Revolutionary France materials added to Manchester Digital Collections

The latest addition to the Manchester Digital Collections is a selection of vibrant materials covering six core themes from the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic experience. The themes range from royalism to military affairs.

The materials are from a collection that was originally part of the private library of the Earls of Crawford. During the last quarter of the nineteenth century, the 26th Earl made a number of purchases at auction to build up the collection. In the first half of the twentieth century his son then gifted (although some items were a semi-permanent loan) them to The John Rylands Library. This collection is a fantastically rich resource for the study of France and its traditions.

This digitised collection originated from a project funded by The John Rylands Research Institute. The project was directed by Professor Bertrand Taithe with research by Dr Alexander Fairfax-Chomeley. They focussed on a collection of over 10,000 proclamations and broadsides, now categorised as the European Proclamations and Broadsides Collection. The collection spans a period from c1530 to 1890 and covers much of the European continent.

We invite you to explore the collection, available now on Manchester Digital Collections.

For more insight visit The John Rylands Special Collections blog.