Centenary of the Destruction of the University of Leuven Library

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Destruction of libraries, First World War, Henry Guppy, University of Louvain Library

Next month marks the centenary of one of the most notorious incidents of the First World War, the destruction of the University of Leuven (Louvain) Library on the night of 25 August 1914.

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In the first few days of hostilities, German troops occupied and ravaged the historic Belgian city of Leuven. The university library was burnt to the ground; around three hundred thousand books and a thousand manuscripts were destroyed. This gross assault upon learning and culture caused world-wide indignation, and appeals were soon launched in Britain, the United States and elsewhere to make good the losses.

Henry Guppy, Rylands Librarian, ref. JRL 4/1/4/16.

Henry Guppy, the visionary Librarian of the John Rylands Library, spearheaded the campaign to collect books for Leuven. He and the Library’s governors ‘wished to give some practical expression to their deep feelings of sympathy with the authorities of the University of Louvain, in the irreparable loss which they have suffered, through the barbarous destruction of the University buildings and the famous library.’

Guppy put out an appeal in the Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, ‘which met with an immediate and encouraging response from all classes of the community, not only in this country, but in many parts of the world’.

By the end of 1915 some 6,000 volumes had been collected or promised. Books continued to flood into the John Rylands Library, which acted as a clearing house for donations from individuals and institutions throughout Britain. The first consignment of books was sent over to Belgium in December 1919. When the appeal closed in 1925, 55,782 volumes had been donated.

Guppy was invited to the ceremonial laying of the foundation stone of the new library on 28 July 1921, which was built largely with American funding. He was assured by one of the professors: ‘You cannot fancy what it is to have been deprived of such an indespensible tool as a library, and then to see streaming in the choice and valuable books that make it possible for us to resume our work.’

As a token of thanks, in 1924 Guppy was presented with a few charred fragments of 13th-century manuscripts recovered from the ruins of the library. They stand as sad testimony to this act of wanton destruction.

Fragments of manuscripts from Louvain Library, presented to Henry Guppy, ‘the great Restorer of the Louvain University Library’, in 1924. Rylands Latin MS 447.

Sadly, Guppy’s and others’ efforts were in vain: the library was destroyed for a second time by German forces in 1940.

You can read more about this poignant story in an excellent article by David Atkinson in the Daily Telegraph online.

A digitised version of Henry Guppy’s account of the reconstruction of the Leuven Library, in the Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, is available to download at https://www.escholar.manchester.ac.uk/uk-ac-man-scw:17m1193.

Museum Leuven is commemorating the centenary of the First World War with an exhibition, ‘Ravaged’, which continues until 1 September.

New book on John Wesley published by University of Manchester PhD graduate

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Geordan Hammond, Jeremy Gregory, John Wesley, Manchester Wesley Research Centre, Methodist Archives and Research Centre, Nazarene Theological College, Religions and Theology

John Wesley in America

Dr Geordan Hammond, a University of Manchester PhD graduate, has recently published John Wesley in America: Restoring Primitive Christianity (Oxford University Press, 2014). The book is a revision of his doctoral research completed at The University of Manchester under the supervision of Professor Jeremy Gregory in Religions & Theology. The research was made possible by Dr Hammond being the recipient of a John Rylands Research Institute Fellowship.

Much of the research for the thesis and book was based at the Methodist Archives and Research Centre within the Special Collections at The John Rylands Library, with a focus on manuscripts and rare books that shed light on Wesley’s experience as a missionary in the British colony of Georgia. The primary theme of the book is the centrality of the ideal of restoring ‘primitive Christianity’ in Wesley’s reading, thinking, and clerical practice in the colony.

After his graduation from The University of Manchester, Dr Hammond has maintained a close working relationship with The John Rylands Library through his research and role as Director of the Manchester Wesley Research Centre (MWRC), which supports research in the field of Methodist Studies. Both Religions & Theology and the Rylands Library have been partner institutions of the MWRC since its establishment in 2003.

Dr Hammond is Senior Lecturer in Church History and Wesley Studies at the Nazarene Theological College (Manchester) and Director of the Manchester Wesley Research Centre. He is also an Honorary Research Fellow of The University of Manchester. Amongst his ongoing publishing work is serving as co-editor of the journal Wesley and Methodist Studies. He was co-organizer of the June 2014 ‘George Whitefield at 300′ conference.

Dr Geordan Hammond, Director of the Manchester Wesley Research Centre

Further information about the book and Dr Hammond’s work can be found on the Manchester Wesley Research Centre website.

From Manchester to Melbourne: Gutenberg Bible on the move

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Exhibitions, Gutenberg Bible, Incunabula, Printed books

We are very excited that our copy of the magnificent Gutenberg Bible is on display for a limited time at the University of Melbourne as part of Melbourne Rare Book Week and the Cultural Treasures Festival. This Bible is the first book to be printed in Europe with moveable type, by Johann Gutenberg in Mainz around 1455.

The substantial two folio volumes are remarkable for the fine quality of the printing, executed with great care and attention to detail. The John Rylands Library copy is one of forty-eight substantially complete surviving copies, now housed in libraries across the world. Purchased by George John, 2nd Earl Spencer in 1790 it found its way to Manchester in 1892 when Enriqueta Rylands purchased the Spencer Collection of books. It includes original hand decorated initials at the beginning of each book and was probably at the Augustinian monastery in Colmar, northern France, in the fifteenth century.

The Bible goes into its display case

There are no copies in Australia, or even in the southern hemisphere, and this is the second visit ‘down under’ for the John Rylands Library copy. It was previously displayed at the National Library of Australia’s exhibition ‘Treasures of the World’s Great Libraries’ in 2001.

This copy has been digitised and is available on the University of Manchester Library’s Luna image database. The volumes are also available to download in full from the eBookTreasures site.

 

 

The exhibition opening, attended by more than 100 invited guests

The Bible will be on display for ten days only, from Friday 18th to Sunday 27th July. More information on the Melbourne exhibition and associated events can be found at http://library.unimelb.edu.au/gutenberg

Glory Through Print: Emperor Maximilian I

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Albrecht Durer, Der Theuerdank, Hans Burgkmair, Hans Schaufelein, Holtorp, Holy Roman Empire, JRRI, Leonhard Beck, Maximilian I, The Triumphal Arch, Visual Collections, Woodcuts

George Spearing writes:

The Hiero von Holtorp collection has been subject to an ongoing cataloguing project facilitated by The John Rylands Research Institute. After sifting through the majority of folders and boxes, one location appears to dominate in terms of quality and quantity, the Holy Roman Empire.

The Emperor of this vast territory, Maximilian I (1459-1519), oversaw multiple printing projects that served to commemorate his life and reign. The Rylands Library is fortunate enough to include fragments of these projects, namely the semi-biographical work entitled Der Theuerdank, and the monumental Triumphal Arch.

Theuerdank Received by Ehrenreich.

 

Der Theuerdank was first published in 1517, and formed what should have been the second installment of a semi-biographical trilogy; however, it was the only volume to be published in Maximilian’s lifetime. The text is an allegory of the Emperor’s journey to Flanders to claim his bride, Mary of Burgundy, written by both Maximilian and his chaplain Melchior Pfintzing. The text, in rhymed couplets is reminiscent of a manuscript in appearance and accompanies 118 woodcuts by Hans Burgkmair, Hans Schäufelein, and Leonhard Beck, of which seventy-seven are by Beck. Theuerdank Received by Ehrenreich (Figure 1) depicts the moment at which Maximilian (Theuerdank) reaches his future wife (Mary of Burgundy/ Ehrenreich). Seen with his companion Ernhold and in knightly armour the image depicts the Emperor as mythic prince, an exercise in reliving his youth and conveying his ability, it may have distracted him from his political failures and ‘melancholia’ of later life.

Historical Scenes – Wolf Traut

Holtorp Box 7/ Folder 1/ Sheet 40/ Obj 1 & 2

A similar project existed that served the same purpose, albeit in a less disguised format. The Triumphal Arch (1515) is one of the largest woodcuts in existence, composed of 192 blocks. It was to be sent to the nobility of the Holy Roman Empire, where it could be applied to a support and displayed in town halls or palaces. Historical scenes, patron saints, and genealogies occupy the massive architecture, designed by Albrecht Durer and his followers Hans Springinklee and Wolf Traut (whose work can be found elsewhere in the Holtorp collection). The impressions in the Holtorp collection include historical scenes by Wolf Traut (Figures 2 & 3), and a portrait of Emperor Rudolph I by Albrecht Durer (Figure 4).

Rudolph I by Albrecht Durer

Der Theuerdank and The Triumphal Arch are representative of Maximilian’s pursuit of posthumous glory and what Paul van Dyke has called ‘…a ceaseless greed for distinction’. Both functioned as an advertisement of the Emperor’s accomplishments and chivalry, making clear that Maximilian recognized the potential of both word and image in his campaign of commemoration. As well as these, the Emperor envisaged his tomb to include over 150 statues (including a colossus of himself). He also commissioned genealogies that proved his lineage to Noah, evidence of a historical awareness that always functioned to authorize his leadership and exploits. This campaign is representative of a court and country that was straddling a temporal border, with medieval content such as courtly love and chivalric contests being disseminated through an attractively cheap, multipliable, and modern medium.

Go to the John Rylands Special Collections blog for further news on the Holtorp collection, where you can choose to follow the blog via email updates. For an introduction to the collection in general, follow this link to our first blog post: Holtorp Collection – Look what we found!

[1] G. Scholz-Williams, The Literary World of Maximilian I: An annotated bibliography (St. Louis, St. Louis Center for Reformation Research: 1982), p. 1.

[1] C. Dodgson, Catalogue of Early German and Flemish Woodcuts Preserved in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum-Volume II (London, William Clowes and Sons Ltd: 1911), pp. 124-125.

[1]G. Benecke, Maximilian I (1459-1519): An Analytical Biography (London, Routledge: 1982), p. 7.

[1]P. van Dyke, ‘The Literary Activity of the Emperor Maximilian I’, The American Historical Review vol. 11/no. 1 (1905), pp. 16-28.

[1] G. Elwood Waas, The Legendary Character of Kaiser Maximilian (New York, Columbia University Press: 1941), p. 118.

 

A Woman’s Life: Blanche Marion Kay-Shuttleworth

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Angela Georgina Burdette-Coutts, Blanche Marion Kay-Shuttleworth, Coutts family, Harriet Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, Janet Elizabeth Kay-Shuttleworth, Rachel Kay-Shuttleworth, Sir James Phillips Kay-Shuttleworth, Victorian women, Women philanthropists

Jane Speller writes:

In recent weeks I have reported on the Sir James Phillips Kay-Shuttleworth archive cataloguing project.  Funded by the John Rylands Research Institute, the aim of the project is to open the rich content of the archive up to researchers here in Manchester and elsewhere.  The one thousand plus letters which mostly span 1814 to 1877 give us a particular insight into Victorian gender roles and social mores.

Women were not allowed to vote which at that time signified their status at second class citizens, and had little independence outside of the home unless they were women of means.

Blanche Marion Kay-Shuttleworth painted by Michele Gordigiani, 1876. With kind permission from the Shuttleworth family.

Blanche Marion Kay-Shuttleworth (neé Parish) married Sir James Phillips Kay-Shuttleworth’s eldest son Ughtred in 1871. Her letters to her father-in-law and other family members describe her life as wife of a Liberal MP and mistress of three households – Gawthorpe Hall near Burnley, Barbon Manor near Kirkby Lonsdale on the edge of the Lake District, and a London residence in Princes Street, Mayfair. In a letter dated 1876 she recalls how she listened in secret to the after dinner speeches of a Liberal Party meeting which was being held in the drawing room at Gawthorpe. Other letters describe having her portrait painted by Florentine painter Michele Gordigiani whilst on an extended tour of the Continent in 1876. This portrait now hangs in Leck Hall, the current home of the Shuttleworth family.

Aunt Puss and Aunt Pop are prominent figures in the letters. Puss was the eldest child of James and Janet. She spent many years nursing her sick mother at the Villa Ponente in San Remo. There was an expectation that on her mother’s death she would return to England to nurse her father, but she remained in Italy and surrounded herself with female friends. Her niece Catherine Leaf (neé Kay-Shuttleworth) recalls Puss as being, ‘…the thinnest person I’ve ever seen and one of the most saintly. She had a great sense of humour. Papa [Ughtred] said her twinkling eyes and arched eyebrows were signs of her inborn fun’. She also recalls Puss describing Charlotte Brontë’s visit to Gawthorpe, exclaiming, ‘…how short sighted she was and not attractive to children’.

Pop was Marianne North. The North and Shuttleworth families came together when Janet Shuttleworth married Frederick North, Liberal MP for Hastings, after the death of her husband Robert Shuttleworth of Gawthorpe Hall. Marianne was their eldest daughter.

Janet and her baby daughter (from her first marriage), also named Janet (the Gawthorpe heiress), lived at the North home in Hastings, East Sussex. Lady Janet Shuttleworth eventually married James Phillips Kay in 1842. Marianne was an accomplished botanical painter and travelled extensively around the world (1871-1885) painting and drawing exotic flora and fauna. She donated her work to the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, London, and built a gallery to house them in which opened in 1882. You can visit the Marianne North Gallery at Kew today.

Over the course of his life Sir James Kay-Shuttleworth made many rich and powerful friends in the worlds of politics and education. Two such friends and correspondents were Harriet Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, Duchess of Sutherland and Angela Georgina Burdette-Coutts, Baroness Burdette-Coutts. As women with large fortunes and by that token great independence, their lives are described in stark contrast to those of, for example, James’ mother Hannah, whose world revolved around her husband, sons and chapel; and his sister Hannah who spend her life looking after her mother and her three much younger brothers.

Charles Dickens, engraved by John Forster, 1872 (Ref: JRL Eng. MS 725)

Angela, daughter of the former Sophie Coutts (of the banking family Coutts), was 23 years old in 1837 when she inherited the huge fortune of £1.8 million from her grandmother the actress and great beauty, Harriet Mellon. Angela was famed for the wonderful parties and festivities that she held at her rural home, Holly Lodge in Highbury, London. Queen Victoria and Charles Dickens, a good friend, were both regular visitors to the estate. Angela was a generous philanthropist and spent the majority of her wealth on scholarships, endowments, and a wide range of charitable causes. She took a great interest in Blanche and Ughtred’s first born child, who was christened Angela Mary.

Harriet was born a Sutherland, one of the most powerful Whig families of the day. Her mother was Georgina Cavendish (neé Spencer) the celebrated Duchess of Devonshire. Harriet was, like her mother, a great society hostess and active political campaigner. She served as Mistress of the Robes for all Queen Victoria’s Whig governments until 1861. She was a great friend of Queen Victoria and used her social position to undertake various philanthropic undertakings including the protest of English women against American slavery. She and James Kay-Shuttleworth shared many political views and she supported his work, for example visiting his teacher training college at Battersea.

Rachel Kay- Shuttleworth, aged 18, miniature portrait by Mabel Lee Hankey, 1905. © Gawthorpe Textile Collection.

The Hon. Rachel Kay-Shuttleworth, daughter of Ughtred and Blanche, was the last Kay-Shuttleworth to live at Gawthorpe Hall. She died in 1967. Rachel or ‘Miss Rachel’ as she became known was a talented embroiderer and lace maker, skills she inherited from her mother. She amassed a world famous textile study collection, the Gawthorpe Textile Collection. In fitting fashion the collection is curated and cared for by a team of dedicated women. Parts of the collection can be seen on display at Gawthorpe along with work by contemporary textile artists from across the region.