University of Reading Museums and Collections

A beautiful lantern slide depicting the larva and adult Wood Wasp. 

This slide is part of a collection used by Professor F. J. Cole, the first Professor of Zoology at the University of Reading. The artist, Georgiana Elizabeth Ormerod (1825-1896), studied painting under William Hunt alongside her sister Eleanor Anne Ormerod (1828-1901), who was a renowned economic entomologist, a consultant to the Royal Agricultural Society and the first woman in Britain to receive an honorary degree. Georgiana illustrated her sister's work and sometimes accompanied her to meetings with The Etomological Society. 

There's just something oddly loveable about this little guy... 

Taken from a progressive sketch showing 'by what degrees a chicken is hatched' in the appendix of 'The Anatomy of an Horse' by Andrew Snape, 1863.  

Typography Tuesday

Imagerie populaire

Imagerie populaire is a specific type of print that was popularised in France from the 15th century, with their popularity peaking in the late 19th century. Imagerie populaire usually tell a story in a comic-strip style format. The stories can include caricatures and military subjects. Commonly, as seen in these examples, sheets would often contain sets of soldiers to be cut out. The most well-known producer of these images was Jean-Charles Pellerin, later Pellerin et Cie based in Épinal, France. Épinal became so closely associated with the printing style images d’Épinal became a generic term for these prints. The images were mostly printed by lithography and hand-stencilled. These are some examples from the Maurice Rickards collection of ephemera.

For any enquiries relating to the collections at Typography and Graphic Communication or if you would like to arrange a visit please contact Laura Weill ([email protected]), Collections Administration Assistant.

Reference: Rickards, Maurice The Encyclopedia of Ephemera (London: The British Library 2000)

Look at this horrific encounter between a giant skeleton turkey and its tiny, fleshy turkey brother. Who will win?

This is an illustration from our Osteologica by Cornelius van Dyk, 1680.

Just ten smart soldiers. Or the iron arm of a tyrannical empire, depending on your history.

This is an illustration from a Boy’s Own annual from 1894.

Aren’t these guys amazing? They remind us of something out of The Labyrinth or something (David Bowie Labyrinth, not ancient Greek Labyrinth).  They’re from Sea-Dragons as they lived by John Martin, 1840.

We love the @nypl catalogue of high-res public domain images. Such an easy-to use website with clear download, linking and citation options.

And we couldn’t resist making a quick gif of this whale!

Day 15 of our Advent Calendar are these adventurous old birds, from a Victorian greeting card in our Special Collections.

This year we’re bringing you seasonal delights from the Special Collections, Museum of English Rural Life, Herbarium, Cole Musuem of Zoology and Typography Collections at the University of Reading. Tune in all month!

Ice, Wind and Fire, move aside. We have Ice, Snow and Moose.

This is a special book from the Isotype Collection, a part of our Typography Collections. Aimed at children between the ages of 7 and 10, the books used clearly drawn and brightly coloured pictures, and words that were easy to understand.

This year we’re bringing you seasonal delights from the Special Collections, Museum of English Rural Life, Herbarium, Cole Musuem of Zoology and Typography Collections at the University of Reading. Tune in all month!

What says Christmas better than a mouse riding a lobster? And what better way to kick off our Advent Calendar for this year?

This illustration is part of our Huntley & Palmers collection, once the largest and most successful biscuit makers in the world, and based right here in Reading.

This year we’re bringing you seasonal delights from the Special Collections, Museum of English Rural Life, Herbarium, Cole Musuem of Zoology and Typography Collections at the University of Reading. Tune in all month!

A Snapshot from the Library - Robert Gibbings

One of my favourite collections of books here at  the library is the Gibbings Collection. Robert Gibbings (1889-1959) was a wood engraver, artist and author. He founded the Society of Wood Engravers in 1919 and took over the Golden Cockerel Press at Waltham St. Lawrence, Berkshire from 1924-1933. In 1936 he became a senior lecturer in the Typography Department here at the University of Reading.

The collection comprises 300 books written and/or illustrated by Robert Gibbings. There are some books printed at the Golden Cockerel Press and others at the University of Reading, School of Fine Art.

In 1939 Robert built a little boat and sailed down the River Thames. On the way he stopped at nearby public houses; talking and engraving as he went. This book,  documenting his journey, was very popular in the 1940s among people who wanted to escape the harsh reality of England at the time.

I am drawn to these images as I live by the Thames and my favourite haunt is the Bull at Sonning and I am sure Robert Gibbings would have enjoyed the Beer and the company there.

Helen is a Library Assistant for the University of Reading Special Collections and Museum of English Rural Life. Follow her blog Living, Libraries and [Dead] Languages or her tumblr: helenwesthrop!

This month it’s 170 years since the birth of Walter Crane, artist and illustrator. 

Crane’s work was influenced by Japanese prints, with decorative compositions in flat or very deep perspective. He was later to write: 

You can discover more about Walter Crane here.

It’s always a pleasure coming across drawings and sketches of objects in old correspondence.

This is a Sail Reaper as drawn by the Demonstrator in Farm Machinery at the University of Cambridge’s Farms, which was donated to the Museum of English Rural Life in 1968.

Observ. XLII. Of a blue Fly

Hooke, R., Micrographia, The Royal Society: 1665, p.182.

Observ. xxiii. Of the curious texture of Sea-weeds

Hooke, R., Micrographia, The Royal Society: 1665; Scheme 14, Fig 1., pg.140

A gold star to whoever guesses what book this is from. (We’re doing a special feature on it for the author’s birthday on the 28th.)

A request from the library - Patricia Jaffe

This week I post an image of a wood engraving by Patricia Jaffe. It was from a back-dated journal of the Society of Wood Engravers, Multiples. It was, I believe, an illustration in a book by Hilaire Belloc called the Bad child’s book of beasts; I hoped to find a copy, if not in the library, then somewhere. But I hit a brick wall. Does the book exist? I would like to find out. There is at least one other edition with another illustrator, but if the frog is anything to go by this one will be lovely!

So, no snapshot this week, just a request and a frog by Patricia Jaffe from Multiples dated late 1980s.

Helen is a Library Assistant for the University of Reading Special Collections and Museum of English Rural Life. Follow her blog Living, Libraries and [Dead] Languages or her tumblr: helenwesthrop!