Newsletter Canterbury Cathedral Archives and Library Seeing Round Corners
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Newsletter Canterbury Cathedral Archives and Library Seeing Round Corners n 2015 a team from the Turner Contemporary in Margate visited the Cathedral to explore ways in which the two organisations could work together. This has proved to be a fruitful relationship I resulting in the loan of three historic books from the Library collections as part of the international gallery’s summer show, Seeing Round Corners, which ran from May to September 2016. The exhibition was curated by artists David Ward and Jonathan Parsons with the Turner Contemporary. The displays explored how artists have responded to the phenomenon of the circle, the disc or the sphere. The three items were two Books of Hours and our copy of the Nuremburg Chronicle. The Books of Hours are part of a 19th-century gift from Benjamin Harrison, residentiary canon at the Cathedral. Both books are written in French and have parchment pages. The 1450 Book of Hours is a high- status manuscript, written by a scribe and illustrated by an artist. The illustrations and the text are enhanced with gold leaf. The text of the 1516 Book of Hours is printed on parchment with illustrations painted by an artist. The gold used in this book is coloured paint rather than gold leaf. The illustrations exhibited show circles being used to illustrate the status of saints. The copy of the Nuremberg Chronicle is a first edition, printed in 1493 in Nuremberg. The paper is of a very high quality and was probably made in the paper mill at Nuremberg. The book is a history of the Christian world told in chronological order starting with the creation of the world and is extensively illustrated throughout. The illustration chosen for the exhibition depicts the creation of the world through a series of concentric circles. If you would like to read more about the Nuremburg Chronicle follow this link: http://www.canterbury-cathedral.org/2016/05/09/in-the-beginning-there-were-spheres- of-angels/ ther items which have been recently on loan from the Cathedral’s collections include items from the OHubert Walter vestments, as well as items from the Black Prince’s Achievements. These were lent to the Victoria & Albert Museum in London for its exhibition ‘Opus Anglicanum: masterpieces of English medieval embroidery’, which finished in early February 2017. For more information see: http://www.canterbury- cathedral.org/2016/05/19/cathedral-collection-captures- the-publics-imagination/ Newsletter 4956 | | Spring Summer 2017 2011 Shakespeare 400 celebrations 2016 marked the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death; he died on 23rd April 1616 at the age of 52. The Archives and Library worked closely with The Canterbury Journey and external partners on a programme of events to support the Shakespeare anniversary. We are fortunate that the Cathedral Archives and Library is home to a wide range of items dating back to the period during which Shakespeare was writing and performing. During the anniversary year, the Library hosted a high number of visits to see displays featuring some of these items, which include The Complete Works of Shakespeare, also known as the ‘Second Folio’ (the second edition), printed in 1632; an early edition of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales (a much revered author of the time); and Holinshed’s Chronicle, from which Shakespeare took many of the plots for his history plays. Included in the Archives holding are the accounts for Fordwich showing payments to the King’s Players in the early 17th century. These were featured in the BBC’s Countryfile series, with Judy Dench, in an episode devoted to Shakespeare. Several local schools came along to participate in a Shakespeare-themed workshop organised and hosted by the Schools Department. During the visit the children made their own version of an ‘herbal’ (a book of herbs), which they illustrated with copies of woodcuts used in original books and some relevant Shakespearean quotations. The children also visited the Library to see the ‘real’ herbals and other books printed during Shakespeare’s lifetime as well as visiting the Cathedral herb garden to touch and smell the living herbs. John Shirland, one of our Cathedral Guides, ran a series of linked lectures and visits which included a Shakespeare-themed tour around the Cathedral followed by a visit to the Library with Karen Brayshaw. The series was originally intended to be for the guides and volunteers who support the Cathedral’s Visits and Schools Departments, but was then extended to Friends Open Day and the Youth Forum. The tours and talks given by John were called ‘Shakespeare’s Fathers and Sons’ and included visiting the tombs of the Black Prince and Henry IV, both of whom feature in Shakespeare’s history plays. In the Library the groups were able to see books from Shakespeare’s lifetime as well as books which were printed as a result of Shakespeare’s works. John was particularly interested in the second edition of Holinshed’s Chronicle, which contains one of the earliest occasions of Edward, Prince of Wales, being referred to as ‘The Black Prince’. For further information please see the following links: http://www.canterbury-cathedral.org/2016/04/06/celebrating-shakespeare-400-faces-and-folios/ http://www.canterbury-cathedral.org/2016/04/19/john-shares-his-shakespeare-cathedral-tour/ 2 RNIB Sensing Culture project Mixed media and textile workshops for adults with sight loss ocal blind and partially sighted adults, Cathedral volunteers and staff have been taking part in creative workshops in the Archives and Library, inspired by Canterbury Cathedral and its collections. LLed by mixed media artist Wendy Daws and textile artist Claire Buckley, the workshops form part of the wider HLF funded RNIB Sensing Culture project, which aims to increase accessibility and activities for this important audience at heritage venues across the South East. Partners include the RNIB, Oxford Museums, Brighton Museums, Lewes Castle and Anne of Cleves House, and the Conan Doyle Collection in Portsmouth - as well as the Beaney, the Kent Association for the Blind and the Canterbury Macular Society here in Canterbury. Participants have enjoyed finding out about the Cathedral, taking part in audio described ‘touch tours’ and object investigation sessions, and making a creative response in a range of different media. So far the group has investigated replica items from the Bargrave Cabinet of Curiosities (including a rhino tooth and mummified Frenchman’s finger); explored wooden carvings of dragons and pelicans on the stalls and misericords in the Quire; and taken part in a touch tour of the tomb of Archbishop Randall Davidson in the Trinity Chapel. Participants have responded in a range of media including craft foil, one metre long charcoal pencils and decorative wire! Workshops have been inclusive with blind and partially sighted participants, Sensing Culture volunteers, and Archives and Library staff and volunteers learning and creating art together. The sessions have been great fun; new friendships have been made; and everyone has visibly grown in confidence week by week - including some who are engaging in art for the first time in many years. Artwork from the project also featured in an exhibition in the Beaney Front Room in December 2016. Newsletter 56 | Spring 2017 3 Festival of Ideas ur collections featured in a number of projects showcased during the ‘Festival of Ideas: Questions of Space’, held on 20th-21st June 2016. This Festival was the result of a collaboration between the Cathedral and the University of Kent. A number of academics Opresented their work over the two days, with exhibitions, tours and talks. The ‘Unlocking Canterbury’ project presented by Catherine Richardson, Danielle van den Heuvel and Avril Leach featured a 17th- century map from the archive collection of Canterbury City. The map was presented in the Chapter House as a greatly enlarged copy which visitors could walk on. On the map were ‘listening posts’ with recordings read from contemporary written records held in the archive; these brought the map to life, and afforded fascinating insights into the city at this time. Another project, ‘Bird’s Eye View’, also in the Chapter House, centred on a printed map made by Dr Christopher Packe in the 18th century. The Cathedral once owned a copy of this, but it no longer survives; the copy displayed was lent by Canterbury Museums. On display in the reading room were some items from our collections, including printed and manuscript maps and Packe’s marriage and burial entries. For a video, see https://www.kent.ac.uk/publicengagement/questions-of-space.html 4 UNESCO Memory of the World Register e are delighted that the medieval archive of the cathedral priory, as held in the Archives and Library, has secured inclusion in the UNESCO UK Memory of the World Register. W The medieval archive dates from the 9th century to the dissolution of the priory in 1541, and amounts to some 17,000 individual documents. It constitutes one of the best medieval monastic archives in the UK. The collection was one of the seven new ‘inscriptions’ made in 2016. The awards were presented by the First Minister of Wales, Carwyn Jones, to representatives of the various archives at an event hosted by the Welsh Government at the Senedd in Cardiff on 21st June. UNESCO established the Memory of the World (MoW) Programme in 1992. The programme vision is that the world’s documentary heritage belongs to all, and should be fully preserved and protected for all and permanently accessible to all without hindrance. The UK Register recognises documentary heritage deemed by a panel of experts to be of outstanding significance to the UK. It now lists 57 entries. Another of the new inclusions is the ‘Exeter Book’ held by Exeter Cathedral.