Visit to Lambeth Palace Library
A planned visit to Lambeth Palace Library organised by Liveryman Margaret Hill proved so popular that we had to run it twice! In the event, the day exceeded the extremely high expectations we had of it.
The staff and volunteers of the Library could not have been more welcoming and informative and they had created a display of items from the collection that they knew would be of particular interest to us.
We hold our church services at St Mary-le-Bow, the crypt of which was home to the Court of Arches, the principal ecclesiastical court in England, which dates from 13th Century. So it was extremely exciting to see "The Black Book of the Arches", a leather bound book with a large metal boss to make it more hardwearing, which contains the statutes, constitution and orders regulating the practices of the Court laid down by various Archbishops between the 13th and 15th Century. Divorce cases which came before the court included written testimony relating to all manner of misdoings by both parties and it was not long before these trials were published as books so members of the public could read all the salacious details (photo of "The Trial of Andrew Robinson Bowes Esq). Proceedings could also cost a pretty penny. We saw the itemised bill of a suit between the Earl and Countess of Portsmouth which runs to 104 feet (and £3920 1s 11d). The costs are listed between January 1826 and July 1828.
For many, the highlight of the visit was seeing a copy of the Gutenberg Bible (the first major book to be published in Europe using movable-type) alongside an Apostles Edition of the Saint John's Bible (https://saintjohnsbible.org/Home/Index), a hand-written and hand illuminated bible commissioned in 1998 by the Benedictine brothers of St John's Abbey in Minnesota. The Artistic Director of the St John's Bible project is well known to the Company as Past Master Donald Jackson, scribe to Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. We were additionally fortunate to have with us Tim Ternes, the Director of the St John's Bible Project who has worked with Donald since the inception of the bible and who continues to ensure that the bible is seen by as many people as possible through touring exhibitions and presentations. Tim is known as "The keeper of the pages and the keeper of the story" and we were delighted that he shared a few of its stories with us.
In addition to the treasures on display we had a wonderful tour of the building which was completed in 2020, to see the Reading Room, which is open to all (at least one of our members signed up there and then) and the state-of-the-art conservation suite, as well as enjoying the view over London from the roof terrace.
No Scriveners' outing would be complete without a shared meal at a local restaurant where there was excited conversation about the things we had seen.
A huge thanks to Margaret Hill for organising the event; Lambeth Palace Library staff and volunteers and to Tim Ternes.
