I caught up with a friend today at the Lit and Phil library in Newcastle. It was the same friend who is in the image on April 28th. We've been friends since junior school. So it was great to catch up with him in the Lit and Phil (correctly known as Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle upon Tyne) Library. This remarkable independent library was founded in 1789 (50 years before the . British Library) as a conversation hub for the movers and shakers of Georgian Tyneside. A list of the great and the good includes people like ornithologist James Audubon, Harriet Martineau (1802-1876), often cited as the first feminist, and Joseph Swan who invented the incandescent lightbulb. The latter was also responsible for this institution becoming the first public building on the world to be lit by electricity during a talk by Swan in October 1880. What a revelation that must have been. The Lit and Phil is a truly remarkable place, steeped in history and largely unknown outside the region. It is also where my friend now works most days having become a member. We had a fascinating few hours in here today as just guests, leafing through some of the 170,000 books and maps dating back to 1850's. Wish I lived nearer, I'd be a member myself.
No comments:
Post a Comment