Durham Cathedral Library

@BedesBooks

Durham Cathedral Library & Collections. Remarkable historic objects, medieval manuscripts, early printed books, modern theological works & friendly librarians.

Durham, England durhamcathedral.co.uk/heritage/libra… Joined September 2012

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Durham Cathedral Library @BedesBooks Jul 25, 2023

Follow Durham Cathedral here: instagram.com/durhamcathedra…

Durham Cathedral Library @BedesBooks Jan 4, 2023

We take special collections appointments on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Among the call ups today are these two rather lovely things from our early printed music collections:

Two open boxes with marbled papers in brownish pink on the left, containing two faded and worn marbled covers on two books with handwritten white labels on the right of the box. The two books in boxes are on a dark brown heavily grained table.

Durham Cathedral Library @BedesBooks Jan 3, 2023

Happy New Year from Durham Cathedral Library!

The yellow cover of a pamphlet with the title 'Durham Cathedral Library' and the author 'Margot Johnson' below it in smaller letters. The pamphlet is on a golden wood table top with thick grains in darker brown.

Durham Cathedral Library @BedesBooks Nov 3, 2022

The view across the Cloisters, looking at the Dormitory - where some of our books live.

Taken on All Souls, 2nd November, 2022.

The cloisters and one of the towers of Durham Cathedral, with low orange and yellow lights illuminating the arches and windows. A dark blue sky is swirling with dark grey clouds behind.

Durham Cathedral Library @BedesBooks Nov 1, 2022

The Collins Dictionary Word of the Year #collinswoty for 2022 is 'permacrsis'.

Dr. Johnson's Dictionary of 1755, however, contains our favourite word of this (or any) year:

An printed page entry from Dr. Johnson's dictionary for the word 'Library', which Dr. Johnson defines as 'A large collection of books, publick or private'. He then also quotes works of drama and poetry mentioning libraries by Spencer, Shakespeare, and Dryden. Entries for 'librarian' and 'librate' can also be seen above and below the main entry for 'Library.