Discover more about the Cranston Library via their website: cranstonlibraryreigate.com

The library is a charity managed by a board of trustees who endeavour to maintain it as an early 18th century library. Many of the books have been there since its foundation, and funds are always needed for conservation.

THE CRANSTON LIBRARY, founded in 1701 by the Revd Andrew Cranston, is situated above the vestry in St Mary’s, Reigate. It was probably the first regulated public lending library in England and contains works of literature, history, geography, mathematics and classics as well as theology.

HILARY ELY studied Modern and Medieval Languages at St Anne's College Oxford. She worked in public libraries for 40 years, most of them in Surrey, retiring in 2011. She has been a trustee of the Cranston Library since 1992, and Chairman of the trustees since 2008.

ANDREA THOMAS studied history at Somerville College, Oxford and the University of Edinburgh. She is the author of Princelie Majestie: The Court of James V of Scotland, 1528-1542 and Glory and Honour: The Renaissance in Scotland. She has been a trustee of the Cranston Library since 2003.

The lecture will also be live-streamed and recorded on:
www.youtube.com/live/WAsQA9T...

The lectures are free to attend in person or online, but booking is required.

See the full programme and book via: events.bl.uk/events/books...

Monday 3 November, 18.30: Lecture 3 – Dried plants and print: Herbaria and African herbalists

Thursday 30 October, 18.30: Lecture 2 – Insects, colonial archives and postcolonial book history

Monday 27 October, 18.30: Lecture 1 – Plants, politics and print in South Africa: Botany and buried books – Smuts, Gandhi and Mandela