Remembering Passchendaele – 100 years on
The Battle of Passchendaele has come to symbolise the horrors of the Great War, largely due to the photographs taken at the time
Our stories
Digitising and cataloguing 11,000 works on paper
Recently the Library finished digitising 11,000 works from the collection – the result of a complex combination of research, cataloguing, scanning and photography before the works finally appear online.
Accessible, intuitive, powerful digital
In Towards a Theory of Digital Preservation, Moore states that ‘a preservation environment manages communication from the past while communicating with the future’ (2008, 63). This simple statement captures the essence of what all collecting institutions have been doing with their physical collections care for decades, and the challenge of how we need to approach caring for our growing digital collections.
Madame de Staël, liberal thinker and writer of the French revolutionary and Napoleonic periods
Madame de Staël was one of the most fascinating, intelligent and influential women of the French revolutionary and Napoleonic years. Brilliant, passionate and intense, she lived life through her passion for politics and love at the highest levels of society.
Islamic Bookbinding
Collection Care, Conservation, Our stories, Preservation:
While the Western tradition of bookbinding is well represented in the State Library Victoria (SLV) collection, the Library also holds a small but fascinating assortment of manuscripts produced in the Islamic world. A clear understanding of the different materials and structures used in the production of Islamic manuscripts is essential for the Library’s Book Conservators to make informed decisions regarding appropriate methods for preservation, repair and display.
Illustrated children’s books: Randolph Caldecott (1846-1886)
Randolph Caldecott (1846-1886) broke late 19th century conventions of children’s book illustration by interpreting stories rather than decorating them, peopling them with cheeky caricatures involved in chaotic escapades.
Illustrated children’s books: Walter Crane (1845-1915)
Walter Crane (1845-1915) is today best known for his ornately illustrated 19th century children’s books. He designed artwork for the British master printer Edmund Evans in a variety of capacities for ten years, before Randolph Caldecott and Kate Greenaway joined him as Evans’ triumvirate of children’s Toy Book illustrators.
Around the world with State Library Victoria
To celebrate World Tourism Day (27 September), we’re taking a trip around the globe with some amazing photographs, photo albums, diaries and posters from our collection. Enjoy!
The life and death of master magician Chung Ling Soo
Our stories, Performing Arts, Rare Books & Arts:
Magician William Ellsworth Robinson left behind his plain name and New York background and reinvented himself as the Chung Ling Soo, the Marvellous Chinese Conjurer, complete with an imaginative and fictitious life story, In the great days of vaudeville he achieved world fame and in 1909 embarked on a wildly successful tour of Australia and New Zealand. A decade later, still at the height of his career, Chung Ling Soo was mortally wounded on stage undertaking his sensational bullet catch trick.
![Mother Goose: or old nursery rhymes, illustrated by Kate Greenaway, engraved and printed by Edmund Evans, Frederick Warne and Co., London, [190?].](https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Mother-Goose-title-page-1-120x120.jpg)
Illustrated children’s books: Kate Greenaway (1846-1901)
Kate Greenaway (1846–1901) was an English children’s book illustrator. She was a remarkable success during her lifetime, pleasing audiences with her form and originality.
