Raw Material – Art in Response to the Alan Sillitoe Collection by Paul Harraway
Raw Material: Art in Response to the Alan Sillitoe Collection is a response to the author’s personal library collection bequeathed to Bromley House Library following Sillitoe’s death in 2010. Alan and his wife, the poet Ruth Fainlight, were joint library presidents from 2009-10. More recently Bromley House Library has received further donations of Alan’s work from […]
The Mirror and the Light and Monasticon Anglicanum
Hilary Mantel’s blockbuster The Mirror and the Light, the third novel in the Wolf Hall trilogy, was published in 2020 and won the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction the following year. It charts Thomas Cromwell’s last four years, focusing closely on the dissolution of the monasteries and the sharing out of the spoils among […]
Jane Austen’s Bookshelf at Bromley House Library by Alison Halligan
In 2025 (the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth) Rebecca Romney published a book called “Jane Austen’s Bookshelf: the women writers who shaped a legend” (available to borrow from the library Ca 15328 ). Its focus is 8 popular women writers born in the 18th Century who have since fallen into relative obscurity, leaving Jane […]
Her ‘Poor Imperfect Muse’
Following a very successful and popular talk held at Bromley House in 2023 by Nottingham Women’s History Group (NWHG), Karen Winyard has delved into the archives and carried out more research into Mary Bailey, her life and work which she presented in September 2024 and has kindly provided a very informative research article. Her ‘Poor […]
A Real Life ‘Ripping Yarn’
There are certain books which, once noticed, demand to be taken down from the shelf: one such is ‘Pilkington of Uganda’ by Charles Forbes Harwood-Battersby (1898) George Lawrence Pilkington (born 1865) was a skilled linguist and fervent missionary, equally committed to Christianity and benefits of British colonialism. But it is not his mission which singles […]
Lord Byron at Bromley House
Heather expertly curated our Byron 200 exhibition around the library. If you didn’t get chance to view it we have created a flip book with all the interpretation together for you to browse at your leisure. If your device does not open flip books view a standard PDF version of the exhibition below Byron 200 […]
Tumbledown Dick
In January 2012 the late Queen Elizabeth, by outliving the record-holder, deprived us all of a favourite quiz question ‘Who was the longest-lived British head of state?’ The surprising answer was Richard Cromwell, who held the office for less than a year, following the death of his father, Oliver. Even at the time his reign […]
Byron 200
As part of the Byron200 celebrations, Bromley House is marking Lord Byron’s bicentenary with an exhibition of our special collections relating to the poet. Many of these are unique to Bromley House – most notably, several items from our James Ward collection, a former library member and notable bibliophile. His collection includes his correspondence with […]
Folklore & Fairy tales at Bromley House Library by Louise Hunter
The library’s display of books of folk and fairy tales is timed to coincide with colder, darker evenings, when some of us like to make ourselves cosy by the (metaphorical or real) fire, shut out the winter coldness and escape into a good tale. Despite their reputation and frequent use to entertain children today, what […]
Standfast Library Book Found in Canada!
By Katie Ott We recently received an enquiry from Haley, a student researcher at Queen’s University, Ontario. Haley had come across a 1587 edition of William Camden’s Britannia with a handwritten inscription noting that it had come from the Standfast Library. Having researched the Standfast Library, she contacted us to see if we could shed […]
Marvellous Manuscripts: The medical manuscripts of J.H. Pigot
Did Byron's love interests have a Bromley House Library connection? Read on to find out more!
Rediscovering a few of our sold titles
Due to financial pressures, the Library has had to sell a fair proportion of its historic stock over the years, including the vast majority of books from the historic Standfast Library. In this article we have gathered together some of these sold, discarded or otherwise absent books that have been digitised by other institutions.