IN CONFIDENCE
THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD BLB 15/50
REPORT ON MAJOR HERITAGE ACQUISITIONS: MAY - JUNE 2015
1. PURPOSE OF THE PAPER
To inform the Board of the most notable new heritage acquisition items secured by the British Library.
2. SUMMARY
The paper gives an overview of the most significant additions to the British Library's collections within the period specified.
3. ACTION REQUESTED OF THE BOARD
The Board is invited to note the report.
Collections and Curation July 2015
FOI PUBLICATION SCHEME STATUS
Status: OPEN – to be released into the BL’s Publication Scheme without redaction
Status: OPEN with redactions – to be released with the redactions highlighted
Status: CLOSED – not to be released into the BL’s Publication Scheme
The Board is invited to ratify the proposed publication status
1 IN CONFIDENCE
THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD BLB 15/50
REPORT ON MAJOR ACQUISITIONS: MAY - JUNE 2015
During the period under review the following major heritage acquisitions have been made:
Le Magasin de l’Ile de Jersey (St Aubin, 1784-5): a complete run (10 issues) of the first publication printed on Jersey. Of great significance in the history of printing in the British Isles, this newspaper also provides vital information about the Channel Islands in the eighteenth century and their relation to the rest of the United Kingdom.
Purchased from Simon Beattie, 15 May 2015, for £12,500, drawing on the Dingwall 2 Fund.
2 Na stroike MTS i sovkhozov (At the Construction of Machine Tractor Stations and State Farms): a Soviet art-illustrated monthly magazine; published by the IZOGIZ publishing house; 1934-1937. Seven issues were designed by El Lissitzky. Full run of 33 issues in 32 physical volumes.
Purchased from PRODUCTIVE ARTS, 19 May 2015 for $40,724.59.
Magna Carta: the first state, on vellum, of John Pine’s engraving of the British Library’s fire-damaged 1215 Magna Carta (Cotton Charter XIII 31A), London, 1733. A near-faithful reproduction of the text of the charter and of its seal, embellished with the shields of the 25 barons who forced King John to grant Magna Carta.
Purchased at Bloomsbury Auctions, 21 May 2015, for £22,746.
3 D’Oyly-Carte Opera Company: correspondence and papers relating to the company: 1882-1998. Included are extensive correspondence relating to performers and performances, audition notes, photographs,prompt books, notes on productions, ledger-books and other financial records, personal papers and printed ephemera. Supplements the Library’s outstanding Gilbert and Sullivan collections. Grants from the Friends of the British Library and the D’Oyly-Carte Charitable Trust, totalling £46,765, will cover the costs of cataloguing the archive.
Purchased from Christie’s, 3 June 2015, for £125,000.
Sir Albert Hastings Markham (1841-1918): sixteen journals relating partly to his exploration of the Arctic, Kara Sea and Hudson’s Bay; 1873-1902. One journal recounts and illustrates the expedition led by Sir George Nares that achieved the record of Farthest North and was the last of the British naval expeditions to the Arctic. Others relate to Markham’s voyages with the Royal Navy in the Arctic area, Mediterranean and Pacific.
Purchased at Bonham’s, 24 June 2015, for £177,975, drawing on the T.S. Blakeney Fund and with support from the Friends of the British Library and Eccles Centre for American Studies.
4 Sir Andrew Motion (born 1952): third tranche of the archive of Andrew Motion, comprising poetry notebooks, typescripts, working papers and business correspondence; 2010-2015. In addition, the acquisition includes lifetime accruals, namely all future literary and related papers, including emails and digital content.
Purchased from Sir Andrew Motion, 26 June 2015, for £12,500.
Poetry Notebook of Andrew Motion, 2015
Due Diligence guidelines have been followed for all acquisitions made during this period. Heritage Purchases above £10,000 in value are compliant with the Library's policy and processes for single tender applications for this type of material. Donations above £10,000 are capitalised and are reported in the Library's annual report. The potential for obtaining or licensing IPR has been explored as part of the process of each acquisition.
Collections and Curation June 2015
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