Date published: 2025-05-15 | Category: Heritage
A free exhibition at The Guildhall, Bath will showcase, for the first time in decades, a wide range of extraordinary books and fine bindings from the Bath Record Office collection – including beautifully illustrated tomes, children’s novels and historic tourist guides. The Remarkable Books exhibition will run from Friday 27 June to Saturday 28 June, 10am to 4pm.
Originally acquired by Bath Municipal Library, before being entrusted to the care of Bath Record Office, many of these rare books are remarkable survivors, having survived the bombing raids of the ‘Bath blitz’ in 1942 and the catastrophic Bath floods of December 1960, which resulted in the loss of 2,680 volumes.
Councillor Paul Roper, Cabinet Member for Economic & Cultural Sustainable Development, said: “The exhibition will offer a unique glimpse into Bath’s remarkable literary heritage, and showcase the resilience and dedication that have preserved these beautiful books for future generations. I encourage everyone to come and see this extraordinary collection on display.”
A highlight of the exhibition will be a rare trial sheet of William Morris’s Kelmscott Chaucer, published in 1896, which is still widely considered to be the most beautiful book ever printed. Only 13 copies of the Kelmscott Chaucer were produced on vellum, a type of animal skin. This vellum trial sheet was presented to the Bath Reference Library in 1927 by May Morris, daughter of William Morris, who was a regular visitor to Bath.
The display will also feature a copy of the Nuremberg Chronicle, one of the most famous specimens of early European printing, which is known as ‘the crown of German medieval craftmanship’. Created by Hartmann Schedel and printed by the Koberger Press, it is a history of the world based on religious, secular and mythical themes, and is famous for the beauty and precision of its printing and illustrations.
Bath was a pioneer in the publication of city guides, and the exhibition will include a rare surviving copy of Boddely's Bath and Bristol Guide from 1753, which contains a description of the Guildhall before Baldwin’s 1775 Guildhall that we know today. The guide records: ‘The City of Bath is greatly improved within these few Years in its buildings; the new Houses are strong, large and commodious…’. It also contains a description of the city and the baths, the cost of hiring chairmen, times of arrivals and departures of the stagecoaches and boats, and other useful observations.
Another highlight will be the Illuminated Book of Hours, a pocket-sized treasure which was created by an unknown scribe and illuminator in the 1430s. The pages are parchment and the lettering is in gothic style. The wide margins are decorated with borders of ivy-leaf spirals, leaves of gold, and flowers and fruit coloured in blue, red and green. More than 1,000 of the initial letters in the book are illuminated in burnished gold and vibrant colours. The binding bears the bookplate of Pembroke College Cambridge, 1700.
A display celebrating the 250th anniversary of the birth of Jane Austen will feature books by female authors associated with Bath who inspired Austen, such as Ann Radcliffe and Fanny Burney. The case will include authors from the 20th and 21st century, including a first edition copy of Orbital, the 2024 Booker Prize winner, presented to Bath Record Office by the Bath-based author Samantha Harvey.
The exhibition will also showcase historic children’s books dating from Georgian times up until the early 20th century, including a first edition of Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Benjamin Bunny, Georgian card games, and gorgeous examples of children’s ‘bookcase libraries’ – decorative miniature bookcases filled with tiny books in pretty bindings.
The Remarkable Books exhibition will coincide with the antiquarian book fair taking place at Bath Pavilion over the same two days, organised by the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association and Provincial Booksellers Fairs Association.
This exhibition has been made possible thanks to the generous support of our sponsors and donors including the Medlock Charitable Trust, Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association, Provincial Booksellers Fairs Association, Bath Spa University, and Freestyle Designs.
For more information, visit the Bath Record Office website.