate consisting of a substantial yeoman’s house with two barns, agricultural buildings, an extensive orchard in three sections and 180 acres of

In childhood, Charlotte Brontë (1816-1855) and her siblings created a rich imaginary world, sparked by a set of toy soldiers given to Branwell by their father, and ch

On 18th May 2019, a rare copy of the seminal publication Mirskontsa [Worldbackwards] was offered at auction at Nosbüsch & Stucke auction house in Berlin.

George Murray Levick served as surgeon and zoologist on the Terra Nova Expedition led by Robert Falcon Scott which saw Levick spending the austral summer of 1911-12 at Ca

The South West Heritage Trust is grateful for the support of the Friends of the National Libraries which has enabled us to reunite these p

The deed relating to the Sharington family of Lacock Abbey is an important acquisition for the History Centre.  It is now reunited

Somerville College is the home of John Stuart Mill’s London library, comprising around 1,700 volumes belonging to him and his father, James Mill.

The Chippendale Society is extremely grateful for the support of the Friends of the National Libraries, which has enabled it to add a group of previ

Thanks to the generosity of the Friends of National Libraries, the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) was able to obtain a number of drawings relating to the constr

Dr Mark Wormald, Fellow and College Lecturer in English, writes:  In May 2012 I stayed with the British-born Irish expre

In Summer 2019 the Bodleian Libraries completed the acquisition of the archive of the Villiers family, Earls of Clarendon of the secon

A substantial family archive relating to the Glasgow produce broker William Davidson (1861-1945).

Thanks to the support of the Friends of the National Libraries, Glasgow Life was able to purchas

During the final 18 years of his life, Gilbert Goudie (1843-1918), a banker in Edinburgh and native of Shetland, composed a series of autobiographical journals, cover

This worn Penguin paperback provides a fascinating insight into legal and publishing history in this country.  It paved the way for social reform far beyond D. H.

In July 2018, with support from the Friends of the National Libraries, and also from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the Friends of Canterbury Cathedral, and a private

Dr Alexander Lock, Curator of Modern Archives and Manuscripts, writes: John Donne (1572–1631) was one of the most popular poets of the late 16th and early 17th centuries and is considered

Sir Charles Lyell (1797-1875) is one of the most influential scientists of the 19th century and for geology one of the most distinguished and important figures of all

Greenock is often seen as a post-industrial town in decline and is overshadowed by its neighbour, Glasgow.  These acquisitions help us explore the literary and artistic side

Once more Campion Hall in Oxford is indebted to the Friends of the National Libraries, for a full purchase grant which has secured for u

The British Library is grateful to have received the support of the Friends of the National Libraries, with their generous grant towards the purch

The Whitehouse Ruskin Collection. Bought with the aid of a grant of £35,000 from Friends of the National Libraries.

This book arose from a trip the Scottish photographer James Craig Annan (1864-1946) made to northern Italy in 1894, in the company of the artist David Young Cameron.