(Friends of the National Libraries.)
The Blavatnik Honresfield Library: saved for the nation.
[Edited by Nell Hoare, Kathryn Sutherland and Joan Winterkorn.]
Description:
FIRST EDITION, lavishly illustrated throughout,
pp. 144, 4to,
Publication Details:
Friends of the National Libraries, 2023
Notes: A very handsomely produced record of what Geordie Greig refers to in his introduction as 'the extraordinary story of one of the most dramatic funding battles in the art world'. The material in question was a library, comprising both printed and manuscript material of extraordinary quality, assembled by two Victorian-industrialist brothers, William and Alfred Law, at Honresfield House in Littleborough towards the end of the nineteenth-century; its emphasis was in work of the nineteenth-century, with strengths in the literature of Scotland and Northern England, and a notably good representation...moreA very handsomely produced record of what Geordie Greig refers to in his introduction as 'the extraordinary story of one of the most dramatic funding battles in the art world'. The material in question was a library, comprising both printed and manuscript material of extraordinary quality, assembled by two Victorian-industrialist brothers, William and Alfred Law, at Honresfield House in Littleborough towards the end of the nineteenth-century; its emphasis was in work of the nineteenth-century, with strengths in the literature of Scotland and Northern England, and a notably good representation of female authors – including Jane Austen and the Brontës who, local to their birthplace, evidently had special resonance for these particular collectors. Following the successive deaths of the brothers, the library passed to their nephew, also called Alfred Law, but disappeared from view following his death in 1939 – remaining largely intact and in private hands thenceforth. In early 2021, Sotheby's announced a three-part sale of the collection, to take place in July - before the Friends of the National Libraries (FNL) intervened. This is the story of their monumental effort, a feat of collaboration that placed the collection's constituent parts at various appropriate locations in England and Scotland, and a description of the collection's many (and staggering) highlights. HIDE
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