A free exhibition at The Guildhall, Bath, 27 & 28 June, will showcase, for the first time since 1923, a selection of extraordinary books and fine bindings from the Bath Record Office collection.
Originally acquired by Bath Municipal Library, before being entrusted to the care of Bath Record Office, these rare books are remarkable survivors, having survived the bombing raids of the ‘Bath blitz’ in 1942 and the catastrophic Bath floods of December 1960, which resulted in the loss of 2,680 volumes. Far more impressive, though, is their survival for over a century under public ownership - outside of the custodianship of private, academic or religious institutions. The City of Bath has been fortunate to have had over a century of dedicated advocates and custodians – from Mayors, Aldermen and Councillors, local businesspeople and philanthropists to professional librarians – who have ensured that the majority of these treasures are still here for the public to enjoy today.
A highlight of the exhibition will be a rare trial sheet of William Morris’s Kelmscott Chaucer, published in 1896, which is still widely considered to be the finest printing ever undertaken on British soil. Only 13 copies of the Kelmscott Chaucer were produced on vellum, a type of animal skin. This rare vellum trial sheet was presented to the Bath Reference Library in 1927 by May Morris, daughter of William Morris, who was a regular visitor to Bath.
The display will also feature a copy of the Nuremberg Chronicle, one of the most famous specimens of early European printing, which is known as ‘the crown of German medieval craftmanship’. Created by Hartmann Schedel and printed by the Koberger Press, it is a history of the world based on religious, secular and mythical themes, and is famous for the beauty and precision of its printing and illustrations.
Bath was a pioneer in the publication of city guides, and the exhibition will include a rare surviving copy of Boddely's Bath and Bristol Guide from 1753, which contains a description of the Guildhall before Baldwin’s 1775 Guildhall that we know today. The guide records: ‘The City of Bath is greatly improved within these few Years in its buildings; the new Houses are strong, large and commodious…’. It also contains a description of the city and the baths, the cost of hiring chairmen, times of arrivals and departures of the stagecoaches and boats, and other useful observations.
Another highlight will be the Illuminated Book of Hours, a pocket-sized treasure which was created by an unknown scribe and illuminator in the 1430s. The pages are parchment and the lettering is in gothic style. The wide margins are decorated with borders of ivy-leaf spirals, leaves of gold, and flowers and fruit coloured in blue, red and green. More than 1,000 of the initial letters in the book are illuminated in burnished gold and vibrant colours. The binding bears the bookplate of Pembroke College Cambridge, 1700.
The exhibition will also showcase historic children’s books dating from Georgian times up until the early 20thcentury, including a rare first edition of Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Benjamin Bunny, Georgian card games, and beautiful examples of children’s ‘bookcase libraries’ – decorative miniature bookcases filled with tiny books in pretty bindings.
The exhibition will coincide with the Antiquarian Book Fair taking place at Bath Pavilion on the 28th and 29th of June, organised by the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association and Provincial Booksellers Fairs Association.
For more information, contact Holly Trant, Assistant Local Studies Librarian, Bath record Office at holly_trant@bathnes.gov.uk.