Welcome to the first quarterly blog from the Brynmor Jones Library Spotlight Team. So, who are we, and what do we do?
We are a small group of staff from the Library and Hull University Archives Customer Experience teams who, each month, highlight resources through themed reading lists, social media posts, and book displays in the Reading Room. Our aim is to encourage reading and widen engagement with the rich resources of the Brynmor Jones Library (BJL) and Hull University Archives. The team also promote access to our Leisure Reading collection, the Libby eBook app, and oversee the running of the ‘Book Swap Phone Box’ (more on that later) which stands outside of the BJL.
With each quarterly blog we will be keeping you up to date with our Spotlight themes, our community initiatives, and sharing some library related stories and images from the Archives.
So…February 2025… ‘Spotlight on Art & Artists’
This month we are highlighting some of our excellent art books and collections, and exploring the relationship between art and history, politics, culture, science, and social justice and equality. You can find borrowable print books from the reading list and more in the Reading Room display. Please speak to a member of staff if you require assistance.
You can access the Reading List here
Hidden Gems
Whilst working on our Spotlight themes sometimes the team uncover hidden gems in the library. On this occasion we particularly loved the ‘Trianon Press’ editions of William Blake from 1969. Held in our Rare Books Room, these limited-edition Fine Art facsimiles of Blake’s illuminated works are hand-stencilled and hand-coloured using techniques that originated in the 19th Century. Shown here is ‘Europe, a Prophecy’ [sq ND 225 B63], but to fully appreciate the high quality of printing we would recommend booking an appointment on the library website to view them in the Rare Books Room.
[Insert photo below of William Blake book in Rare Books Room]
Art on Campus
We are also taking this opportunity to encourage you to visit the University of Hull Art Gallery on the ground floor of the Brynmor Jones Library, especially if you haven’t done so already. Artists from the collection are also represented in our reading list.
You can read about the origin of the art collection in this article from February 24th 1967 in student newspaper ‘Hullfire’, copies of which are held in the University Archives at Hull History Centre [U SUH].
Alongside the art in the art gallery, we also recommend you take a closer look at some of the art around the library building.
Harold Cohen
You may have walked under the Harold Cohen BP Tapestry 1966 on your way to the Reading Room in the library. Did you know that Harold Cohen was one of the first artists to use Artificial Intelligence in his work more than 50 years ago with his computer programme AARON. Learn more on our reading list.
Willi Soukop
Have you also noticed the ‘Owl’ and the ‘Beacon of Light’ sculptures by Willi Soukop above the entrances to the Brynmor Jones Library? These documents from our archives show how the commission developed in 1958 under the Librarianship of Philip Larkin.
Art in the Archives
Hull University Archives are also represented on our reading list by The Papers of Victor Weisz (Vicky) [see U DX 165, U DX 166, U DP 172]. Born in Berlin in 1913 of Hungarian Jewish parents, Weisz was producing caricatures at the age of 15, and his work began to appear in German newspapers. His strong anti-Nazi position led him to come to Britain in 1935 where he would become political cartoonist for the Daily Mirror and later the Evening Standard. Like his father, Weisz suffered from depression and died by suicide in 1966 aged 52.
Guest Contributor – Dr Marianne Gilchrist
We always invite suggestions for our Spotlight lists and in February we welcomed the contribution of our library colleague and Historian, Dr Marianne Gilchrist, who as a child began a lifelong fascination with Aubrey Beardsley.
‘When you go into the University Art Collection, one of the first pictures you see is a pen-and-ink drawing of actress Winifred Emery (1861-1924). The artist, Aubrey Vincent Beardsley, was one of the greatest talents of the 1890s – his entire career spanning only a few years as a young man of student age.
Born in Brighton on 21 August 1872, he was a teenaged insurance clerk when he first showed some of his drawings to the famous Pre-Raphaelite painter, Edward Burne-Jones. His career took off with a commission to illustrate Malory’s ‘Morte d’Arthur’. His art is extraordinary: mostly in pen or brush and ink, and often controversial for its erotic content.
Aubrey illustrated Oscar Wilde’s play ‘Salome’. He also became art editor and cover designer for the artistic and literary magazine ‘The Yellow Book’: his portrait of Winifred Emery was published in Issue 4. However, when Wilde was arrested in 1895 and imprisoned for gay sex (then classed as ‘gross indecency’), some of the publisher’s other authors threatened a boycott unless he sacked Aubrey from the magazine – an early case of ‘cancel culture’. They had assumed (wrongly) that he was one of Wilde’s lovers. It was a massive blow, but he picked himself up again and took up new projects.
Courage was something he had never lacked. At the age of 7, he had been diagnosed with TB – then a death-sentence. It flared up again in his late teens, as he was starting his artistic career. He worked against time, against increasing disability. After the Wilde scandal, he continued to draw: ‘The Savoy’ magazine, Pope’s ‘The Rape of the Lock’, Aristophanes’ bawdy ‘Lysistrata’, Gautier’s ‘Mademoiselle de Maupin’… In late 1897, he went to Menton on the French Riviera, for a kinder climate. He worked on drawings for Jonson’s ‘Volpone’, but the lung haemorrhages grew worse. He died in Menton on 16 March 1898, aged only 25.’
Dr Marianne Gilchrist
The library has a number of books on Aubrey Beardsley – biographies, studies and collections of his drawings including ‘The Uncollected Works of Aubrey Beardsley’ in our Rare Books Room with his illustration ‘The Black Cat’ below.
Go Beyond your Reading List
Other important work of the Spotlight Team revolves around our aims to encourage reading outside of academic work and studies. We try to do this by promoting our Leisure Reading Collection located on the mezzanine of the Reading Room, raising awareness of the eBook app Libby, and sharing books via our Book Swap Phone Box.
If you wish to take a break from your academic books, we recommend our Leisure Reading Collection. Titles include: – The Fault in our Stars by John Green, The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller, Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh to the Heartstopper Series by Alice Oseman. Reading for pleasure has many recognized mental health benefits, including, better sleep patterns and reducing symptoms of depression. If you think there is something that could be included in our Leisure Reading Collection please use our Suggest a Purchase form.
You can also download the Libby app to borrow eBooks and audiobooks. Libby is a free app which provides access to leisure eBooks and audiobooks that are not available through our other suppliers. Both students and staff can access Libby on and off campus. It is very simple to view our collections and select your next good read – download the Libby app on iOS, Android, Amazon Fire devices via https://www.overdrive.com/apps/libby and search for ‘University of Hull’, or access Libby directly through the website libbyapp.com/library/hulluni on Windows laptops, MacBooks and Chromebooks. Don’t forget to sign in via your library card and log in with your University email address and password to start enjoying the latest eBooks and audiobooks!
What you can do on the Libby app:
- Browse our curated guides. For example, eBooks written by former students of the University of Hull
- Check out up to 3 titles at a time
- Borrow eBooks for up to 14 days
- Borrow audiobooks for up to 14 days
- Place up to 3 holds on titles that are currently checked out
Share the Love
If you have books to spare you can donate them to our Book Swap Phone Box outside of the library and choose something new to read. During February you might even spot something from our ‘Blind Date With a Book’ initiative!
Looking ahead
In March, the Spotlight Team will be celebrating ‘Women’s History Month’. Until then, check out our reading list ‘Spotlight on UN Sustainable Development Goals: Gender Equality’ where you can find lots of resources relating to global issues of women’s rights, health equity, tackling violence against women, the gender pay gap and more.
Get in touch
We always welcome any comments or suggestions about our work so do please get in touch if you have any ideas or recommendations that you would like to share with the team at spotlight@hull.ac.uk or ask to speak to us in the library.
So, until next time, thank you for reading!