Skip to main content

Special Collections Lunchtime Drop-Ins

The information below relates to IMC 2024. Information for IMC 2025 will be updated in due course.

A delegate examining a medieval book at our Special Collections drop in.

Explore the medieval resources of Leeds University Library Special Collections and meet the people who take care of them at our special lunchtime drop-in session during IMC 2024.

Special Collections Drop-In Sessions

Highlights from Leeds University Library Special Collections

Hosted by Leeds University Library's Special Collections

Monday 01 July, 12.00-14.00
Tuesday 02 July, 12.00-14.00
Wednesday 03 July, 12.00-14.00
Parkinson Building: Treasures of the Brotherton Gallery

Drop in to see medieval treasures and objects which show the continuing influence of the Middle Ages on literature, theatre, and the decorative arts throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.

Special Collections staff will be in the Treasures of the Brotherton Gallery Monday 1 July, Tuesday 2 July, and Wednesday 3 July, with a selection of highlights from the collections for you to examine up close as part of the International Medieval Congress 2024. 

See how Chaucer and the Canterbury Tales were reinterpreted for a Victorian audience, from editions from which ‘his impurities have been expunged’ to William Morris’s spectacular Kelmscott Press edition. 

A group of rare books featuring early work by JRR Tolkien and collaborators show the impact his short time at Leeds University would have on the medievalist and author, not least through the friendships made here. 

In 1977, Tony Harrison reimagined the medieval Wakefield mystery plays for a modern audience, creating a site-specific work performed against the brutalist backdrop of the South Bank. Notebooks and photographs explore the development of this extraordinary piece of theatre. 

Also on show in the Treasures of the Brotherton Gallery, Books and Benefactors includes objects that span a millennium and range from a Byzantine gospel book, through a rare text printed by Caxton, to a meticulously scribed early-20th century volume of decadent poetry.  

Medieval Collections at the University of Leeds

The collections at Leeds contain beautiful illuminated 15th-century French and Flemish books of hours, psalters, and prayer books, as well as German chained manuscripts from the 1450s. We also have a fine collection of incunabula. The Library of Ripon Cathedral is held on long-term deposit in Special Collections at the University of Leeds, and includes a Latin Bible from the 13th century. A highlight of the Yorkshire Archaeological and Historical Society Collection is the enormous series of surviving court rolls of the manor of Wakefield (1274-1925). In 2023 the University of Leeds was allocated an eclectic group of rare books and manuscripts via the UK’s Acceptance in Lieu programme, including 10th-century Byzantine Gospels, a rare text printed by Caxton, and an early 15th-century manuscript of Thomas Hoccleve’s ‘Regiment of Princes’.   

 Special Collections houses over 350,000 rare books and more than seven kilometres of manuscripts and archives, including the celebrated Brotherton Collection. Find details of Special Collections opening times and collections at library.leeds.ac.uk/info/1500/special_collections. If you would like to see any of the collections during your visit to Leeds please view the catalogue online and make a Research Centre booking at least three working days in advance.   

Other Exhibitions

Additionally, throughout IMC 2024, the following galleries and exhibitions will be taking place:

Treasures of the Brotherton Gallery, Parkinson Building

The Treasures of the Brotherton Gallery is the public face of the world-renowned Special Collections held at the University of Leeds.
The permanent display contains many highlights, including beautiful illuminated medieval manuscripts and rare early printed books from across the globe. Special Collections holds an unprecedented five collections which have been identified as nationally or internationally significant through the Arts Council England Designation Scheme.

Open: Tuesday-Saturday, 10.00-17.00. Free admission.

During IMC 2024, we will also be hosting the following exhibition:

Mohammad Barrangi: One Night, One Dream, Life in the Lighthouse

A major new commission by Leeds-based Iranian artist Mohammad Barrangi explores notions of home, childhood and migration. Inspired by his residency in the University's Special Collections, artworks in a wide range of media draw on storytelling, Iranian calligraphy, Middle Eastern textiles and European historic scientific illustrations.

Part of the citywide Smeaton300 programme.

The Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery, Parkinson Building

Open: Tuesday-Saturday, 10.00-17.00. Free admission.
The Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery is an oasis of calm at the heart of the University of Leeds campus. During IMC 2024, these exhibitions will be taking place:

Part of the Furniture: The Library of John Bedford

Commemorating the fifth anniversary of his death, the life and legacy of prominent antiques dealer John Bedford is celebrated in the exhibition of rare and beautiful books from the world-leading library that he gifted to the University of Leeds. Ornate designs and patterns by a renaissance pioneer, designs by Chippendale, Sheraton, Pugin and Morris, elaborate trade cards, colourful catalogues, sketches and manuals trace the journey of furniture and furnishings from drawing board, to workshop, to home.

Find out more via our website: www.tinyurl.com/stanley-audrey-info.

Find out more about our Libraries, Galleries, and Special Collections via the University of Leeds Library and Galleries website.