Exhibitions
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Sir Louis Sterling and his Library
Fifty Years at the University of London
8th May - 15th December 2006
On the wall overlooking this exhibition area, to the left as you approach from the entrance to Senate House Library, is a large oil portrait of a gentleman holding a book in his left hand and a cigar in his right. This is Sir Louis Sterling (1879-1958), managing director of the record company EMI and bibliophile.
Sterling collected primarily first and fine editions of English literature from the fifteenth to the twentieth centuries. An immigrant from the United States, Sterling decided at the age of 70:
I felt that I would like to make some useful disposition of my library and decided that in due course it should go as a gift to London University. I felt that the great city of London … had been good to me; and I hope that the gift of my library may be some acknowledgement of what London has given me.
Sterling presented his library to the University of London, with the formal opening on 30 October 1956 by the then Chancellor of the University, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. Since then it has become one of the Library’s most frequently consulted special collections of printed books and manuscripts. Printed books have been used for teaching and demonstration as well as research, and loaned to other institutions for exhibitions; and manuscripts have been used as the basis for printed texts or recordings.
Senate House Library has, in the past, featured rare books and manuscripts from Sterling’s collection in displays ranging from incunabula to private press books and from Anglo-German relations to the lives of ordinary Londoners, in addition to mainstream literary subjects. On the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of Sterling’s generous gift, we are pleased to celebrate his donation again from a different perspective.
For this exhibition, we have selected some elements of the Sterling Library which are perhaps lesser-known, chosen to demonstrate aspects of Sir Louis’ life and collecting, and of unexpected themes or forms which emerge through the collection. We also show how, through Sterling’s bequest to fund new additions to the collection, and through the generosity of subsequent donors, the collection has been enlarged in the fifty years since its receipt. The cases are:
- The Sterling Library: history and development
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Illustrated books
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Manuscripts
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Special interests: Napoleoniana and music
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Bindings
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Gifts to Sterling
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Post-Sterling acquisitions
‘Sir Louis Sterling and his Library’ was researched by Dr Karen Attar, Rare Books Librarian; Angela Craft, Senior Conservator; Feona Hamilton, Special Collections Cataloguer; Alun Ford, Manuscript Studies Librarian; Mike Mulcay, Team Leader, Special Collections; Richard Temple, Archivist; and Christine Wise, Head of Special Collections. It was mounted by Angela Craft with the assistance of Alexandra Bruce. The exhibition catalogue was compiled by Karen Attar and the exhibition poster was designed by John Moore, Library IT Officer.
We hope that you enjoy this exhibition and the insights it provides.
