External links
- Official website
- "Friends of the National Libraries, registered charity no. 313020". Charity Commission for England and Wales.
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Friends of the National Libraries (FNL) is a British registered charity founded in 1931 that supports the British Library, the National Library of Scotland and the National Library of Wales and other libraries in the UK recognised as being of national importance.
The FNL awards grants to national, regional and specialist collecting institutions enabling them to acquire rare books, manuscripts, literary archives, fine bindings and estate archives that would otherwise be lost to the public domain and, in very many cases, to the nation.
The history of FNL is an illustrious one. The ‘roll call’ of items and collections that have been saved with its help is extraordinary. It includes manuscript copies of works by our most famous authors, literary archives, family and estate archives of pre-eminent importance, scientific works, musical manuscripts and fine bindings.
In November 2021 FNL announced that it had successfully raised over £15 million to acquire the Honresfield Library for the nation. This library was formed towards the end of the 19th century by William Law (1836-1901), a Rochdale mill owner, who created an exceptional collection of English and Scottish manuscripts and printed books which had the Brontës at its heart, as well as manuscripts in the hands of Jane Austen, Robert Burns and Sir Walter Scott and a significant collection of printed books. It has been largely inaccessible for the last 80 years.
When the sale of the library in three tranches was announced in May 2021, FNL successfully encouraged Sotheby's, the agents for the vendors, to postpone the sale of the first tranche planned for July 2021 in order to give FNL the opportunity to purchase the entire collection outright on behalf of appropriate recipient libraries within the UK.
A private library of English literature of such significance has not been placed on the open market for many decades, or is ever likely to appear again.
Taking a UK-wide approach to acquiring the Honresfield Library, FNL, along with a consortium of libraries and museums, worked to raise the substantial funds needed to acquire the Honresfield Library. FNL succeeded in raising the £15m required in under 6 months. It acquired the collection and has donated every single manuscript and book to UK institutions: over 50 institutions across the UK will benefit from this distributed national collection. The manuscripts will be donated to eight institutions, within 4 author groups:
Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë: The Brontë Parsonage Museum, Haworth; The British Library, London and Yorkshire; The Brotherton Library, University of Leeds
Jane Austen: The Bodleian Library, Oxford: Jane Austen's House, Chawton
Sir Walter Scott: The National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh and Glasgow; Abbotsford: The Home of Walter Scott, Melrose, Scotland.
Robert Burns: The National Library of Scotland; The Robert Burns Birthplace Museum, Alloway (National Trust for Scotland)
The partners have exciting plans for digitisation, exhibitions, education and outreach and also research projects.
Some 50 institutions in all four home nations will benefit from donations of printed books, of which the collection held over 1,400.
FNL has ensured that this outstanding collection is now called the Blavatnik Honresfield Library in recognition of the lead donor to the campaign. It will remain permanently in the public domain and will never be lost to overseas institutions or to private collections that are not accessible to the public
The success of the campaign to save the library was made possible by thousands of generous donors. The lead donor was the Blavatnik Family Foundation and the campaigns major donor was the National Heritage Memorial Fund. Many other trusts and foundations generously donated to the appeal as did thousands of individuals in the UK and overseas.
FNL is supported by its many members, whose subscriptions enable it to award more acquisition grants every year than would otherwise be possible.
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Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet, was a Scottish historian, novelist, poet, and playwright. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels Ivanhoe (1819), Rob Roy (1817), Waverley (1814), Old Mortality (1816), The Heart of Mid-Lothian (1818), and The Bride of Lammermoor (1819), along with the narrative poems Marmion (1808) and The Lady of the Lake (1810). He had a major impact on European and American literature.
Cambridge University Library is the main research library of the University of Cambridge. It is the largest of over 100 libraries within the university. The library is a major scholarly resource for members of the University of Cambridge and external researchers. It is often referred to within the university as the UL. Thirty-three faculty and departmental libraries are associated with the University Library for the purpose of central governance and administration, forming "Cambridge University Libraries".
The National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, is the national legal deposit library of Wales and is one of the Welsh Government sponsored bodies. It is the biggest library in Wales, holding over 6.5 million books and periodicals, and the largest collections of archives, portraits, maps and photographic images in Wales. The Library is also home to the national collection of Welsh manuscripts, the National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales, and the most comprehensive collection of paintings and topographical prints in Wales. As the primary research library and archive in Wales and one of the largest research libraries in the United Kingdom, the National Library is a member of Research Libraries UK (RLUK) and the Consortium of European Research Libraries (CERL).
The National Library of Scotland (NLS) is one of the country's National Collections. It is one of the largest libraries in the United Kingdom. As well as a public programme of exhibitions, events, workshops, and tours, the National Library of Scotland has reading rooms where visitors can access the collections. It is the legal deposit library of Scotland and is a member of Research Libraries UK (RLUK) and the Consortium of European Research Libraries (CERL).
Jane Porter was an English historical novelist, dramatist and literary figure. Her bestselling novels, Thaddeus of Warsaw (1803) and The Scottish Chiefs (1810) are seen as among the earliest historical novels in a modern style and among the first to become bestsellers. They were abridged and remained popular among children well into the twentieth century.
Anna Maria Porter (1778–1832) was a British poet and novelist.
John Murray is a British publisher, known for the authors it has published in its long history including Jane Austen, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Lord Byron, Charles Lyell, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Herman Melville, Edward Whymper, Thomas Malthus, David Ricardo, and Charles Darwin. Since 2004, it has been owned by conglomerate Lagardère under the Hachette UK brand. Business publisher Nicholas Brealey became an imprint of John Murray in 2015.
Malek National Museum and Library is a museum and national library in Tehran, Iran. Malek National Library and Museum Institution (MNLMI) is the first private museum of Iran, and one of the 6 large libraries holding the exquisite manuscripts. The MNLMI collection is a rich trove of the best manuscripts and Iranian historical artworks. The Institution is located in the historical precinct of “Bagh-e Melli”, that is considered the cultural-historical center of Tehran. Usually, the MNLM visitors are numerous university students and researchers, as well as tourists who enjoy its library and museum facilities. It is one of the biggest libraries of precious manuscripts in Iran, built by Hadji Hussein Agha Malek, the richest man in Iran at the time. He built it in a traditional Persian architecture style. One of the biggest contributors is Esat Malek Malek, Hadji Hussein Agha Malek's eldest daughter, who contributed to the museum's development.
Rare Book School (RBS) is an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based at the University of Virginia. It supports the study of the history of books, manuscripts, and related objects. Each year, RBS offers about 30 five-day courses on these subjects. Most of the courses are offered at its headquarters in Charlottesville, Virginia but others are held in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, Maryland. Its courses are intended for teaching academics, archivists, antiquarian booksellers, book collectors, conservators and bookbinders, rare book and special collections librarians, and others with an interest in book history.
Sir Leonard Valentinovich Blavatnik is a Ukrainian-born American-British business magnate and philanthropist. As of March 2022, Forbes listed his wealth at $35.4 billion, making him somewhere between the 20th- and 33rd-richest person in the world. In 2017, Blavatnik received a knighthood for services to philanthropy.
The British Library is a research library in London that is the national library of the United Kingdom. It is one of the two largest libraries in the world, along with the Library of Congress. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British Library receives copies of all books produced in the United Kingdom and Ireland, including a significant proportion of overseas titles distributed in the UK. The Library is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.
Albert Maurice Bender was a German-American art collector who was one of the leading patrons of the arts in San Francisco in the 1920s and 1930s. He played a key role in the early career of Ansel Adams and was one of Diego Rivera's first American patrons. By providing financial assistance to artists, writers, and institutions, he had a significant impact on the cultural development of the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond.
Edinburgh University Library is the main library of the University of Edinburgh and one of the most important libraries of Scotland. The University Library was moved in 1827 to William Playfair's Upper Library in the Old College building. The collections in Edinburgh University Old College were moved in 1967 to the purpose-built eight-storey Main Library building at George Square, one of the largest academic libraries in the world. Today, Edinburgh's university-wide library system holds over 3.8m books, e-books and e-journals in total.
The King's Library was one of the most important collections of books and pamphlets of the Age of Enlightenment. Assembled by George III, this scholarly library of over 65,000 volumes was subsequently given to the British nation by George IV. It was housed in a specially built gallery in the British Museum from 1827 to 1997 and now forms part of the British Library. The term "King's Library" was until recently also used to refer to the gallery in the British Museum built for the collection, which is now called the "Enlightenment Gallery" and displays a wide range of objects relating to the Enlightenment.
The Writers’ Museum, housed in Lady Stair's House at the Lawnmarket on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, presents the lives of three of the foremost Scottish writers: Robert Burns, Walter Scott and Robert Louis Stevenson. Run by the City of Edinburgh Council, the collection includes portraits, works and personal objects. Beside the museum lies the Makars' Court, the country's emerging national literary monument.
In September 2003, Barnes & Noble Books of New York began to publish The Collector's Library series of some of the world's most notable literary works. By October 2005, fifty-nine volumes had been printed. Each unabridged volume is book size octodecimo, or 4 x 6-1/2 inches, printed in hardback, on high-quality paper, bound in real cloth, and contains a dust jacket. In 2015, The Collector's Library was acquired by Pan Macmillan.
The John Murray Archive is a collection of 234 years' worth of manuscripts, private letters, and business papers from various notable, mostly British, authors including correspondence between Mary Shelley and Lord Byron, and letters of Jane Austen and Charles Darwin. The Archive consists of over a million items, valued at more than £100 million, and is kept at the National Library of Scotland (NLS) in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Leeds University Library's Gypsy, Traveller and Roma Collections are one of the five Designated collections held by the Brotherton Library at the University of Leeds. They comprise an extensive range of international books, manuscripts and archives relating to Gypsy, Traveller and Roma culture. Most of the collections are not about or by the communities but relate to the way they have been represented in the past.
A Book of Ryhmes is a miniature book of poems by Charlotte Brontë. It was written in 1829 when Brontë was aged 13. The book is part of the collections of the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth, West Yorkshire.
