Talk: The Afterlife of Books

Talk: The Afterlife of Books by Emma Laws

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Every book has a story to tell beyond its text. From the moment it is printed, a book embarks on a unique journey through time, passed from one owner to another and from place to place. While it is the fate of some books to remain unread and forgotten, others bear the marks of centuries of ownership and use. The clues to such stories can often be found in the books themselves. Bindings, bookplates, signatures, inscriptions, annotations and marginalia reveal the private histories of books – who owned them, who read them and why.

Join Emma Laws as she reveals fascinating stories within the collections of the Cathedral Library, including a 13th century Psalter that continues to bless the soul of its scribe centuries after it was written and a ca. 17th century manuscript of the Koran discovered on a battlefield in Madras by John Coleridge, a surgeon in the East India Company and relative of the English poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

Tickets £10. Available online or from 01392 285983.

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