Tag Archives: Penguin

First impressions of Special Collections

Nicky Sugar, our new Head of Special Collections, looks back over a busy few weeks.

It’s now 4 weeks since I came up the hill from Bristol Archives to join the university as Head of Special Collections. I still have a huge amount to learn, but thought it was time to share some first impressions!

Some of the Special Collections team in our reading room.

Some of the Special Collections team in our reading room.

Being local, I already knew that Special Collections holds a wide variety of unique and interesting material and is looked after by a fantastic team. It makes a huge difference to students and researchers to work with original sources, not just for scholarship but to find proof of past events which can impact the present. There is also enormous potential to work with people in the university and across the city to increase access to the collections, and that really excites me.

Colleagues exploring the Virtual Museum, which features treasures from Special Collections.

Colleagues exploring the Virtual Museum, which features treasures from Special Collections.

So these are a few of my highlights, in no particular order…

  • I attended the launch of “The Uncertain Space” – the university’s brand new Virtual Museum. This displays treasures from our collections alongside curated items from other university art, archive and audiovisual collections in a unique virtual space. We met some of the young people who had worked on the first exhibition and tried out the headsets for ourselves.
  • We hosted my first alumni event, for a group of ex-students who visited Special Collections. Several offered to send us items from their time in Bristol, and they were keen to hear how we can capture digital material to create the university archive of the future. As well as treasures from the university’s own archive, the alumni heard talks from colleagues about the Historical Photographs of China and the Wildfilm Archive.
  • The Wildfilm Archive is a unique resource for studying the history of wildlife filmmaking, an important part of Bristol’s cultural heritage. In my last job I was involved in a project to examine the role of wildlife collections in responding to the ecological crisis, and I see huge potential here to develop this area of our work. With this in mind, some of us met with Peter Bassett, the wildlife history ambassador who rescued much of the collection, to discuss next steps.
  • A team from the Brand Department at Penguin Random House visited us to look at iconic material from the Penguin Archive. This was a great example of the inspiration that historic collections can provide to innovation and business development.
  • On a gloriously sunny day I had a trip off campus to the SS Great Britain, where our collection of Brunel material is held by the team at the Brunel Institute. The material has huge relevance for STEM education, the history of migration and many other topics, and we discussed our shared commitment to making it available to diverse audiences.
A beautiful day to find out more about our Brunel Collection.

A beautiful day to find out more about our Brunel Collection.

My other main highlight has been meeting new colleagues in the library and wider university, who have all been incredibly generous with sharing their expertise and future plans. The amount of new information I’ve absorbed has been almost overwhelming at times but I can definitely see it all coming together in some innovative ways to share the collections more widely. I look forward to providing an update on it all soon!

Sixty years since Lady C – The ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’ Trial and the Penguin Book Archive

The Lady Chatterley trial ended sixty years ago today, when the twelve jurors, three women and nine men, unanimously returned a verdict of ‘not guilty’. Hannah Lowery, Archivist, outlines relevant holdings in the Penguin Archive at University of Bristol Library, Special Collections.

Point of sale poster printed after the trial. University of Bristol Library Special Collections ref: DM2919/7.

Point of sale poster printed after the trial. University of Bristol Library Special Collections ref: DM2919/7.

Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence (1885-1930) had been privately published in Italy and France in the 1920s. In 1960 Penguin published a set of books by D.H. Lawrence to mark thirty years since his death, including the first full and unexpurgated version of the notorious novel to be made widely available in the UK. The publisher was then prosecuted under the Obscene Publications Act 1959 and the watershed trial was held at the Old Bailey (Central Criminal Court) in London from 20 October to 2 November 1960, Sir Lawrence Byrne presiding.

In October 2019, the University of Bristol received Mr Justice Byrne’s marked copy of the Penguin edition of Lady Chatterley’s Lover, as well as four handwritten pages of notes by Dorothy Lady Byrne and a hand sewn cloth bag, all of which Mr Justice Byrne had taken into court each day. This momentous book and associated items were acquired following a crowd funding appeal, with help from PEN England, Penguin Books, Friends of the National Libraries (FNL), the Penguin Collectors Society, and many kind individuals.

It is catalogued at DM2936.

Mr Justice Byrne’s copy of the Penguin edition of 'Lady Chatterley’s Lover', notes, and bag. Photograph by Jamie Carstairs. University of Bristol Library Special Collections ref: DM2936.

Mr Justice Byrne’s copy of the Penguin edition of ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’, notes, and bag. Photograph by Jamie Carstairs. University of Bristol Library Special Collections ref: DM2936.

Special Collections has held on deposit since the 1960s, extensive archives relating to the history of Penguin Books. Allen Lane and his brothers John and Richard lived in Bristol, setting up the company in 1935. As well as archives still belonging to Penguin Books (such as editorial files), the collection here has been a catalyst for additional gifts to the University, for which we are immensely grateful.  Some of these have a distinctly ‘Lady Chatterley’ theme:

The papers of Michael Rubinstein, the lawyer who defended Penguin at the obscenity trial, are in DM1679.

DM1294 consists of items collected in 1985 to celebrate fifty years of Penguin Books, including papers relating to the trial, such as the court summons, a telegram from August 1960 calling Allen Lane back from Spain for the impending trial, and tickets for courtroom seats.

Court summons, dated 19 August 1960. University of Bristol Library Special Collections ref: DM1294/3/4/1/2.

Court summons, dated 19 August 1960. University of Bristol Library Special Collections ref: DM1294/3/4/1/2.

Telegram from W.E. Williams and Hans Schmoller to Sir Allen Lane in Malaga, Spain, n.d. [August 1960]. University of Bristol Library Special Collections ref: DM1294/3/4/1/1.

Telegram from W.E. Williams and Hans Schmoller to Sir Allen Lane in Malaga, Spain, n.d. [August 1960]. University of Bristol Library Special Collections ref: DM1294/3/4/1/1.

DM1819: Allen Lane’s filing cabinets contain additional materials relating to the trial.

Boxes 1, 12, 13, 17, 18, 20, 22, 23, 33-37

DM1843: Eunice Frost materials relating to the trial.

Boxes 1, 27, 34, 53, 62, 68, 72, 73

DM2097/1 and DM2129/1: Proof copies of Lady Chatterley’s Lover.

Proof copy of 'Lady Chatterley’s Lover'. University of Bristol Library Special Collections ref: DM2129/1/1.

Proof copy of ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’. University of Bristol Library Special Collections ref: DM2129/1/1.

DM2725/4/12: Papers belonging to Hans and Tanya Schmoller relating to the Lady Chatterley Trial.

A search of the online archive catalogue includes 106 entries relating to Lady Chatterley.

Also in Special Collections are:

Copies of D.H. Lawrence, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, in many different editions, with a range of cover designs.

C.H. Rolph editor, The trial of Lady Chatterley: Regina v. Penguin Books Limited, Penguin Special (S192), 1961 (transcript of the trial).

Montgomery Hyde (ed.), The Lady Chatterley’s Lover Trial (The Bodley Head Ltd., 1990).

D.H. Lawrence, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, with notes by Steve Hare, Penguin Books, 2010, including copies of materials held in the Penguin Archive in Bristol.

And a wealth of other materials.

Sir Laurence Byrne (17 September 1896 – 1 November 1965) presided over the Old Bailey case, and his wife Dorothy (Dorothy Frances Tickell, born 1894, married 1928) was also present, taking notes on court notepaper, and marking up passages in the book, so it could easily be referred to. Byrne’s obituary can be found in ‘The Times’ of 2 November 1965, where he is described as ‘an outstanding advocate’.  An article by Barbara Rich sheds more light on Dorothy Byrne. Details can also be found about Dorothy Byrne in Penguin Collectors Society publications.

Do get in touch if you would like to find out more about Lady Chatterley related materials in the Penguin Book Archive at the University of Bristol Library Special Collections.

'Lady Chatterley’s Lover' – the first two paragraphs. University of Bristol Library Special Collections.

‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’ – the first two paragraphs. University of Bristol Library Special Collections.