Disco Babe

Above is the illustrated title page of one of our editions of  Richard Baxter's, The saint's everlasting rest, 1677.

You may ask what the title Disco Babe, has to do with a work by Richard Baxter on the saint's.....the answer is in the picture.

I will buy a coffee for person with the first correct guess, I'll post a picture of the answer in a couple of days if no one can find it.

It was discovered by Konstantina, the constervator that is currently cleaning and assessing The Angus Library collection. As a result of this she is opening and looking at every item in the collection, many of which have not been touched for well over a decade.

As she continues to clean she will come across gems like this title page which we will share them with you on this blog.

Our first discovery!!

This is the title page to the New Testament of the so-called Matthew Bible, first printed in 1537 from an edited version of William Tyndal’s translation of the New Testament and of parts of the Old Testament, supplemented by Coverdale’s 1535 Old Testament translation. Because William Tyndal had been executed in 1536 as a result of his religious beliefs, the editor John Rogers decided to print the Bible under the false name of Thomas Matthew.

This copy was recently discovered as part of our survey of the collection. Unfortunately, it was re-bound in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century, which means that the edges have been trimmed back. Our copy also misses the first few leaves of the Old Testament, including the title page, so it was rather fortunate for us that the printers decided to have a separate title page for the New Testament!

The title page is made up of different woodcuts, showing biblical scenes. A previous owner obviously decided to add his or her signature in 1804. This is not the only ownership mark in the book: an H. Bowles signed his or her name in 1664, while the front pastedown carries the bookplate of Stepney College, the predecessor of Regent’s Park College.

Danielle

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Let's go!

Welcome to the new Angus Library and Archive blog.

The main reason for starting this blog at this time is that it is a very exciting time in the life and development of the Angus.

We have a Conservation Project being undertaken alongside a Heritage Lottery Fund Project for more information about them please click on the tabs at the top of the page. 

For the first time we are assessing the collection completely including a backlog that has never been touched, and through this process we expect to find all sorts of gems as well as interesting, strange and random items, such as the Catechism from the Council of Trent, 1567.

We also have a number of new staff that are working on the various projects which will also be adding to the blog.
So as we continue on this journey of discovery come with us and see what wonders we find.