Since the beginning of the year, Special Collections & Archives has been liaising with the Library’s Metadata team to make more of our uncatalogued book collections discoverable on the main library catalogue. Thanks to the hard work of the Metadata team, we’re delighted to announce that the first collection of books to be fully catalogued under this new scheme is now available.

Library Assistant for Metadata Josie Caplehorne tells us more:

Rowlandson’s illustration of one of Dr Syntax’s comedic episodes

The British Cartoon Archive: caricature and satire from the collection of Derek Schartau

We are pleased to announce that a treasure trove of rare books and periodicals from the collection donated by Derek Schartau is now available to discover at The British Cartoon Archive (BCA).  The collection consists of approximately three hundred items ranging in date from the late eighteenth century to the present day and focuses mainly around the English caricaturist, water-colourist, engraver and draughtsman, Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827).

The majority of Rowlandson’s drawings depict the humorous qualities of urban and rural existence and demonstrate his remarkable talent for portraying the English way of life.  His artistic predisposition was encouraged and supported by his aunt and as a result he studied at the Royal Academy Schools.  Rowlandson continued his studies in Paris where he later developed a reputation as a gifted cartoonist and satirist.

Rowlandson is one of the most talented English artists of his time who produced humorous, graphic and often racy works directed at Georgian and Regency society.  Our contemporary view of this period in our history as prudish and serious is refuted by Rowlandson with realism and humour.

Visit the British Cartoon Archive to discover the fascinating collection of Derek Schartau from The Forbidden Books of the Victorians and Rowlandson’s Drawings for the English Dance of Death to The Bruising Apothecary: Images of Pharmacy and Medicine in Caricature and The Forbidden Erotica of Thomas Rowlandson.

All of these books can now been discovered on the Library catalogue.

Any of these books can be requested via the normal Special Collections & Archives request service and viewed in the reading room.

Next up for the cataloguing team is another BCA collection, the Linfield Library of Humour which contains around 600 books. We look forward to making more of our currently uncatalogued collections publicly visible thanks to our Metadata team.