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The treasure trove that is our Antiquarian Book Collection

To celebrate #GivingTuesday, each week we are highlighting a collection available for adoption. Today’s collection is the Antiquarian Book Collection. You may not have known of it, but here at the Mills Archive we have a large library full of all sorts of mill-related books, covering more subjects than you could imagine.

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These books come to us from donors, often along with a person’s archival collection. The Library is a treasure trove, with more than 4,000 books and journals that visitors can explore in the Reading Room.

Sometimes we get particularly special books, those that are very old or rare, and these form our Antiquarian Book Collection. Such rare and beautiful books offer important insights into the history of milling and cover a range of themes, from mill drawings to cereal chemistry.

Books like these require careful repair to preserve the rich information they contain and to allow safe handling by researchers and visitors to the Archive and Library. Our Archivist and Librarian recently attended training in minor book repairs so that we can do some simple conservation work ourselves. However, we will always locate a professional conservator for more complex repairs.

To find out more about the ‘Adopt a Collection’ programme and to browse all the adoptable collections, click here.