Samuel PepysWelcome to The Ephemera Society Website

 

Events and Exhibitions

  • The Ephemera Society Special Fairs 2009

  • Sunday · 6 December

  • Holiday Inn London Bloomsbury
  • Coram Street
  • London WC1N 1HT
  • United Kingdom
  • Admission £3   11.00 - 17.00
  • Members from 10am with membership cards
  •  
  •  
  • The Ephemera Society Bazaars 2009

  • Sunday · 2 August · 4 October

  • Park Inn
  • 92 Southampton Row
  • London WC1B 4BH
  • United Kingdom
  • Admission £2   11.00 - 16.00
  • Members from 10am with membership cards
  •  

Enquiries

 

 

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Whistler: The Gentle Art of Making Etchings

3 July - 20 September 2009

James McNeill Whistler was one of the great masters of etching. This fascinating exhibition, drawn from the University of Glasgow's world-famous Whistler collection, explores the artist's creative processes, from the unmarked copper plate to finished print. 'The Gentle Art of Making Etchings' provides an illuminating picture of Whistler and his distinctive technique.

Whistler (1834 - 1903) found much of his inspiration on the streets and waterways of London, Venice and Amsterdam. He also came to Liverpool and several times visited Speke Hall, the half-timbered country home of his ship-owning patron Frederick R Leyland.

The exhibition includes artworks from the period 1854 to 1893 and looks at Whistler's etching techniques. Some feature the Naval Review which celebrated Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee in 1887. Here Whistler made a number of etchings - many executed from a boat on the Thames.

  • Lady Lever Art Gallery
  • Port Sunlight Village
  • Wirral
  • CH62 5EQ
  • United Kingdom
  • www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/ladylever/

 

 

 

Henry VIII Remembered

Until 12 July 2009 Admission free

Today’s visual image of Henry VIII, who came to the throne 500 years ago in 1509, has been heavily influenced by Holbein’s magnificent portraits. This display looks at lesser-known printed images of the king, dating from the 16th to the 18th centuries, and also includes portrait prints of some of those involved in the key events of his reign.

  • Room 16
  • National Portrait Gallery
  • St Martin's Place
  • London WC2H 0HE
  • United Kingdom
  •  
  • www.npg.org.uk

 

Image of 17th century print of Henry VIII
 

Henry VIII: Power, Passion and Parchment

Online exhibition

Discover some of the most seminal documents of Henry VIII’s reign, available online for the first time through The National Archives’ website.

For the 500th anniversary of his accession to the throne, Henry VIII: Power, Passion and Parchment tells the story of Britain’s most notorious King, through his own records, showcasing some unique treasures from The National Archives’ collection.

From the elaborate splendour of Valor Ecclesiasticus – his survey of the wealth of the churches of England and Wales – to his divorce papers, the exhibition provides an intriguing insight into Henry’s fascinating life.

The majority of the records from Henry VIII’s reign are made of parchment, which predates paper, and visitors to the site will learn the conservation techniques which have been used to care for these centuries-old documents. Without such documents, building a reliable picture of the past would be impossible.

www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/henryviii

 

 

 

Book History Workshop

Lyon, 1 - 4 September 2009

For the seventh edition of its Book History Workshop, organised in collaboration with the Rare Book School (University of Virginia), the Lyon-based Institut d'histoire du livre is offering four advanced courses in the fields of book and printing history.

Courses on offer this year are:

  • Dominique Varry
  • Physical (analytical) bibliography (new course, in French)
  •  
  • Neil Harris
  • Papers and watermarks as bibliographical evidence (new course, in English)
  •  
  • Michael Twyman
  • Printed ephemera under the magnifying glass (course in English)
  •  
  • Kristian Jensen
  • Introduction to the study of incunabula (course in English)
  •  

The Book History Workshop is aimed at book and printing historians and at the many other specialists who encounter questions related to the history of the book, printing and graphic communication in the course of their work: researchers, teachers, archivists, librarians, museum curators, antiquarian booksellers, collectors, graphic designers, etc.

The four-day courses offered by the Institut d'histoire du livre cover various aspects of the history of the book and graphic communication. Subjects are dealt with from both theoretical and practical points of view through illustrated lectures, discussions and close study of original documents. The courses make abundant use of the collections of Lyon City Library and Museum of Printing.

The courses will take place in Lyon from the 1 - 4 September 2009.

Classes will be held at the Ecole normale supérieure - lettres et sciences humaines (Lyon) with sessions at the Lyon City Library, Lyon Printing Museum and the Enssib librarian school.

Tuition fee: 490 euros (mid-day meals included). In order to facilitate access to collections of original documents the number of participants is limited to twelve per class.

Further information see http://ihl.enssib.fr/siteihl.php?page=21&aflng=en
or contact:

  • Anne-Laure Collomb
  • Bibliothèque de la Part-Dieu
  • 30 boulevard Vivier-Merle
  • 69003 Lyon
  • France
  •  
  • email:

 

 

 

Packaging a Sustainable Future

Until 29 November 2009

Packaging has become one of the hottest environmental issues in recent years. From being an apparently innocuous and functional part of a product, with nostalgic associations for many of us, it has been transformed into a controversial component of the marketing process -one which is increasingly required to justify its existence.

We have all started to wonder if products have too much packaging so here are some brilliant examples of what manufacturers are doing about it. The nation's favourite brands have risen to the challenge, rethinking and revolutionising the way products are presented.

Resolving the vital role of packaging with its impact on our world is at the heart of this important new exhibition at London's Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising.

Drawing on the museum's extensive collection, the exhibition explains the importance of packaging, how it has developed over the years, the serious challenges it now presents, and how manufacturers, retailers and designers are working together to adopt a more environmentally-friendly approach. It includes innovative solutions from around the world to show what the future of packaging holds in store.

  • Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising
  • 2 Colville Mews
  • Lonsdale Road
  • Notting Hill
  • London, W11 2AR
  • United Kingdom
  •  
  • www.museumofbrands.com/

 

 

 

Happy Birthday, Abe!

Until 31 July 2009

This small exhibition celebrates Abraham Lincoln’s Bicentennial. Exhibits include an account of the day of his birth (in a blizzard as well as a log cabin), two early 20th century treatises questioning his lineage and parentage, an illustration of a patent he was given for “A contrivance for Lifting a Boat over Shoals” and a reproduction of the earliest known photograph of Lincoln (a 37-year old Congressman).

The Vere Harmsworth Library is the University of Oxford’s main research library for US Studies. Located in the Rothermere American Institute, the collection focuses predominantly on the history, social, political and economic, of the United States from Colonial times to the present day.

More info: www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/vhl

 

 

Image of exhibition poster

 

Waste Not, Want Not

Until 29 November 2009

During the austerity years of the 1940s, Britain had to economise on raw materials, save on energy and salvage scarce commodities. Encouraged by a powerful propaganda machine, a motivated population devised ingenious ways to reduce packaging and make everything last longer. Whether the message was to grow your own vegetables, make do and mend, or save on fuel, uppermost in everyone’s mind was the need to be sparing in the use of meagre resources.

In this exhibition, the encouragement to save is startlingly similar to the situation of today. Thus 65 years ago a poster said, “‘Will all customers kindly carry all purchases possible with them and bring own paper”. Today the message is to use fewer carrier bags. In the 1940s, housewives were asked to put waste paper and cardboard out for the salvage collector; today our local councils encourage the very same behaviour. While few may now remember those years of rationing and blackouts, the lessons from the past can teach us how to make better use of limited resources today.

  • Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising
  • 2 Colville Mews
  • Lonsdale Road
  • Notting Hill
  • London, W11 2AR
  • United Kingdom
  •  
  • www.museumofbrands.com/

 

Image of Wartime Gardening Guide

 

Art and Labour’s Cause is One: Walter Crane and Manchester 1880 - 1915

Until September 2009

Manchester at the end of the 19th century saw art education, design theory, community activism and socialist politics come together to make a uniquely rich visual culture.

Detail from illustrated poem,Herald of Spring,1884

Walter Crane, the Arts and Crafts designer, theorist and socialist, was a key figure in this world. His astonishing body of work challenged the artistic and political establishment of the time. His connections to Manchester played a central role in Crane’s fusion of art and politics.

The exhibition features items such as book illustrations, political cartoons, socialist emblems and works of art.

  • The Whitworth Art Gallery
  • The University of Manchester
  • Oxford Road
  • Manchester M13 9PL
  • United Kingdom
  •  
  • www.whitworth.manchester.ac.uk/

 

 

Ephemera - minor transient documents of every day life