In these strange times we have been looking for new ways to 'gather' friends together, and it has highlighted the human urge to keep in contact with others, something with many more possibilities now, than there would have been a decade or two ago. Bronze of Moelwyn Merchant, by Bryan Ellery. Image from 'Moelwyn Merchant,... Continue Reading →
The Fourth of June is the occasion when Eton College celebrates the birthday of George III, a great supporter of the school, with a grand festival of speeches, cricket and the procession of boats. 2020 has brought unique circumstances and with these, a unique Fourth of June, as we celebrate from our homes and connect online.... Continue Reading →
MS 178 Folio 57 recto. Photographer Julia Craig-McFeely. The Eton Choirbook has under gone a vivid history. It is one of three surviving volumes of exquisite, Latin illuminated manuscripts. It has been loved as an instrument of the Catholic faith, later at the mercy of religious and political changes where relics, icons and artifacts of... Continue Reading →
In 1943, the success of Allied military campaigns in North Africa saw a great turning point in the war. The Allied forces' success in the campaign was a turning point because it involved their first major victories, and eventually allowed them to invade Europe from the south. This enabled them to gain a foothold in... Continue Reading →
Pick of the Collections: Weekly podcast segment for Eton College Radio
Eton MS 265, a late 15th century Netherlandish Book of Hours. A favourite of the Deputy Librarian's, who wrote a post about it here: https://etoncollegecollections.wordpress.com/2017/01/30/easter/
We discovered this intriguing item in a box last week. It's a bone inscribed in Irish in the nineteenth century with the Ten Commandments. More information here: https://twitter.com/EtonCollLibrary/status/1238146678823309318?s=20
The Eton Choirbook, a rare and lovely survival of early Tudor choral music, does not, sadly, contain any Christmas carols. Carols were around in the years 1500 to 1504, when the choirbook was being made. They have their roots in the early middle ages, when Christmas music was either liturgical (the sequences of hymns assigned... Continue Reading →
It probably will not come as a surprise to you that Eton College Library is haunted. While you may be sceptical of the paranormal, I believe everyone can enjoy a good ghost story. Not the least of which is old Etonian, M. R. James. James was a medievalist and scholar, but he is best remembered... Continue Reading →
Summer 2019 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Moon landings. Earth’s only satellite has been humankind’s constant companion, and its regular phases of waxing and waning inspired some of the earliest ways of measuring time and setting calendars. Its gravitational forces combine with those of the Sun and with the rotation of the earth to... Continue Reading →
