{"id":343,"date":"2017-06-12T12:13:02","date_gmt":"2017-06-12T11:13:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/vitalnorth\/?p=343"},"modified":"2017-07-04T15:43:43","modified_gmt":"2017-07-04T14:43:43","slug":"brian-alderson-donates-rare-childrens-book-collection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/vitalnorth\/brian-alderson-donates-rare-childrens-book-collection\/","title":{"rendered":"Brian Alderson donates rare children\u2019s book collection"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr Brian Alderson,<\/a> a long-standing supporter of\u00a0<\/strong>Newcastle University<\/strong><\/a> and <\/strong>Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children\u2019s Books<\/strong><\/a>, is donating his amazing children\u2019s book collection jointly to both organisations. In this blog post, I reflect on meeting Brian, and my experience of his work and his collection.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Brian describes himself as \u2018a student of children\u2019s books\u2019<\/em>. But when I first met Brian, as he gave a Looking at Children\u2019s Books talk<\/a> on the \u2018fairy tales\u2019 of Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm, illustrated with books from his personal collection<\/a>, it was clear to me that he is an authority on their work. Such a detailed understanding of the tales\u2019 origins, their translation, their illustrators and publishers could only be acquired through a lifetime of researching them.<\/p>\n

\"Dr.
Dr. Brian Alderson gives a Looking at Children’s Books talk at the Philip Robinson Library. Image: Newcastle University<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In fact, I would go as far as calling Brian a true expert on children\u2019s books. He seems to have an almost encyclopaedic knowledge of children\u2019s literature, from its origins to the present day. Brian is an informed and thorough critic, an author and translator, a previous children\u2019s books editor for The Times, <\/em>and has done much to further the study of children\u2019s books bibliography and history.<\/p>\n

Yet Brian is always modest about his expertise. In 2016, when Newcastle University the importance of Brian\u2019s work by awarding him an honorary doctorate,<\/a> Brian accepted by saying, \u2018I do not quite perceive, despite the kind words of the orator, why I ought to be here\u2026 I\u2019m not sure that I\u2019m deserving anything of this honour that is laid upon me.\u2019<\/em> I guess that more than anyone, Brian is aware of how much there is still to know in the field of children\u2019s literature studies\u2026<\/p>\n

\"Newcastle
Newcastle University awarded Dr Brian Alderson an honorary degree in 2016. Image: Newcastle University<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Last year I was also lucky enough to visit Brian and explore his extraordinary children\u2019s book collection,<\/a> which goes far beyond editions of Grimm and Andersen (although it does include plenty of those)! From unique examples of early children\u2019s books, to editions of classic children\u2019s books that I\u2019ve never come across, to original illustrations, it\u2019s a real treasure.<\/p>\n

So it is hugely exciting for Seven Stories and Newcastle University that Brian is donating his collection to our two institutions, and a milestone for the Vital North Partnership.<\/a> We share the aim that Newcastle becomes a centre for excellence in children\u2019s literature \u2013 and for our collections, research, teaching and public engagement, Brian\u2019s generous donation is truly excellent news.<\/p>\n

\"The
This 1841 edition of The History of Goody Two Shoes from Dr Brian Alderson’s collection will feature in the Robinson Library’s summer exhibition, A Lilliputian Miscellany.<\/figcaption><\/figure>To mark the start of the transfer of the Alderson collection to Newcastle, the Philip Robinson Library<\/a> will be hosting an exhibition curated by Brian himself, A Lilliputian Miscellany<\/em><\/a>, which will be on display from June to August\u00a02017. Copies of Brian’s exhibition catalogue, A Lilliputian Miscellany: Bio-bibliographical Notes on a Collection<\/em> are available to buy via the Newcastle University Webstore<\/a>. Brian will also be giving a Looking at Children\u2019s Books<\/a> talk, Every book has its own history: Reflections of a collector of children’s books<\/a><\/em>\u00a0on Wednesday 14th June, 5.30pm in Room 152, Philip Robinson Library. Both the exhibition and talk are free entry, and all are welcome.<\/p>\n

Thank you, Brian!<\/p>\n

Find out more about Brian and his work on the <\/strong>Brian Alderson website<\/strong><\/a>, or view the items from Brian\u2019s collection that have already been catalogued on <\/strong>Newcastle University\u2019s Library Search.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr Brian Alderson, a long-standing supporter of\u00a0Newcastle University and Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children\u2019s Books, is donating his amazing children\u2019s book collection jointly to both organisations. In this blog post, I reflect on meeting Brian, and my experience of his work and his collection. Brian describes himself as \u2018a student of children\u2019s books\u2019. … Continue reading “Brian Alderson donates rare children\u2019s book collection”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6222,"featured_media":346,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,13],"tags":[16,6,10,4],"class_list":["post-343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-collections","category-events","tag-collections","tag-events","tag-exhibitions","tag-partnership"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/vitalnorth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/vitalnorth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/vitalnorth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/vitalnorth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6222"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/vitalnorth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=343"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/vitalnorth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":379,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/vitalnorth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343\/revisions\/379"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/vitalnorth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/vitalnorth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/vitalnorth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/vitalnorth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}