Celebrating the Centenary of women’s suffrage

Centenary of women’s suffrage

2018 marks 100 years since women first got the vote and 14th December 1918 was the first time they could use their vote in an election.

Ilka Heale (Library Metadata Specialist) discovers some resources in the Library’s electronic collections.

CC BY 2.0 Flickr.com

1918 was a momentous year for women. On 6th February Parliament passed a law which allowed some women and all men to vote for the first time.

The Representation of the People Act extended the voting age for men to over the age of 21. More importantly women aged 30 and over, who met minimum property qualifications, were eligible to vote. In other words women now accounted for about 43% of the electorate.

To find out more about the history of women’s suffrage, read this ebook by suffragist campaigner Millicent Garrett Fawcett. However, it wasn’t until 14th December 1918 when the new electorate voted in their first election.

The 1918 General election was called immediately after the end of the First World War. Polling took place on 14th December 1918 but the vote counting did not start until after Christmas, to allow time to include the ballots cast by soldiers serving overseas.

Will There Be Women M.P.s? (1917)

https://bit.ly/2C8jtc0  

In November 1918, the Government passed the Parliament (Qualification of Women) Act which allowed women to be elected to Parliament. It was only one page long and stated “A woman shall not be disqualified by sex or marriage for being elected to or sitting or voting as a member of the Commons House of Parliament.”.

Image in the public domain. Wikipedia

Seventeen women stood in the 1918 general election. One was elected - Irish republican Countess Constance Markievicz, but as a member of Sinn Féin did not take her seat at Westminster. 

Read more about this remarkable woman in The rebel countess : the life and times of Constance Markievicz by Anne Marreco.

It wasn’t until December 1919 that Nancy Astor was successfully elected as the MP for Plymouth Sutton, becoming the first woman to sit in the House of Commons.

Electoral equality was finally realised in 1928. The Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act 1928 gave the vote to women at age 21 regardless of any property qualification.

The Library has many ebooks and other online resources in it’s collections about the female suffrage movement. Below is a small selection but search YorSearch, the Library catalogue for others.

• The Gerritsen Collection is a valuable online research collection of women’s history.  
• The International Woman Suffrage News article from Dec 1918
• This article from The Suffragist, the official journal of the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage.
• The new franchise : all about the Representation of the People Act, 1918 by Samuel Higenbottam.
• Another electronic resource is ScreenOnline which covers Britain’s social history in film and television.
• Footage of a women’s march through London from 21st July 1915
• Clips from the BBC2 drama ‘Shoulder to shoulder’ from 1974 about Christabel and Sylvia Pankhurst and Annie Kenney.
• Box of Broadcasts (an on demand TV and radio service) has this BBC documentary about the Suffragettes

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein

March 2018 marks the 200th anniversary of the publication of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.   Ilka Heale has been hunting among the Library Collections.

A selection of material from the University Library. Photograph by Paul Shields.

2018 marks the 200th anniversary of the publication of Mary Shelley’s first novel. Written over two years, Frankenstein, Or, The modern prometheus was published anonymously in 1818. With themes of body snatching, early surgery and robotics the novel is widely considered to be the foundation of the modern science-fiction genre.

Born in 1797, Mary’s life reads like a soap-opera storyline: falling in love with a married man (fyi, the Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley) at 16, eloping with him to Europe, marrying him at 19 (after his first wife commits suicide), widowed at 25 and, refusing to marry again, supporting herself and her son by continuing to write, publish and edit and dies aged 54 of a suspected brain tumour.

Mary Shelley portrait by Penn State. Flickr.com.
CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

However it is the story of a doctor who builds a creature from scavenged body parts that is her lasting fame. All the more amazing that she was barely out of her teens when she wrote this terrifying tale. Copies of the novel, and other titles authored by Shelley, are at shelfmark MA 153.7 in the Library.

...‘How I, then a young girl, came to think of, and dilate upon, so hideous an idea?’ Frankenstein, 1831, Preface by the Author.

The idea for the novel came about during the now famous summer at Lake Geneva. In 1816 Mary travelled to Geneva with Percy and was joined by the poet Lord Byron and his physician Dr John Polidori. In the introduction to the 1831 edition, Mary wrote: ‘... it proved a wet, ungenial summer, and incessant rain often confined us for days to the house. Some volumes of ghost stories ... fell into our hands….”We will each write a ghost story,” said Lord Byron; and his proposition was acceded to.’

The University Library has a copy of the novel in the Dyson collection, one of many rare books. The original manuscript of the novel is at the Bodleian Library in Oxford. In 1996 it was published in facsimile edition, The Frankenstein notebooks which can be found in the Morrell Library.

Photograph by Erik Sagen.

Flickr.com. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Often adapted and occasionally parodied (see the spoof film Young Frankenstein directed by Mel Brooks), the lasting interest in the novel continues.

The play Frankenstein, adapted from the novel by playwright Nick Dear, was performed in 2011 at the National Theatre. This groundbreaking production saw the two lead actors alternating the roles of Frankenstein and the monster each night. This short video has the playwright in conversation with the director Danny Boyle.

There have also been many reworkings of the novel. Amongst them are Peter Ackroyd’s The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein and the 1935 horror classic Bride of Frankenstein. We also have a children’s book, Frankenstein’s Aunt, in the Peggy Januriek collection!

Even the circumstances that inspired Mary to write the novel have influenced others and were dramatised in the documentary Frankenstein and the vampyre which is available on Box of Broadcasts, a TV and radio on demand service. [Access is restricted to University of York account holders].

After her husband died Mary continued to write, publishing several novels along with a large volume of miscellaneous prose: short stories, biographies, and travel writings. The last decade of her life was dogged by illness and she died at home in 1851.

Written two years after Frankenstein in 1820, Maurice, or the Fisher’s Cot is also worth a read. Mary had tried to have this children’s story published by her father’s publishing company but he refused, saying that the story was too short for publication. So this unpublished story, written for her goddaughter, was lost until November 1997 when a manuscript copy was discovered in a box of papers in Italy but that’s a whole other story …..

Further information

There are many adaptations and dramatisations of the novel, along with essays and criticism. Search the Library catalogue for details.

To arrange to view an item in the Rare Books Collection, please contact the Borthwick Institute.

There are many events celebrating the novel during this anniversary year. The Shelley Frankenstein Festival website has more information.

The novel has also spawned several essays and articles from scientists (see this interesting article).

Albert Moore and the University’s art collection

To coincide with a major exhibition of York-born artist Albert Joseph Moore’s work running at York Art Gallery Ilka Heale, Metadata Specialist, links the artist to the University’s art collection.

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York Art Gallery currently has a major exhibition of the York-born artist Albert Joseph Moore’s work. This is the first exhibition of his work since the one held in 1894 to commemorate his death a year earlier.

The Department of History of Art at the University collaborated with the art gallery to set up the exhibition. Earlier in the summer the Department hosted the conference Rethinking Albert Moore and speakers included Professor Liz Prettejohn from the Department who has authored many books on Victorian painting and Aestheticism.

Born in York in 1841, Albert Moore was one of the leading artists of the Aesthetic movement in the late 19th century alongside J.M. Whistler, Edward Burne-Jones, G.F. Watts and Frederic, Lord Leighton. Believing in “art for art’s sake”, these artists emphasised that art existed for its beauty alone rather than the importance of subject matter or another purpose.

Albert was the youngest child in a family of artists. The exhibition also features paintings by Moore’s father and brothers of a variety of seascapes, landscapes and views of York.

Albert’s father was William Moore (1790-1851), a portrait and landscape artist who worked in oil, watercolours and pastel. Born in Birmingham, Moore moved to York in 1829 where he made a living painting portraits for local patrons. He died in 1851 after becoming ill from lead and vermilion poisoning, contracted from pastel pigment.

Five of his fourteen children (pupiled by William) became professional artists.
As well as Albert, there was Henry Moore RA (1831-1895), John Collingham Moore (1829-1880), the watercolourist Edwin Moore (1813-1893), and William Moore Jnr (1817-1909) a landscape painter.

The University of York art collection has a number of works of art which can be found throughout the campus and buildings. Within the collection are two portraits of wealthy York gentlemen painted in oils. The painter is listed as William Moore, although there is limited information about the origin or provenance of the paintings.

John Greame Esq. of Sewerby and Heslington in the
East Riding, 1833. Photograph by Paul Shields. 

This painting is of York gentleman John Graeme whose first wife was Sarah Yarburgh a descendant from the Yarburgh family of Heslington Hall.  Sarah died prematurely leaving Graeme with two young children.  John later remarried moving his family to Sewerby Hall where he lived with his second wife until their deaths within a few days of each other in February 1841. For more information on Sewerby Hall, see this guidebook in our King’s Manor Library.

The second portrait is of  John Graeme’s eldest son from his first marriage, Yarburgh, also painted in 1833.

Yarburgh Esq. of Sewerby and Heslington, 1833. Photograph by Paul Shields. 

The estate then passed to his eldest son from his first marriage, Yarburgh Graeme (b. 1782?), who also inherited Heslington Hall from his mother’s family.  A clause in his grandfather’s will stipulated that if the estate passed down through the female line any future heirs had to assume the name and coat of arms of Yarburgh. Due to this provision Graeme changed his name to Yarburgh Yarburgh. 

It is not know if Yarburgh lived in Heslington Hall but he did replace most of the Elizabethan hall with the largely Victorian building that the University took over in 1962.  

Heslington Hall during rebuilding, 1855. Reproduced by Paul Shields. 

This photograph shows the hall during the rebuilding in 1855 and is taken from a collection of photographs, offprints and typescripts by Harry Fairhurst for the book Heslington Hall: introductory notes on the building and its owners. The University Library also has a number of books on the history of Heslington Hall which can be found on YorSearch, the Library catalogue.

The exhibition Albert Moore: Of beauty and aesthetics continues until Sunday 1 October 2017 at York Art Gallery, so there is still plenty of time to visit. 

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To find books about Albert Moore and the Aesthetic movement, search YorSearch, the Library catalogue or browse the shelves in our History of Art collection at LJ 9.2081 and LJ 9.2:

• After the pre-Raphaelites: art and aestheticism in Victorian England by Elizabeth Prettejohn.
• Art for art’s sake: aestheticism in Victorian painting by Elizabeth Prettejohn. 
• Victorian painting by Christopher Wood.
• Victorian high renaissance: George Frederick Watts, 1817-1904 ; Frederic Leighton, 1830-96 ; Albert Moore, 1841-93 ; Alfred Gilbert, 1854-1934.
• Albert Moore by Robyn Asleson

The University of York art collection comprises of a wide range of works, from ancient and modern ceramics and sculpture to photography and printmaking. To view items in the collection search the online catalogue which is also available in print and can be found in the Library.

The discovery of a Scarborough siege coin

Ilka Heale, Metadata Specialist, explores the history of siege coins after discovering one from Scarborough in the Raymond Burton Yorkshire collection.

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Through my job at the University of York Library, I get to see and catalogue some rare and interesting items in our varied collections.

Coins. Photograph by Albert from Flickr. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Recently, I came across a small metal item in the Raymond Burton Yorkshire collection.  With it, there was a handwritten note ‘Scarborough Siege, 1645’ but no further information.  This thin, square shaped piece of metal measuring at 28mm by 25mm was also engraved.

Using this as a starting point, I turned to your old friend and mine, Google* and found more information on an auction website.  From looking at examples on the site and by doing some research, I began to see that what we had might be a siege coin from Scarborough possibly dating from the English Civil War.

Siege or obsidional coins were made by besieged towns during the war in order to pay the troops.  As there was no proper minting equipment available, these coins were made from irregular pieces of

The coin is stamped on one side with a rough representation
of Scarborough Castle. Photograph by Paul Shields.

metal cut from trenchers, plates or cups.  The values, which were punched into the coins, depended on the weight of the piece of metal.

Between 1642 and 1646 England was divided by civil war.  On one side were the supporters of King Charles I (Royalists) and on the other were the supporters for the rights and privileges of Parliament (Parliamentarians).  During the English Civil War, the country was split into a broadly Royalist north and west with the south and east in the Parliamentarian camp. Both sides gained and lost towns during battles and by changing loyalties.

Scarborough was one of the towns that changed hands. In September 1642, Sir Hugh Cholmley, was commissioned to hold Scarborough for Parliament, but he was soon persuaded to change sides. For the next two years Scarborough served as an important Royalist base. In 1645 Parliamentarian forces closed in on Scarborough.  After three weeks Cholmley was forced to retreat from the town to the castle, where for five months he resisted one of the bloodiest sieges of the civil war. The bombardment was so intense that the massive walls of the great tower and half the building collapsed. Eventually Cholmley ran out of gunpowder, water and food and finally surrendered on 25 July 1645.

Scarborough Castle painted by John Constable, 1832.
(http://www.artnet.com/artists/john-constable/scarborou
gh-castle-UZZKji0aMz8nz-sCAc4wYQ2)

retreat from the town to the castle, where for five months he resisted one of the

There is an inscription on the reverse of the coin, ‘OBS Scarborough 1645’. Whilst researching the coin, I found this reference in The obsidional money of the Great Rebellion by Phillip Nelson. In it, Nelson wrote the following about the Scarborough siege coins…..

The reverse of these coins is blank, save for the few specimens which bear engraved upon them the words OBS Scarborough 1645 which engraving, however, may possibly not be contemporary with the siege, but may have been added subsequently, as a memorial, about the date of the Restoration.

Reverse of coin showing an inscription. Photograph by
Paul Shields.

The University Library Special Collections have many items from the civil war. Sarah Griffin, the Rare Books Librarian has written about some of these items in this blog post.

All items in Special Collections are on YorSearch, our Library catalogue where you can view images of the Scarborough siege coin. To arrange to view items in our Special Collections, please contact the Borthwick Institute.

* Please note that other search engines are available!

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References

• For books on the history of coins see the Library shelves at LG 7.4.
• The obsidional money of the Great Rebellion, 1642-1649 by Philip Nelson.  Morrell LG 7.4942 NEL.  The above quote is on page 18.
• A little barrel of ducatoons : the civil war coinage of Yorkshire by Craig Barclay and Edward Besly. Morrell LG 7.494274 BAR.
• The story of British coinage by Peter Seaby. Morrell LG 7.4942 SEA.
• You can read the account of the siege of Scarborough written by Cholmley himself in The English Historical Review (volume 32, number 128 (Oct. 1917), pp. 568-587).   The article Sir Hugh Cholmley’s narrative of the siege of Scarborough, 1644-5 by C. H. Firth is available as an e-journal via the e-resources guide or search for the journal in YorSearch.
• The Raymond Burton Yorkshire collection was donated to the University Library and Archives by Dr Burton.  His collection of books and ephemera on Yorkshire range from Edwards of Halifax bindings with fore-edge paintings to early writings about Dick Turpin.  Search for further items in the collection in YorSearch.
• Dr Burton also donated his collection of historical records on Yorkshire to the Borthwick Institute which can be viewed via Borthcat, the Borthwick catalogue.

“Art indeed is long, but life is short.” 300 years of Hull’s cultural history.

This year Hull is the 2017 UK City of Culture.  This is an award given every four years “to a city that demonstrates the belief in the transformational power of culture”.  In a blog post to accompany an exhibition on Hull's cultural history, Ilka Heale, Metadata Specialist, highlights some books on the subject in the University Library.

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Hull City of Culture opening 2016. Photographer Andrew
Reid Wildman. (CC BY-NC 2.0).

One of the enjoyable aspects of my job is working with colleagues to promote the wide and varied collections held at the University Library.  Choosing a theme for an exhibition is always fun and for our latest display, we have decided to focus on Hull, this year’s UK City of Culture.

At York, we have a vast local history collection donated to the Library by Raymond Burton (indeed one of the buildings that makes up the University Library is named after him).  The Raymond Burton Yorkshire collection contains a wonderful selection of books and ephemera on York and the wider county of Yorkshire.  Using this as a starting point, the display focuses on four areas: the history of the city, theatre, poetry and entertainment.

Hull has a long history of celebrated poets from Andrew Marvell to Andrew Motion via Stevie Smith and Roger McGough and the Poetry Society collection, part of the Library collection, was a good place to find works by all the poets we needed.  The collection consists of around 11,000 volumes of both literary and critical works, especially poetry, published between 1709-2006.  In particular there is an emphasis on English writing of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

The poet Philip Larkin is probably the greatest connection to Hull.   As well as his volumes of poetry,

Philip Larkin photographed in the
newly-completed Brynmor Jones
Library, 1969.  Photograph
by Fay Godwin. 

he wrote two novels, Jill and A Girl in Winter and two books of collected journalism.  In 1955, Larkin moved to Hull to take up a post as Librarian at the University of Hull until his death in 1985.

Larkin was a contemporary of Harry Fairhurst, the first Librarian at the newly created University of York. No doubt the two would probably have met, as Librarians they both  oversaw the building of their respective libraries.  In the exhibition, you can see a letter from Larkin that contains a short verse. It seems that this letter was in reply to one from Fairhurst but unfortunately, we do not know what the cryptic verse refers to.

The poets Roger McGough, Douglas Dunn and Andrew Motion also crossed paths with Larkin at Hull.

Liverpool poet, Roger McGough studied French and Geography at the University of Hull. He lived in one of University hall’s during his three years where he served as hall librarian, the same halls that Larkin, newly arrived at Hull, moved into whilst looking for accommodation. 

Douglas Dunn is a major Scottish poet, editor and critic who studied English at the University of Hull from 1967-1969 where he also worked in the University library with Larkin.  In 1969 he published his first book of poetry Terry Street with the publisher Faber on Larkin’s recommendation. This

collection of poetry describes the community where he was living in Hull.  

Magnetic fridge poetry. Photographer Steve Johnson.  (CC BY 2.0).

Another Philip Larkin connection is the former Poet Laureate Sir Andrew Motion.  Motion taught English at the University of Hull from 1976-1980 where he met Larkin.  He was later appointed as one of his literary executors where he rescued many of Larkin’s papers following his death.  His 1993 biography of his friend Philip Larkin: a writer’s life won the Whitbread Prize for Biography.

The exhibition is located within four cases on the ground floor of the Fairhurst Building and will be on display until the end June 2017.  The Library is accessible to anyone, although you will need to get a day pass from Library reception if you are not a University of York Library card holder.

To find more information on the material used in the exhibition along with other titles on Hull, search YorSearch, our Library catalogue.  Find further details of the Library’s collections. 

As for Hull, a packed arts and cultural programme is planned throughout the year featuring dance, theatre, film, art and music.  Further details can be found on the festival website.

The Battle of the Somme: part 2

Our understanding of the First World War has been shaped by the numerous artists, poets, writers and composers who recorded their experiences of the fighting. In the second of two posts, Ilka Heale highlights some of the men who fought in the Battle of the Somme (1st July - 19th November 1916).

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Image of Robert Graves: [Public domain],
via Wikimedia Commons

Poet and novelist, Robert Graves (1895-1985) is probably best known for the I, Claudius novels. In the First World War he fought alongside another war poet Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967).

During the Battle of the Somme, Graves was struck by an exploding shell a few days before his 21st birthday leaving him so badly injured that he was reported dead by his commanding officer. However, by the time his obituary appeared in the British press, Graves had miraculously recovered. He was soon well enough to return to the front a few months later. Surviving the war, he went on to live until the age of 90.

William Noel Hodgson (1893-1916) was also a poet. Known as 'Smiler' to his friends due to his sunny disposition, he volunteered on the outbreak of the war in 1914. This poem Before Action was written in the weeks leading up to the Battle of the Somme. His battalion was ordered to advance across the downward slope of a hill, in full view of German trenches on three sides. They knew how slender their chances were. On 1 July 1916, Hodgson was killed in the opening minutes of the advance.

Taken from William Noel Hodgson: the gentle poet by Jack Medomsley.

Seen as a plea for courage in the face of death, this poem was originally published on 29 June 1916 in the weekly paper The New Witness. Hodgson died two days later. Hodgson's posthumous volume Verse and Prose in Peace and War, published in 1917, was so popular it ran into three editions.

John Buchan (1875-1940) was the author of the Thirty-nine steps, one of the most famous and influential adventure stories of the 20th century. During the First World War, Buchan worked at the War and Foreign Offices and was appointed Director of Information making a major contribution with the innovative use of propaganda. Published in 1916, Buchan wrote The Battle of the Somme, First Phase claiming that the battle was so successful that it marked the end of trench warfare. However he failed to inform his readers that of the 110,000 British soldiers who fought in the Battle, over 57,000 became casualties and 20,000 were killed on the first day of fighting.

Starting in 1914, Buchan also wrote the extensive Nelson's 'History of the war' published as a monthly magazine. This book, published in 1917, was intended to be a companion to the monthly volumes of 'History of the war' as it contained sketch maps illustrating the battles.

Herbert Ward (1863-1919) was a British sculptor, illustrator, writer and explorer. As Ward was too old to enlist in the army, he served with the British Ambulance Committee. Wounded at the front and mentioned in dispatches in 1915, he was awarded the Croix de Guerre for his work removing wounded soldiers whilst under bombardment. He died, partly as a result of his injuries, in August 1919.

Image from Mr Poilu by Herbert Ward

Mr. Poilu: notes and sketches with the fighting French was published in December 1916 as a tribute to the French as worthy allies. As described by Ward in chapter 1, Poilu was a nickname given to French soldiers. The illustrations, chiefly monochrome, depict not victory but land despoiled and soldiers standing alone, their faces all aged by a war which must inescapably be fought despite the losses already incurred.

British Composer George Butterworth (1885-1916) was best known for The Banks of Green Willow and his musical settings for the poems of A.E Housman.

Written in 1913, The Banks of Green Willow is a short pastoral idyll. It has become almost a symbol of that long-lost halcyon Edwardian age, as if Butterworth were transcribing the disappearing world around him.
 Butterworth had joined up at the outbreak of war and during the Battle of the Somme was awarded the Military Cross for capturing a series of trenches near Pozières. On 4th August 1916, his unit was ordered to attack a communications trench and despite successfully capturing it, he was shot by a German sniper and died on 5th August.

There is an exhibition of items from the University Library's collections on the ground floor of the Fairhurst Building. To find material on First World War, search YorSearch, our Library catalogue.

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The photographs of the books in the University Library's collections were taken by the University photographer, Paul Shields.

The Battle of the Somme: part 1

This year marks the centenary of the Battle of the Somme (1st July - 19th November 1916) one of the largest battles of the First World War fought on the Western Front. In the first of two posts, Ilka Heale highlights some books on the subject in the University Library.

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At 7.30am on Saturday 1st July 1916, the opening British and French attack was launched near the River Somme in Picardy, northern France. The battle was fought in three major phases and several battles: at Albert, Bazentin Ridge, Fromelles, Delville Wood, Pozières Ridge, Guillemont, Ginchy, Flers-Courcelette, Morval, Transloy Ridge, Thiepval Ridge, Ancre Heights, and at Ancre.

This was the 'Big Push' and was intended to hasten a victory for the Allies and to end the war. It was also one of the bloodiest battles. By the end of the fighting on the Somme, the British Army had lost over 400,000 men for an advance of a mere six miles. Between both sides, over 1,000,000 were killed or wounded. Practically all were infantrymen.

We are fortunate to have a collection of books about the First World War donated to the University Library by A. J. Peacock. Alfred James Peacock (1929-2004) was an educationalist and magistrate who completed a doctorate at the University. He also published a biography of the York "railway king" George Hudson. With an interest in the First World War, Peacock led annual tours of the battlefields.

The photograph above is of a young officer giving his men some final instructions before going into the battle. Taken from The war illustrated album de luxe: the story of the great war told by camera, pen and pencil edited by J. A. Hammerton (published in London by Amalgamated Press, 1915-1919).

The following quote (taken from The Imperial War Museum book of the Somme by Malcolm Brown) about the opening attack on the first day of the battle was written by an anonymous British eyewitness. He was writing about the part played by the 1/1st Welsh Heavy Battery (Territorial Force).

The extract below, from Orders are orders: a Manchester Pal on the Somme, is from an account written by Private Albert William Andrews of the 19th Battalion Manchester Regiment. A Manchester Pal, Albert recalled the first day of the Somme in his memoirs written in 1917 while convalescing from shell shock. You can also read his memories of Saturday 1st July 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme.

Monday 3rd July, 1916

"On the Monday I was put with others burying the dead and this was when we realised the cost of our victory. The first Tuesday the roll was called there were too many that did not answer. Burying your own lads is not a job that I want again, some seeming by their looks to have died very easy, others very hard. [....] The job consisted of ….. taking their equipment off and emptying their pockets. You put the contents in the gas helmet satchel and hand this to the Officer who is with you, giving the man's name, number and Regiment if possible."

British troops advancing under shell fire 1 

On 12 August 1916 Friedrich Steinbrecher, a young German officer, wrote home saying: "Somme. The whole history of the world cannot contain a more ghastly word."

There is currently an exhibition of items from the University Library's collections on the ground floor of the Fairhurst Building; this will remain in place until the end of November (although it will be briefly removed between 19 and 28 October). To find material on the First World War, search YorSearch, our Library catalogue.

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1. British troops advancing under shell fire - a British Official photograph taken from The illustrated war record: of the notable episodes in the Great European War

The photographs of the books in the University Library's collections were taken by the University photographer, Paul Shields.

Swedish children's books in the University Library

Ilka Heale browses some of the children's books held in our collections.

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Whilst searching through our Literature section, I came across a collection of children's books written in Swedish. Four of the authors were born and lived in Sweden, and the fifth also wrote in Swedish (although she was Finnish).

Why do we have them? Well, the short answer is that I don't know! The Library has over a million books, the majority of which have been bought for teaching and research. However, we also have many books that have been donated over the years and these may have been part of a gift.

Now, I can't read Swedish, but I have read some of these stories by Astrid Lindgren and Tove Jansson in translation both as a child and as an adult.

Astrid Lindgren (1907–2002) was a writer of fiction and screenplays but she also wrote children's books. Her most famous creation is Pippi Longstocking, a nine-year-old girl who has superhuman strength!

Photograph of an illustration from Pippi Långstrump by Astrid Lindgren

Pippi was named by Lindgren's then nine-year-old daughter, Karin, who requested a get-well story from her mother one day when she was home sick from school. This interview with Karin in 2015, explains how her mother came up with the stories.

Front cover of Mumintrollet no. 4 by Tove Jansson

Tove Jansson (1914– 2001) was a Swedish-speaking Finnish novelist, painter, illustrator and comic strip author. She is best known as the author of the Moomin books for children. The first book in the series, The Moomins and the Great Flood, appeared in 1945; however it was the next two books, Comet in Moominland (1946) and Finn Family Moomintroll (1948) that brought her fame.

In 1951 Finn Family Moomintroll was translated into English. The book's success caught the attention of Charles Sutton, a London agent who offered Jansson a lucrative deal to produce a Moomin comic strip for London's Evening News newspaper. Jansson agreed to produce six strips a week for seven years, starting in 1954. It was an instant hit, reaching up to 20 million readers daily in over 40 countries.

Along with books on the Moomins in Swedish we also have two biographies, The sculptor's daughter: a childhood memoir and Tove Jansson: life, art, words: the authorised biography.

Extract from Mumintrollet by Tove Jansson

Maria Gripe (1923-2007) was an author of books for children and young adults. Although she wrote stories as a child, Gripe did not publish her first book until she was 31. Her first notable success came in the 1960s with a trilogy of books about two school friends, Hugo and Josephine. Over the course of her career, Gripe wrote 38 books, translated into 30 different languages.

Elsa Beskow (1874–1953) was both an author and an illustrator of children's books. As a child, Beskow loved fairy tales and her stories would combine reality with elements of fantasy from fairy tales. Known as the Beatrix Potter of Scandinavia, her illustrations take the reader back to an idyllic, rural Sweden at the turn of the 20th century.

Photograph of the front cover of Sagan om den lilla lilla gumman by Elsa Beskow

Paul Lennart Hellsing (1919–2015) was a writer and translator, particularly known for his nonsense rhymes and word plays. In his books written for children, he experimented with language, playing with words and verb forms. During his career, Hellsing wrote over a hundred books for children and translated and interpreted nearly as many, especially from English.

Photograph of an illustration from Krakel spektakel boken by Lennart Hellsing

To find more books by these authors, along with other material on children's books and illustration, search YorSearch, our Library catalogue.

There is also a small collection of children's literature In the Morrell building. The Peggy Janiurek collection can be found on the first floor, at the end of the Education section. The collection was assembled originally in collaboration with the University's Department of Educational Studies, and named in memory of a former student.

The Library's Special Collections also holds a number of late 18th and 19th century children's literature including books illustrated by Kate Greenaway and Walter Crane among others.

Photograph of the title page of The Golden Staircase : poems and verses for children

Items from the Special Collections can be consulted in the Borthwick Institute for Archives.

The Library has many texts in languages other than English. To find them, search on our Library catalogue and choose the language facets on the left hand side.

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All photographs have been taken by Paul Shields, University photographer.

The History of the York Mystery Plays: part 2

In the second of her two posts about the York Mystery Plays, Ilka Heale uses contemporary texts to learn more about the history and development of the tradition.

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There is no record of the first performance of the York Mystery Plays, but they are first recorded celebrating the festival of Corpus Christi in 1376, by which time the use of pageant wagons had already been established.

At least 48 individual plays would be performed in York. According to civic records for 1399, the day began at 4.30 in the morning with parades through the streets on wagons stopping at twelve special places on the streets, designated by the city banners. The route was just over a mile long. It took them down Micklegate where there were four stations, across Ouse Bridge, down Coney Street, up Stonegate and ending at Pavement.

From Eboracum by Francis Drake, 1736, titled 'Extract out an order for the regulation of the play of
Corpus Christi; dated the 7th day of June 1417'.

The extract above from Eboracum: or the history and antiquities of the city of York …. by Francis Drake, 1736 (Appendix, pg xxxii) shows the route of the 1417 Corpus Christi plays. Indeed this map also from his major two volume work on the history of York show the layout of the street pattern has hardly changed since 1417.

The plays were organised, financed (and often performed) by the York Craft Guilds. In medieval England, the word 'mystery' meant 'trade' or 'craft', and it also refers to a religious truth or rite - hence the name Mystery Plays.

Below is a photograph of The oath of the new brethren of the Merchant Adventurers of the City of York which is part of the Raymond Burton Yorkshire collection housed in the Library's Special Collections. The collection is centred around Yorkshire and ranges from Edwards of Halifax bindings with fore-edge paintings to early writings about Dick Turpin; and from a fine presentation copy of J. Tickell's, The history of the town and county of Kingston upon Hull (1796) to chapbooks of James Kendrew, an early 19th century York printer.

The inscription at the bottom of the oath reads "Wm. Brown admitted to his Freedom of the Com[pany] of the Merchant Adventurers of the City of York. by Servitude this 20th. day of Aprl. 1813. ... [signed] J. Ward Sec[retar]y."

Each guild would perform a play, often one that was most fitting to their members. For example, the marriage of Cana, where Christ turned water into wine, would be acted out by the vintners. More morbid associations included the metal pinners nailing Christ to the cross and the butchers who performed the death of Christ.

Below is an extract from Tomlin's transcript of the Ashburnham Manuscript in the original Middle English. The Guild of Shipwrights performed the building of Noah's Ark

Compare this with the extract below which is a modernised version of the same text.

The opening to the Story of Noah,
performed by the Guild of Shipwrights.

This extract is taken from 'The York cycle of mystery plays: a complete version' by JS Purvis. Cannon Purvis wrote the first modern script for the plays from the original Middle English for the 1951 revival of the York Mystery Plays. This was a shorter version to be performed in under three hours and was published in the same year as 'The York cycle of mystery plays: a shorter version of the ancient cycle'. In 1957, the text was expanded to include a complete version of the plays. From 1953-1963, he was the first Director of the Borthwick Institute and his archive is deposited with the Borthwick Institute for Archives.

This extract from 'The York mystery plays' is the first few lines of the modernised text for the 1951 plays. Found in our collections, there is little information in the book, but we can assume that this is a playscript for the plays written by Cannon Purvis for the York Festival Society. Incidentally, the playscript was donated to the Library from JB Morrell (yes, you are right in thinking that our Morrell Library is named after him. For more details, see the information board by the main entrance).

Along with the text, there are many references to music in the plays.

This is a page of music from The York play: a facsimile of British Library MS Additional 35290: together with a facsimile of the Ordo Paginarum section of the A/Y memorandum book. These six settings of music with Latin texts are to be performed as part of the Weavers pageant of The Assumption of the Virgin.

Music plays an important role but it is used in a different manner to music in modern drama. In contemporary drama, it works as 'incidental music', a way of highlighting the emotional content. However, medieval music has a functional role and is used to convey the beginning or ending of a play, to accompany entrances, exits and processions within a play as well as the spectacular stage effects of ascents and descents. Music is also used for a symbolic purpose. Heaven would be symbolised by the high voices and pure harmonies of the angels, with Hell using dissonance to create the chaos of evil.

For more information on medieval music, see our collection of books and scores in the John Paynter room in the Fairhurst Building, along with Music in the English mystery plays at MA 62 DUT.

York Historic Pageant souvenir by Charles Eyre Pascoe.
Shelfmark: Raymond Burton Yorkshire 12.32

The tradition of pageants and wagons was reintroduced in 1909. The York Historic Pageant included a parade of the banners of the Guilds through the streets, accompanying a wagon representing the Nativity. The York Pageant was a six day dramatic re-enactment of York's history from 800BC to 1644 which took place in the grounds of St Mary's Abbey at York. It was intended that 'the York Pageant represent by dramatic means a continuous history of York from the earliest times down to the siege of York in 1644'.

The York Pageant Music by James Rhoades & T. Tertius Noble.
Shelfmark: Special Collections Quarto LM 25 NOB

Thomas Tertius Noble (1867-1953) was the organist of York Minster from 1898 until 1913. He was responsible for the music in the York Pageant of 1909, composing some of it and directing the performances.

For a list of material on the York Mystery plays, please search YorSearch (the Library catalogue) or browse the shelves in our Literature section for MA 62.4 (the shelfmark for York Mystery Plays). In the Library's AV Collection, there are past performances of the mystery plays on DVD and video.

The books are in the University Library's Special Collections and can be consulted in the Borthwick Institute for Archives.

For books on the history of York, please see Q 42.741. Books on English History from 1558-1603, including the Northern Rebellion are at Q 42.055.

You can also find material related to the York Mystery Plays in the York Digital Library.

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All photographs have been taken by our own University photographer, Paul Shields, from the Library's collection of books on York Mystery plays.