A Collection

There are lots of collections within the library. They are mostly due to bequests - people leave the museum their priceless art, and their thousands of books (thanks guys!). These can be a bit of a double-edged sword. It's great to receive free books, particularly from discerning collectors, because they can really enhance our collections with the research they incorporate. However, there's no such thing as a free book - it takes time to process donations, and they can take up a lot of space. Recently we acquired a library from a collector of ceramics - he gave us hundreds of pots, and 26 boxes of books (eep!).

13 boxes of books from a very generous former keeper of Prints!

 But I don't have any of those collections with me at the moment. What I do have though, is a small donation of some lovely little art books from the daughter of an artist who was working out of Berlin just before the war. Aren't they adorable? Each book is about the same size as my phone! They don't seem to exist anywhere else in the university, and they're over 100 years old, most of them, which means getting hold of them if we ever wanted them in the future could be tricky.

And just all the love for the stunning book plate too!