admin This article follows on from the talk I gave back in March 2018 and then the descriptions of further books on Botanic Illustrations that were emailed out to proprietors on 4th March and 14th June. Today’s books have also been written by 17th century men. The first is by a Dutch Professor of Botany and … Read more
Japan in the late 17th century was regarded by Europeans as a mysterious land visited by the occasional missionary. For 50 years it had been closed to foreigners and only traded with the West through the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Nederlandsche Oost Indische Compagnie or VOC) factory located on an artificially created island off … Read more
This article follows on from the talk I gave back in March 2018 and then the descriptions of two further books on Botanic Illustrations that were emailed out to proprietors on 4th March. Both of today’s books have been written by 17th century Englishmen. The first is by the plant anatomist and physiologist known as … Read more
Every Monday we profile one of our Members. This week in we are joined by Proprietor 272, Ken Pye. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of The Athenaeum. Who are you? I am Ken Pye, a born and bred Liverpudlian. I am enormously … Read more
Arguably, Robert Gladstone was the most prolific donor to the Athenaeum’s library. Bookplates testify to donations made during his lifetime and to the scale of his probate bequest – all of his books and papers, of which there are many, many. Gladstone (Bertie to his family) was born in 1866 into a wealthy Woolton family; … Read more
In the “Good Old Days” when we were able to welcome visitors to the Athenaeum one of the things usually shown to them was a package in the Committee Room. This contains two gilded palm leaves which bear long inscriptions in an eastern script. It had been determined by experts that this was a Burmese … Read more
This article follows on from the talk I gave back in March 2018, based on a random selection of the wonderful botanical illustrations to be found in our library. Here are two more illustrated books that I researched back in 2019. The first is a 17th century translation of the works of a highly influential … Read more
This is the first of what we hope will be a series exploring some of the many treasures in our fabulous library. Today’s highlight from the collection dates from 1642 and is one of the many natural history books that we hold. Monstrorum Historia (A History of Monsters) is one of a 13 volume series … Read more
Every Monday we profile one of our Members. This week in our inaugural feature we break the rules before we have started, as we get the ball rolling by profiling a non-member, in our Secretary, Jack Birley.