Day 13: The National Arts Library Archives at the V & A

The National Arts Library

History and Location

The building is located around the Knightsbridge neighborhood. Is a gorgeous building dating from 1837, originally built as a Design School (Smith, 2016).  In 1994 it became the Department of Practical Art.  The building started its first exhibition in 1851.

 The Archives 

The National Arts Library archives are located in the reading room. It has a similar rounded design and three levels, just like the reading room from the British Museum. One of the missions of the NAL is to support art and design students creativity. Historians and dealers are also one of various types of customers who use the library.

Image source: National Art Library, Victoria and Albert Museum, London. https://www.vam.ac.uk/info/national-art-library/

The collections

The library website describes its collections:

"We hold the UK's most comprehensive public reference collection of literature on the fine and decorative arts, including books, journals, exhibition catalogues, auction house sales catalogues, comics, e-resources and much more. Some material, including archives, children's books and Theatre & Performance research collections, is held at our Archive & Library Study Room at Blythe House, near Olympia, London. "

Book collections: 

"The Library holds around one million books on subjects central to the V&A collections including prints, drawings, paintings, photographs, ceramics and glass, textiles and fashion, furniture, design, metalwork and sculpture. Our rich collections range from medieval manuscripts to contemporary artists' books and armorial bindings to comics and graphic novels. "

At least 100 thousand published childrens' books are housed in the Olympia Blythe House where they are stored in climate controlled rooms.

Books are displayed on galleries five days a week. The library is also a curatorial department. They hold teaching sessions and process materials in the upper level of the building.  About a million books of history, art and design are requested.  The Book request process is completely automated. About 50 new periodicals are received weekly.

Historical/Administrative/Business Records:

We learned that they  have the largest collection of sales and exhibitions material in the world. Historical documents from the very first exhibitions are considered treasures since it contains important manuscripts and evidence of acquisitons, donations, even forgeries scandals.

 Rare manuscripts and Treasures

 We saw a tiny illuminated unfinished medieval book from around 1490. It was exquisitely designed that takes multiple people to do such fine work. We also saw a facsimil copy of what is a compilation of all Shakespeare's 32 writings in one book with nice red cover. This book was published seven years after Shakespeare's death. It contains a catalog of the categories of the writings: tragedies, comedies. It is written in two columns.
We saw a firs edition of The History of British Birds
A drawing Le Bufoon by Picasso
Original manuscripts and drafts from Charles Dickens
Illuminated manustripts as examples of caligraphy
Forsters Collection of Da Vinci Books  Bill Gates acquired one of them at an auction for 20 million dollars.

Caring for the collection

We had the rare opportunity to tour the entire reading room area, including the storage area. Rows and rows of shelves. They don't have an insurance since these items are irreplaceable. However, they do have strict policies and procedures to maintain the building clean and safe as bugs and pests are one of the threats. Fans are located near the bookshelves to prevent too much heat to form humidity which can attract bugs and damage the books. They recently had water leaking from the roof but were swift to clean and move things around.

References:
National Arts Library website. Retrieved from https://www.vam.ac.uk/info/national-art-library/
National Arts Library Blog. Retrieved from https://www.vam.ac.uk/blog/national-art-library
Smith, N. (2016). Researching the History of the NAL. Caring for Our Collections. NAL Blog. https://www.vam.ac.uk/blog/caring-for-our-collections/national-libraries-day-researching-the-history-of-the-national-art-library
Current Exhibitions at the NAL. https://www.vam.ac.uk/