By James Brigden, rare books cataloguer
On 20 December 1812, the Brothers Grimm published the first volume of their famous fairy tales, entitled Kinder- und Hausmärchen which translates as Children’s and Household Tales, but which is popularly known as Grimms’ Fairy Tales.
Continue readingBy James Brigden, rare books cataloguer
In 2020, renowned science historian Professor James A. Secord donated a trove of 19th and early 20th century books to Homerton College Library. Chiefly comprising works of popular science and science education, these items are a magnificent addition to the special collections at Homerton.
Focusing on seven of these books, this pictorial post will hold up a magnifying glass to a particular part of the natural world that’s crawling across their pages – the phylum Euarthropoda, which includes insects and arachnids, among others.
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From Monday 28 June 2021, seat bookings are no longer required to study in the Library or use the computers. We will review this for the start of Michaelmas Term 2021.
You need to wear a face covering at all times while in the Library, and keep a 2m distance from others. Staff are available at the issue desk between 9am and 4pm on weekdays to help with any questions.
You’re welcome to borrow books from the Library using our self-issue machine. If you haven’t borrowed from us before you may need to speak to staff who can set up your account. Come to the issue desk with any questions!
Continue readingEaster term is in full swing and everyone is busy with exams, so we’ve made a handy summary of Library services which are available to students who are on site this term! There’s a twin post about remote and online services which are available to everyone, so click through for additional information.
Computers, printers and scanners
Using the collections and borrowing books
Continue readingEaster term is in full swing and everyone is busy with exams, so we’ve made a handy summary of how the Library can support you remotely whether or not you’re not in Cambridge! There’s a twin post about physical services which are available to students who are on site, so click through if that applies to you.
Online resources & collections
Continue readingBy James Brigden, rare books cataloguer
In this blog post we delve into the closed stacks to uncover the secrets of two of Homerton College Library’s most curious primers, a hornbook and a temperance primer.
Continue readingIn this post:
Homerton College Library display
It’s Mental Health Awareness Week and this year’s theme is Nature. We’ve put together a themed display in the Library – have a look and feel free to borrow things! We’ve also ordered a few new books specifically centred around connecting with nature as part of wellbeing, which we’ll add to the display as they arrive.
By James Brigden, rare books cataloguer
Come put a spring in your step by feasting on our banquet of illustrated books from the vaults of Homerton’s special collections. Visual Delights, our exhibition of rare books this Easter Term, showcases some of the most aesthetically-pleasing material from the closed stacks of the college library.
Continue readingEaster term is starting soon, but exam pressure doesn’t mean you should stop looking after yourself! We’ve put together some ideas and resources that can help you build in breaks and keep an eye on your mental wellbeing.
Guest post by Mariah Whelan, Homerton’s Poet-in-Residence
On Sunday 21st March 2021, people around the world will celebrate UNESCO’s World Poetry Day. While we can’t get together in-person for live events this year, one thing we can do is enjoy reading poetry.
As a poet, I read poems every day. Each morning, before I start work on edits or admin, I grab a pencil and spend half an hour leafing through a collection. Reading poems plays a huge role in my writing practice. In this blog, I’ll go over why I read poetry and how to read poems as a writer, and I’ll share some of my reading recommendations.
Continue readingIt’s the thing you’ve all been waiting for: our third and final study skills video! Learn everything you need to know to get your referencing skills up to speed, including how to use a reference management software like Zotero. This kind of referencing tool can save you a vast amount of time, so we really recommend using one, especially if you’re working on a larger project like a dissertation. But even if you’re just writing essays at the moment it’s still worth having a go – that way you will already be familiar with it when you move on to writing longer papers.
You can access a video transcript here, and the video has also been added to the Library videos page.
If you haven’t watched them yet, check out our other two study skills videos: plagiarism, and literature searching and evaluating sources!
The College Library is re-opening as a study space on Monday 8th March 2021 at 9.30am. To study in the library, you will need to book a study space online via our booking form. Instructions on how to book can be found in our “Book a seat” blog post. We’ll be very happy to have you back in the Library!
It’s World Book Day, and reading continues to be one of our favourite ways to temporarily escape the reality of living through a pandemic. With that in mind, each member of our team is sharing a title or two that they have enjoyed recently – maybe you will find some inspiration! We’ve provided iDiscover links for books we have in the Library.
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As LGBT+ History Month comes to a close, we’re taking a look back at what libraries in Cambridge have been doing to mark the occasion this year. With life happening mostly online this February, staff have had to get creative and have come up with great ways of sharing resources remotely.
There have also been plenty of physical displays where users currently have access to library spaces, but none of us have been able to visit many libraries to see all the displays, and we’re hoping that this virtual tour will provide some of the joy that comes with seeing our community represented in so many places at once.
So without further ado, let’s dive straight in…
Continue readingThe second video in our study skills video series is now available to watch! This one will teach you the basics of literature searching and evaluating sources – the perfect primer if you’re just starting on a longer essay or dissertation. Building a solid search strategy from the beginning will make your life a lot easier, and critical evaluation is a useful skill in quite literally any academic context.
You can access a video transcript here, and the video has also been added to the Library videos page.
Also check out our video about plagiarism if you haven’t watched it already, and look out for the next one about referencing!
Arnold Lobel is one of the most famous picturebook artists in history. Born in 1933 and raised in upstate New York, Lobel studied at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and worked in advertising before finding success as an illustrator in the early 1960s. He went on to write and illustrate dozens of children’s books until his death in 1987, including many with his wife, Anita, also a famous children’s author and illustrator. Lobel is best known for his Frog and Toad books – a set of short stories about a pair of eponymous amphibians who are neighbours and best friends. Frog and Toad are often celebrated as queer characters, perhaps symbolising Lobel’s own life as a closeted gay man; he came out in his mid-forties in the 1970s, later moving out of the family home to reside in Greenwich Village. While the pastoral scenes of the Frog and Toad series are far removed from the gay urban enclaves of New York City, their quietly loving relationship echoes Lobel’s self-discovery and continues to resonate with LGBTQ+ people. Indeed, the queerness of the two characters is generally accepted as canon.
In a wonderful recent blog post Kyle Lukoff calls Frog and Toad ‘the most famous gay couple in children’s literature’ and argues that the books ought to be celebrated as covert queer classics of American children’s literature. Juxtaposing his personal reflection with analysis of each of the four books, Lukoff reveals how themes of the closet and romantic friendship are woven into the depiction of these two amphibian characters. In 2016, Lobel’s daughter Adrianne Lobel notes in this New Yorker article that the first Frog and Toad book was published four years before her father told the family he was gay. She explains that Frog and Toad ‘are of the same sex, and they love each other […] It was quite ahead of its time in that respect.’ She goes on to say that the series ‘really was the beginning of him coming out.’ In other words, while the pair’s relationship never declares itself, its implications are surprisingly pronounced.
For LGBT+ History Month 2021, we have compiled Homerton’s copies of Lobel’s books into an exhibition at the Library entrance. This includes some of his earliest titles such as Lucille, a sublimely mad tale of a gender-nonconforming horse; all four heart-wrenchingly endearing Frog and Toad titles; and a recently acquired first edition of his final picturebook, The Turnaround Wind. This last title was published posthumously after Lobel’s AIDS-related death in 1987. Its strange story of a sudden storm descending on a community of people and turning everything upside-down makes an obvious allegory for the AIDS crisis that caused Lobel’s death. The book’s innovative design is testament to Lobel’s singular approach to picturebooks: the devastating storm transforms the characters into a series of optical illusions, with the book demanding to be physically turned around by the reader in order to be understood. As Gareth B. Matthews notes in his review, the intriguing design asks the reader ‘to reflect on whether some turnaround wind in our lives might help us see those around us in startling ways that will reveal some thing we had previously missed.’ Matthews goes on to note the unsettling, unresolved ending. Once the storm is over and the community is asleep, the picturebook lingers on the ambiguous character of the thief, still awake, prowling the streets looking for things to steal.
As far as I can see, Lobel’s sexuality and the cause of his death were not publicised at the time, due to the vitriolic homophobia of that earlier time. His obituary in the New York Times made no allusions to his sexuality, the basis of the heart attack that caused his death, or even his divorce from his wife, suggesting the secrecy that surrounded his identity. His fame among children must have made that privacy all the more important. Yet these parts of his life are still plain to see for those who know what to look for. In a second obituary written by James Marshall, another prominent gay American picturebook artist, an unnamed fatal illness is inferred, and a man named Howard Weiner is credited with taking ‘such good care of him at the end.’ Weiner was Lobel’s lover – the Frog to his Toad, if you like.
As Lukoff notes in his blog post, it is too simple to seek parallels between Lobel and Weiner and Frog and Toad, even though Weiner was short like Toad, and Lobel tall like Frog. (As Lukoff puts it, your heart will break if you think about it too much.) In fact, Lukoff notes that the pair only met as the final book in the series was underway in the late 1970s. But no matter how we interpret their biographical context, the Frog and Toad books nevertheless evoke an intimacy which was often too controversial to articulate in the rigidly heterosexist arena of children’s culture. Hidden in plain sight, their idyll continues, indirect and yet candid, calling us to imagine different futures and lost pasts.
The Frog and Toad books are primers, teaching their audience many things: how to read, how to analyze literature, or how to be partners in a supportive relationship. The resistance to reading the characters as gay connects with the homophobic nature of culture but also with their being in children’s books. Just as students, thinking of children’s texts only in terms of utilitarian effects on audience and lulled by the seeming simplicity of the stories, initially do not see anything much to talk about in Frog and Toad Together, so too a general sense that children, and thus children’s stories, have no connection to ‘adult concerns’ such as sexuality leads to reaction against considering the presence of such concerns. This response occurs despite the fact that children live in the adult world and are exposed constantly to adult concerns in their lives.
Rosenberg, Teya. “Arnold Lobel’s Frog and Toad Together as a Primer for Critical Literacy” The Oxford Handbook of Children’s Literature, edited by Julia L. Mickenberg and Lynne Vallone. Oxford UP, 2011, pp. 71-91.
All of the Frog and Toad stories are based on adult preoccupations really. I was able to tilt them somehow so that a child could appreciate them too, but I think that adults also enjoy them — and I think that’s probably why. It’s because they’re really adult stories, slightly disguised as children’s stories (p. 74)
Lobel, Arnold. Interview with Roni Natov and Geraldine Deluca. The Lion and the Unicorn, vol. 1, no. 1, 1977, pp. 72-96.
But people assume that because you write children’s books you have a special rapport with children. It’s not so. Some of the greatest people in children’s books, both past and present, have never been near a child […] Sendak, I don’t think, has ever been within two feet of a child. He doesn’t have any children in his life. Writing is something else again. You take it out of the child in yourself. It doesn’t mean to write a children’s book you have a special rapport with children on a social level. There’s a statue in Central Park of Hans Christian Andersen with children climbing all over it. Hans Christian Andersen was a fussy, prissy, old maid of a bachelor, and I don’t think he would have children anywhere within 10 miles of him. (p. 82)
Lobel, Arnold. Interview with Roni Natov and Geraldine Deluca. The Lion and the Unicorn, vol. 1, no. 1, 1977, pp. 72-96.
Lobel’s animal characters, like [Beatrix] Potter’s rabbits and kittens and her frog, Jeremy Fisher – are not cute or at all cuddly. They display a full range of human emotions and foibles. And their simple adventures, which emphasize the centrality of friendship, make them equally timeless. (p. 145)
Zipes, Jack et al. (Editors). The Norton Anthology of Children’s Literature. Norton, 2005.
There was always something appropriate about Arnold Lobel, appropriate in the very best sense. When he learned he had a fatal illness, he tried to convince himself and his friends that perhaps it was, after all, an appropriate time to die. But he soon gave up that notion. He realized that there was nothing at all appropriate about a man dying at the height of his creative powers. It was a horrible thing, and it was sad. He would not have called it a tragedy. We know it is.
Marshall, James. “Arnold Lobel – Obituary.” The Horn Book. 1 May 1988, https://www.hbook.com/?detailStory=arnold-lobel
But facing the fact that, as he put it, the jig was up, he conducted himself in an extraordinary way. When I asked him how he could be so brave, he became annoyed. He didn’t like that kind of talk. He said that bravery had nothing to do with it and that it wasn’t really so difficult to die. He said he’d decided to approach it as his new job, something that he had to do as well as he could.
If you are resident in the College, you are welcome to come and see the exhibition in the Library entrance area on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays during Click & Collect hours (10.30-12.00 and 13.00-15.30). Please note that we can currently only allow one person to view the exhibition at a time. We hope to keep the exhibition up as the current national restrictions ease in the weeks ahead, to allow interested non-residents to view the exhibition in the future. I write this with the perennial caveat that the pandemic makes planning ahead uncertain! Feel free to email library@homerton.cam.ac.uk for more information.
Written by Gabriel Duckels.
This year we’ve converted our Lent Term study skills session into handy bite-size videos that you can watch in your own time. The first video tells you all about plagiarism, and we have two more coming up: one on finding and assessing sources, and one about referencing.
Being informed about plagiarism is important, especially so you don’t accidentally do it! Whether you’re currently writing weekly essays or working on a dissertation, it’s always the right time to get into good working habits.
You can access a video transcript here, and the video has also been added to the Library videos page.
It has been a year now since my previous post about Homerton College Library’s Lealan Collection (a collection of rare children’s literature). Welcome back!
Previously, I have explored ways to date books using bibliographies, provenance, author research, printer’s codes, publishing history, standard sources of information such as the British Library, and by examination of the contents such as hairstyles depicted and lists of previous titles.
In this post I will briefly look at some examples of books that I have dated through historical context – this may be from a stamp or piece of ephemera in the item, or from a clue in the contents of the work. This was briefly touched upon in my last post.
I will also look at several selected special items that I have catalogued since the last post.
As always, to locate any of the items mentioned in this post, simply type the quoted classmark (e.g. LEA.MON.331) directly into the search box on iDiscover.
Dating the ‘undateables’: Historical context
Ned Myers [LEA.MON.331]
The biographical details of an artist or author can sometimes yield clues as to the date of a book.
Here is an undated book published by Collins’ Clear-Type Press. This title was first published in 1843 by Richard Bentley, so it is clearly not a first edition. It is certainly not before 1892, either, as Collins’ Clear-Type Press was not founded until that year. A dated inscription in the library’s copy gives us a terminus ante quem of 1909. The lower date can be brought closer to 1909 with the knowledge that the illustrator of this edition, E.S. Hodgson, was not active as a book illustrator until 1896.
So now the gap of uncertainty has been reduced to 13 years. Can this be improved upon? A copy for sale online at the time of writing matches the Homerton copy in physical and bibliographic description and has an inscription dated 1907. This and the Homerton copy both bear much more of a resemblance to other Collins books from around 1907 than to Collins books from around 1915, which is the date given for this Hodgson-illustrated title on Bear Alley (an authoritative blog that focuses on book art and its history). This is where the research trail runs cold.
Estimated date of item: between 1896 and 1909
Round the Year with Enid Blyton. Winter Time [LEA.MON.120d]
This item provides another opportunity to show how we can date an item based on what we know about an author’s life.
This title was first published in 1934, but we know the copy in question is a later edition because the address on the preface is ‘Green Hedges’, to which Blyton did not move to until 1938.
The 1934 edition had the address as ‘Old Thatch’, an established way of dating these first editions, which were also published without dates.
An inscription on our copy is dated 1951. Thus we have our terminus post quem of 1938 and a terminus ante quem of 1951. Judging by the style and ageing of the book, however, it is most likely that this item is much closer to this later second date.
Estimated date of item: 1950
David Livingstone and Alexander Mackay [LEA.MON.377]
Occasionally, real historical events or persons in the contents of the book lend a hand with the dating of the edition.
This non-fiction work was first published in the 1890s, though under a different title. This edition must, if not a first therefore, be a reissue, with an updated ‘prefatory note’ which speaks of the Cape to Cairo railway having just been built up to Victoria Falls (which happened in 1904). The English Catalogue of Books for 1906 describes the May 1906 publication of this work as the “new edition”. Therefore, it cannot have been any earlier than 1904, and is most likely in fact this 1906 edition.
Estimated date of item: between 1904 and 1906
Lavender at the High School [LEA.MON.620]
This novel was first published in 1927, but it is easily identifiable as (probably) dating from 1942.
Though undated, it bears the logo, pictured above, of the ‘Book Production War Economy Standard’. Paper shortages in wartime Britain led to paper rationing from 1940, and later the government agreed a set of standards with the Publishers Association stipulating rules for print size, blank pages, and words per page, among other things. The agreement took effect from 1st January 1942. The British Library gives the date of the reissue of this title as 1941, so a date of 1942 is a safe bet; the book standards agreement ended in 1949, but this is probably much too late for this edition.
Estimated date of item: 1942
Edwin the Boy Outlaw [LEA.MON.432]
This ‘new edition’ is, like the first edition of 1887, undated. So how can we date this new edition?
The book gives us a clue in the form of its dedication. Here we can glean historical biographical information to help us narrow down a date.
On page [5] of the book there is a dedication from the author to Lord Avebury (John Lubbock, 1834-1913). The baronetcy of Avebury was created on 22 January 1900. The upper date for this edition is from an inscription on our copy dated Christmas 1906.
Estimated date of item: between 1900 and 1906
Weird and wonderful: a few selected items catalogued in 2020
Doctor Dolittle’s Caravan [LEA.MON.574]
Hugh Lofting (1886-1947) was born in Maidenhead, UK, but lived for around half of his life in the United States, where many of his famous series of books, Doctor Dolittle, were first published. An MIT-trained civil engineer and veteran of the First World War, Lofting wrote and illustrated a total of 12 books about the eponymous doctor that talks to the animals, including two that were published posthumously.
In Doctor Dolittle’s Caravan, Dr. John Dolittle takes his circus to London, and with the help of the canary Pippinella, he stages a bird opera.
This copy from the Lealan Collection, with the frontispiece plate shown above, is of the second impression of the UK edition, printed in 1929.
Robinson Crusoe [LEA.MON.280]
These plates by Elenore Plaisted Abbott (1875-1935) were first produced for an edition of Robinson Crusoe published in 1919 in London, two hundred years after Daniel Defoe brought the world one of its most famous literary heroes. Abbott was an eminent American artist who among many other works illustrated editions of such classics as Grimm’s Fairy Tales and Kidnapped. This is the only Abbott-illustrated title at Homerton.
The Secret of the Everglades [LEA.MON.605a]
Prolific writer Bessie Marchant (1862-1941) was popular in her time but first editions of her works are relatively uncommon. This first is from 1902 (with a presentation date of 1903). It is significant not just for its scarcity but also its subject matter. The Florida Everglades would have been new and fascinating to contemporary readers, having only been properly explored in 1892. The illustrations are by A.A. Dixon (1872-1959), a painter who became a well-known illustrator of children’s books, particularly, like Elenore Abbot, of reissued classics.
My Heart’s in the Highlands [LEA.MON.550]
Amy Le Feuvre (1861-1929) was another writer who, like Bessie Marchant, was very popular in her time but is largely unknown to readers today. Typically didactic, many of her works were published by the Religious Tract Society. First editions of her books are hard to come by – this one is from 1924.
Fairy Tales [LEA.MON.897]
This is a very scarce 1915 compilation of fairy tales, edited by Harry Golding. Harry Golding was a prolific author and editor. He worked at this book’s publisher, Ward, Lock & Co., which closed in 1941. Among his many works is War in Dollyland, published in the same year as Fairy Tales but even rarer.
Despite his great career output, details of Golding’s life are hard to come by. Several online sources seem to think he may have been the husband of leading nursing figure Dame Monica Golding. This Harry Golding was born in 1889, was a brigadier in the army, and died in 1969. Many of Golding’s works had a military theme, so it could have been him, but I have been unable to verify if this is the same Harry Golding.
Golding’s Fairy Tales includes classics such as Tom Thumb, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack the Giant-Killer, and Bluebeard. It is adorned with 48 stunning colour plates by the renowned English artist Margaret Tarrant (1888-1959), one of which is shown above.
*All images are copyright of Homerton College 2021.
If you would like more information about any items in the Lealan Collection, please contact me directly on jb719@cam.ac.uk, or the library team at library@homerton.cam.ac.uk.
Hi! I’m Alina (she/her) and I will be Homerton’s Deputy Librarian for a year to fill in for Rosie. Since we’re in the middle of a lockdown, it may be a while until I can say hello in person, but until then I’m joining the rest of the team in providing the best possible online and zero contact Library service. I’ll also be looking after the Library’s blog and Twitter account while I’m here, so you may hear more from me soon!
I became a librarian more or less by accident, but as it turns out it’s exactly what I want to be doing with my life. I’ve worked in various libraries around Cambridge doing many different things, including staffing issue desks, sticking barcodes on things for an entire memorable morning in the UL basement, delivering training on referencing software, talking to departments about reading lists, and organising book moves by the shelf metre.
My own background is in Linguistics and Philosophy, but my last post was at the Genetics and Plant Sciences Libraries, and I’m fully ready to become interested in anything that lands in front of me. In this post that will be the children’s literature collection, which I’m very much looking forward to managing and expanding. If you have any recommendations, send them my way!
When I’m not at work, I’m usually reading, baking or wandering around a fen. What I read depends on my mood, but sci-fi, fantasy and graphic novels are always high in the to-be-read pile (especially if they involve some kind of queer theme). I also love going to see plays and shows, but of course there isn’t a lot of opportunity for that at the moment. I’m trying to fill this gap by playing mini-RPGs with friends via Zoom and learning how to knit dinosaurs.
We want to assist all students as best we can whilst we can’t all be together in Cambridge. To this end we have various services in place for you, no matter where you are.
For students onsite/in Cambridge
Click and collect service
From Tuesday 12th January a Click and Collect service will be available from the College Library for students on site and in Cambridge.
To use the service, please email library@homerton.cam.ac.uk with the details of the book(s) you would like, up to a maximum of 5 per day. If possible, please check iDiscover (http://idiscover.lib.cam.ac.uk) to see that the item is available in the Library before requesting.
You will be emailed when your item is ready to collect. Whilst we aim to be as quick as possible, please allow 24 hours and note that we are closed over the weekend.
To collect, please come to the Library between 10.30-12.00 or 13.00-15.30 Monday-Friday. On arrival you will need to scan your card to open the door in the usual manner. A grey trolley will be at the front of the Library with all requested items in paper bags ordered by surname. You can collect your bag and go, the books are already on loan to you and there is no need to speak to a member of staff.
If you do want to speak to a staff member please approach the table placed near the front of the Library and ring the bell. Students are not permitted further into the Library under any circumstances.
Don’t forget that the Library has a large collection of DVDs, wellbeing books covering everything from depression to cookery and children’s and adult fiction that you are welcome to borrow.
For students studying remotely
Library staff will be offering support to students Mon-Fri 9-5 via email (library@homerton.cam.ac.uk) and our live chat service (https://www.homerton.cam.ac.uk/lifeathomerton/library). They can assist with finding electronic copies of material, liaising with faculty libraries, providing scans of chapters from books in the Library, referencing advice etc.
Postal loan service
The Library is offering a very limited postal loan service for UK-based students. This is intended for textbooks which are needed for the entire term or items for dissertations. Due to the current issues with the postal service we will not send out books for weekly assignments as we cannot guarantee them arriving on time.
For students with a disability
If you have a student support document from the Disability Resource Centre we may be able to assist you in other ways to access electronic copies of textbooks under disability legislation. If you are having trouble accessing material and have an SSD please do get in touch with the Library stating such and we will do our best to help. Unfortunately, we are unable to make use of these services without an SSD.
Services from other libraries
The University Library is offering Click and Collect services as well as a Scan and Deliver service for articles and book chapters. The latest information on their services and how to access them can be found here: https://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/using-library
We hope it won’t be too long before we can relaunch our normal services and welcome all students back to Cambridge, but in the meantime please just get in contact with us about anything, from referencing queries to recommendations on Netflix (if you haven’t seen The Good Place yet…).
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