The rare books collection at RHUL includes some interesting and unique items. Occasionally our rare books require expert care and attention by a professional conservator to ensure they can continue to be enjoyed by students and staff of today and beyond. Some of our texts are hundreds of years old and have suffered due to years of handling. Some items are in such particularly poor state that they are declared unfit for consultation making them inaccessible to students, staff and researchers.
One such item which came close to this is the The Union of the Two Noble and Illustrate Famelies of Lancastre and Yorke by Edward Halle printed by Richard Grafton 1550 (ref 942.04 HAL), otherwise known as Hall’s Chronicle which is about the history of England during the reign of Henry IV and succeeding monarchs, to the end of the reign of Henry VIII, describing the manners and customs of those periods. This item, fully bound in leather, was looking in a sorry state of repair. The book was a bequest to Bedford College in 1947 from the library of Geraldine Jebb, former Principal of Bedford College 1930 to 1951. Much of the rare book collection at RHUL has been generated through the donation of important texts by former staff and students. A handwritten label on the inside cover reads ‘Robert Jebb 1829’. A printed note states that “this chronicle was one of Shakespeare’s sources when writing his earlier historical plays.
Some parts of the leather binding had missing areas and the front and back boards were detached from the text block. We sent the book to paper conservator Sue Hourigan (Senior Conservator at Berkshire Record Office). Sue did a brilliant repair using compatable leather under the existing leather and reattaching boards in order to reinforce the binding and generally ensured the book is in a healthy condition and remains accessible. Earlier this year the Hall’s chronicle was returned to us and as you can see from the photos below, Sue has managed to repair the spine while retaining much of the materials from the original which has created a sympathetic result. Following its return, the book was immediately in use as the subject of a session in the archive on the Tudors attended by 2nd year history students. Our before and after pictures of this interesting item are shown below.
Before
After
Our rare books collection is available to search on RHUL library search RHUL library search archives rare books, and appointments can be made to view individual items within the archives reading room. If you are interested in finding out more about our archives and special collections, including our rare books, then head to our webpage: https://www.royalholloway.ac.uk/about-us/the-library/our-archives/
