Samuel Butler Project begins

The Library is pleased to announce the commencement of a two-year, Heritage Lottery Funded project to catalogue and open up the Butler collection to researchers and the public.

Samuel Butler, now best known as the author of Erewhon (1872) and The Way of All Flesh, was a Victorian polymath whose work encompassed science, classical translation, musical composition, photography and painting. The extensive collection includes Butler's manuscripts, music, books, photographs, paintings, drawings and personal effects, and is one of the most important resources in the Old Library collection.

The work is being undertaken by the Butler Project Associate, Rebecca Watts, who has previously worked with the papers of the poet Louis MacNeice and the collections at the Wordsworth Trust in Grasmere. Over the next two years Rebecca will organise a range of exhibitions and events, and will chart the project's progress on a designated website.