What happened to all the structural pieces of this library/room between 1974 until it was all re-installed in the ‘new’ 2013 Library of Birmingham ? If in storage, it was there for nearly 40 years !Viv.
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Shakespeare Memorial Library/Room
- Thread starter Vivienne14
- Start date
Pedrocut
Master Barmmie
From the Iron Room, Birmingham Libraries...to be digitised.
“The Birmingham Shakespeare collection is internationally significant and contains 100,000 items including rare artwork, posters, scrapbooks, programmes and music scores in 93 different languages...”
theironroom.wordpress.com
“The Birmingham Shakespeare collection is internationally significant and contains 100,000 items including rare artwork, posters, scrapbooks, programmes and music scores in 93 different languages...”
Everything to Everybody: update from the Project Archivist
As it is Shakespeare’s birthday on Friday, I thought it was a fitting time to update you on one of the Library’s current projects Everything to Everybody. If you have not heard about it before, thi…
theironroom.wordpress.com
The Shakespeare Memorial Room is on Floor 10 of The Library of Birmingham. It has a fine collection of books, but I suspect no-one is allowed to look at them unless by prior arrangement. A modern edition of Hamlet is more useful to me than the First Folio and digital editions are widely used by scholars these days. Anyway, I've seen the Shakespeare Room in all three libraries now. Photo taken in January 2022. I have very mixed views about the latest incarnation of Birmingham Library, when it is open it isn't really congenial for reading a book. I'm pleased that a bit of the old Reference Library has been preserved.
I like 'proper books' on paper, but here is the 'Bad Quarto' of Hamlet 1603 (one of only two surviving copies). The interest is in that it seems to be an early performance copy put together by actors who were in a production. I've never seen it performed yet, it is surprisingly different from the folio.(1623)
https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/bad-quarto-of-hamlet-1603
https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/bad-quarto-of-hamlet-1603
Pedrocut
Master Barmmie
By accident came across the fire of 11 January 1879.
”Destruction of the Central Free Library...Loss of Reference and Shakespeare Libraries."
The Mayor rushed to help, but there was no chance of checking the fire so he directed the assistants to cases containing the works belonging to the Shakespeare Memorial Library which had been transferred to the Reference room pending alterations.
The Mayor broke the glass on the Shakespeare cases and helped get out some of the books before the room filled with smoke. Upwards of 200 volumes were taken, but those closest to the fire could not be reached…
”Destruction of the Central Free Library...Loss of Reference and Shakespeare Libraries."
The Mayor rushed to help, but there was no chance of checking the fire so he directed the assistants to cases containing the works belonging to the Shakespeare Memorial Library which had been transferred to the Reference room pending alterations.
The Mayor broke the glass on the Shakespeare cases and helped get out some of the books before the room filled with smoke. Upwards of 200 volumes were taken, but those closest to the fire could not be reached…
The original Shakespeare Memorial Library was the first place in the world to open a library dedicated to the works and ideas of Shakespeare. Created by George Dawson and some of his contemporaries in 1868, a room was created containing the special collection, the room being freely available to all.
John H Chamberlain was responsible for re-building the old Central Library after the original building was gutted by fire in 1879. The Shakespeare Memorial room opened off the new wing of the L shaped reading room of the reference library on the first floor of the building. The collection outgrew this room in 1906.
The room was dismantled in 1974 and stored at the city’s Sheepcote Street depot in poor environmental conditions. (This answers the question in post #1). Eventually it was re-built as part of the School of Music complex in 1986.
The colour photo below is that of the currently installed Shakespeare Memorial Library on the 9th floor of today's Library of Birmingham
John H Chamberlain was responsible for re-building the old Central Library after the original building was gutted by fire in 1879. The Shakespeare Memorial room opened off the new wing of the L shaped reading room of the reference library on the first floor of the building. The collection outgrew this room in 1906.
The room was dismantled in 1974 and stored at the city’s Sheepcote Street depot in poor environmental conditions. (This answers the question in post #1). Eventually it was re-built as part of the School of Music complex in 1986.
The colour photo below is that of the currently installed Shakespeare Memorial Library on the 9th floor of today's Library of Birmingham
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400 years since the printing of the First Folio. An interesting web site. https://folio400.com
'Shakespeare in Birmingham' exhibition
- Date: 30th November 2023
- Location: Library of Birmingham ,
Centenary Square,
Broad Street,
Birmingham B1 2ND - Time: 11:00 - 19:00
- Cost: Free
- Shakespeare Memorial Room, Level 9, Library of Birmingham
- This exhibition tells the story of how the Birmingham Shakespeare Collection came to be, and how it still resonates with the diverse city today.
