From The Library – A Glimpse Into A Closed Land – Kaempfer’s Japan

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

From The Library: Two More Botanical Treasures

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

Member Monday #036 – Dr Robert Huxley

Every Monday we profile one of our Members. This week in we are joined by Proprietor 492 Dr Robert Huxley. 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 retired as a Principal Curator after 28 years at the … Read more

From The Library: Two Botanical Treasures

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

Member Monday #032

Every Monday we profile one of our Members. This week in we are joined by Proprietor 162, Jutta Hesketh! 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 Jutta Hesketh, my father was a Dental Surgeon who … Read more

Member Monday #029

Every Monday we profile one of our Members. This week in we are joined by Proprietor 300, Past President Andrew Beeston. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of The Athenaeum. Who are you ? Andrew Beeston, born 1940, lived in Formby first 26 … Read more

Member Monday #028

Every Monday we profile one of our Members. This week in we are joined by Proprietor 248, Les Spencer! The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of The Athenaeum. Who are you ? Retired 2019 having spent all my working life in the provision … Read more

Member Monday #027

Every Monday we profile one of our Members. This week in we are joined by Proprietor 310, Stewart Lawrence BEng (Honours) FDEng MIET. Who are you ? I’m Stewart Lawrence, from Liverpool, who left at 16 to read (as they call it) Engineering, which led to traveling, and working abroad; eventually coming back to Liverpool … Read more

Member Monday #025

Every Monday we profile one of our Members. This week we are joined by Share Holder 424, Jan Atkinson, who was recently elected to The Athenaeum Governing Board at October’s AGM. Who are you? Born in Denbigh, N. Wales but with a Liverpudlian mum I spent lots of time in Liverpool as a child visiting … Read more

Remembering HH John Ambrose Morgan

Earlier this month we received the sad news of the passing of our friend and Past President, His Honour John Morgan ( 22 September 1934 – 8 November 2020). We are grateful to John’s life long friend and fellow Athenaeum member, Richard McCullagh, for providing the below obituary. John was born in September 1934 (in … Read more