AIB COLLOQUIUM IN THE NORTH OF ENGLAND

AIB COLLOQUIUM IN THE NORTH OF ENGLAND

                              9-15 September 2018

                      PROVISIONAL PROGRAMME
               The definitive programme will be in your conference bag.

The Colloquium will be held in the ancient cathedral cities of Durham and York,
with visits to various castles and country houses and an optional excursion to
Leeds. Participation is limited to 120 people. The colloquium organisers are
Mirjam Foot and Christopher de Hamel.

It begins in Durham, accessible by fast train from London or by taxi from
Newcastle airport. The 4-star Radisson Blu is provisionally booked as the
principal hotel, on the river Wear; there will be other options. It ends in York,
with travel possible from Leeds/Bradford airport or by fast train to London.

We are grateful for sponsorship from The Book Collector, Bonham’s, and the
Provincial Booksellers Fairs Association—York Book Fair 2018.

Sunday, 9 September: Durham

Evening: Arrival of participants, registration, reception and buffet supper in the Radisson Blu Hotel.

Monday, 10 September: Durham

Morning: Opening of the colloquium by the Lord Lieutenant of Durham, in the twelfth-century
Chapter House of Durham Cathedral, a World Heritage site.

Lecture by Professor Richard Gameson, on ‘Books in medieval Durham’.

Coffee in the late twelfth-century Cathedral cloisters.

Divide into two parties of 60, then subdivided into rotating groups of 20 each, to visit either (1), the
Cathedral, (a) the library, the largest medieval library in Britain, with manuscripts dating back to the
sixth century, (b) the medieval refectory, and (c) the Cathedral treasury, including Anglo-Saxon
vestments and relics of Saint Cuthbert; or (2) the Palace Green Library of Durham University, (a) the
rare books collection, especially medieval manuscripts, bindings and local printing, (b) the newly
restored library of Bishop Cosin, built in 1669, and (c) the fifteenth-century Exchequer Building of the
prince bishops, with the libraries of Bamburgh Castle and Martin Routh (1755-1854).

Lunch in the Banqueting Hall, Hatfield College, Durham University.

Afternoon: as for the morning, but each group of 60 to visit the other location, subdivided as before.

Choral Evensong sung in the Cathedral (optional).

Evening: Drinks followed by dinner in Lumley Castle, near Durham, fourteenth century, property of
the Earl of Scarborough.

Tuesday, 11 September: Durham

Divide into two groups of 60 each.

Morning: Group (a) to Alnwick Castle, home of the Duke of Northumberland, a stately home at the
highest level with one of the finest private libraries and archives in Britain, including illuminated
manuscripts.

Group (b) to Ushaw College, near Durham, a Catholic college, founded in 1808, with a library rich in
incunabula, bindings and recusant history. A tour of the College includes a visit to the chapel, a great
example of nineteenth-century English architecture.

Buffet lunch in the refectory, Ushaw College.

Afternoon: Group (a) to Ushaw, and Group (b) to Alnwick.

Evening: Reception and dinner in the Great Hall of Durham Castle, built for the prince bishops in the
twelfth century.

Wednesday, 12 September: Durham to York

Morning: Depart from Durham, driving south to the Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, a château in
the French style built and furnished for John Bowes (1811-1885), son of the Earl of Strathmore,
dividing into two alternating groups to see the museum and the library, with some interesting Italian
and French bindings.

Lunch at the Bowes Museum.

Afternoon: Visits either to (a) Harewood House, West Yorkshire, built in 1759-71 for the first Lord
Harewood, or (b) to Castle Howard, North Yorkshire, built mainly in the first half of the eighteenth
century for the third Earl of Carlisle, both magnificent houses still privately owned, both with
libraries. As these houses can only accommodate 60 people at a time, participants will have to make
a choice when registering.

Arrival in York, evening free.

Thursday, 13 September: York

Morning: Welcome by Jean Bonna, President of the AIB, in the King’s Manor, originally the abbot’s
house of the medieval abbey of Saint Mary’s, York.

Lecture by Professor Brian Cummings, FBA, on ‘The Archbishop of York and the Reformation of the
Minster Library’.

Coffee in the De Grey Rooms, built 1841-2 .

Divide into two groups, to visit either (a) the medieval library of York Minster, in the thirteenth-
century Old Palace, including medieval manuscripts, liturgical book and local printing, or (b) York
University Library and the Borthwick Institute, including incunabula, bindings, interesting local
material, and archives from 1200 onwards, as well as notable archive collections of Lord Halifax and
Lord Harewood.

Lunch in the De Grey Rooms.

Afternoon: Group (a) to the University Library and Group (b) to York Minster Library.

Evening: Reception and dinner at the Merchant Taylors’ Hall, a medieval guildhall near the city wall.

Friday, 14 September: York

Morning: Visit in three groups to: (a) York Minster, a splendid cathedral with famous medieval
stained glass, under guidance of Richard Shephard; (b) the undercroft of the Minster; (c) the stone
yard and the Glaziers Trust.

Coffee in the Chapter House.

Afternoon: Participants will have to choose between two visits: either (a) to the York Bookfair, the
largest provincial antiquarian book fair in Britain, opening that morning at the York Racecourse,
where a buffet lunch will be provided, or (b) to the Brotherton Library in Leeds, where lunch will be
provided. This visit is limited to 60 people, subdividing there into three rotating groups to see the
Brotherton Library (incunabula including a unique Caxton, 16th-century cookery books, a Jacobean
travelling library, illuminated manuscripts, music, and a rare early set of playing cards); Treasures of
the Brotherton Gallery (the Leeds Russian archive, the Liddle Collection with material from the two
World Wars, Cookery collection, Romany Collection and English literature); and the Stanley and
Audrey Burton Art Gallery (mainly modern paintings, but also some 17th- and 18th-century paintings,
and livres d’artistes). Return to York.

AGM in the Board Room of the Grand Hotel, York.

Evening: Reception and final dinner at the Merchant Adventurers’ Hall, built mostly in 1357 and one
of the great buildings of York.

Saturday, 15 September: Departure from York