25th annual report 2013/14 - british library · first world war the library had contributed to...

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25th Annual Report 2013/14 www.bl.uk/friends

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Page 1: 25th Annual Report 2013/14 - British Library · First World War the Library had contributed to Europeana 1914–1918, an online resource, bringing together original wartime material

25th Annual Report 2013/14 www.bl.uk/friends

Page 2: 25th Annual Report 2013/14 - British Library · First World War the Library had contributed to Europeana 1914–1918, an online resource, bringing together original wartime material

The year under Review The Friends of the British Library was established on 12 January 1989 and this year celebrated its Silver Jubilee. To mark this a programme of events, overseen by Frances Hawkins and Ed King, opened in January 2014 with an Exhibition in the Ritblat Treasures Gallery of items which the Friends had helped acquire for the Library and on 7 April five curators gave talks in the Conference Centre on the same theme. A souvenir booklet, sponsored by Vitabiotics Ltd, was produced highlighting the support given by the Friends to the Library and celebrations of our Jubilee continued until November. In the twenty-five years since its founding the Friends have raised over One Million Pounds for the Library.

In this current year, grants and donations by the Friends to the Library totalled £118,000 (£69,676). Details of all grants during this period are given below. There was a continuation of the trend, noted in Annual Reports over several years, of making grants not simply to assist with the acquisition of collection items but to support other areas of the Library’s work. At 30 June 2014 the number of Friends stood at 3312 (3141). Maintaining and increasing the Friends’ membership remains our top priority, the better to fulfil our mandate to help the British Library.

The Annual General Meeting was held on 17 March 2014. Ferdy Mount, who had been Acting Chairman since March 2013, was formally elected Chairman and Christopher Wright was re-elected as Deputy Chairman. Graham Allatt, having completed ten years as Treasurer had, under the terms of the Constitution, to stand down and Keith Stephenson was elected to succeed him. Frances Hawkins completed her term on Council and Ed King, who had already been co-opted to oversee the Jubilee celebrations, was elected in her place. Nina Evans and David Shaw were re-elected to Council. The Chairman thanked Graham Allatt and Frances Hawkins for all their work for the Friends, and also Michael Leapman, who in January had handed over the Editorship of the Newsletter to Lindsay Duguid.

The Chairman then welcomed the Library’s Chief Executive, Roly Keating, who reviewed the British Library’s activities in 2013. He noted that the new Legal Deposit Libraries (Non-Print Works) Regulations enabled the Library to store and provide access to a whole range of digital material, including commercial e-publications. To mark the centenary of the First World War the Library had contributed to Europeana 1914–1918, an online resource, bringing together original wartime material from across Europe, while a new British Library web site, World War One, offered curated access to over 500 digitised historical sources for secondary teachers, students and lifelong learners.

The Library had made many notable acquisitions during the past year, including the first (1822) French translation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. It had also been the first beneficiary under the new Cultural Gifts Scheme, receiving Hunter Davies’s Beatles collection. Meanwhile, its

exhibition programme had featured Georgians Revealed and Propaganda, one of the Library’s most successful exhibitions. Outside London, the Lindisfarne Gospels and the recently acquired St Cuthbert Gospel had been on display at Durham.

The Colindale Reading Room had closed in November 2013, the national newspaper collection moving to a new environmentally-controlled Storage Building at Boston Spa. A new Newsroom providing access to a variety of media resources would open at St Pancras in April while the Boston Spa reading room was being re-furbished to provide access to print newspapers where no surrogates existed. Finally, the BL50 project would define the Library’s future vision leading up to its 50th anniversary in 2023. He concluded by thanking The Friends for their generous support of the Library’s acquisitions and projects over not only the last year but the last 25 years.

Following the AGM, our President, Lord Salisbury, introduced the guest speaker, Professor Mary Beard, who spoke on Ancient Libraries. Her talk was most warmly received by the audience.

Jean-Anne Ashton continued as Co-ordinator of the Volunteers. At the end of the year the number of volunteers was 30. An active recruitment programme continued. The Volunteers Desk in the Library’s entrance hall was manned for four hours six days a week including Saturday and from 11am to 7.30pm on Tuesdays. Volunteers continued to assist the Membership Secretary as required and now provide a basic service in the Friends’ Office when the Membership Secretary is on leave. During the year Volunteers were briefed by Dr Moira Goff on Georgians Revealed, Tom Harper, Antiquarian Map Curator, and Ed King on Victorian decorated books.

There was an active programme of visits and events during the year. These were well attended and included tours of the RHS Lindley Library, the Whitechapel Bell Foundry (3), the Royal Society of Medicine, Lincoln’s Inn, Vintners’ Hall, the Garrick Club, the Wellcome Library, Dorich House Museum, the Clockmakers’ Museum, Fishmongers’ Hall, Kings Place, Bishopsgate Library, the Banqueting House, the British Optical Association Museum, Dennis Severs’ House, the Linnean Society, BBC Broadcasting House and the Albert Memorial. Friends also heard talks by M. J. Long, renowned architect who collaborated closely with her husband Sir Colin St John Wilson, architect of the British Library, Dr Jennifer Howes on the conservation of the portrait of Naqd Ali Beg and Ursula Sims-Williams on the Library’s Persian Collections. Other highlights were a visit to Canterbury Cathedral Archives and Library with Dr David Shaw and a private tour of the Churchill War Rooms led by its Director, Phil Reed. As well as being much enjoyed by the Friends, the Events programme is a valuable source of additional funds which contribute to our grants to the British Library.

Once again, the Friends have continued to receive practical help from the British Library and for this our thanks go to the British Library Board, the Chief Executive, Roly Keating and his colleagues.

25th Annual Report 2013/14 Summary

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Page 3: 25th Annual Report 2013/14 - British Library · First World War the Library had contributed to Europeana 1914–1918, an online resource, bringing together original wartime material

This Year’s Grants £50,000 towards the purchase of the Mystère de la Vengeance by the Benedictine monk Eustache Marcadé, a lengthy play in French verse about events leading up to the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. This manuscript was commissioned for Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy (d. 1467), and includes twenty large miniatures painted by Loyset Liédet, a favourite artist of the Dukes of Burgundy and a master of colour and narrative, particularly in secular scenes. It is widely considered one of the finest examples of Flemish illumination in this period and supplements the Library’s rich holdings of such manuscripts.

£20,000 towards the purchase of the Canning Archive. This comprises the papers of George Canning (1770-1827), Foreign Secretary and Prime Minister; his son Charles (1812-62), Governor-General of India; Charles’s wife Charlotte (1817-61), and his son-in-law Ulick de Burgh, 1st Marquess of Clanricarde (1802-74), postmaster-general. The collection documents many of the major political issues of the day, including Catholic emancipation, the anti-slavery movement, South American independence, and the Indian Mutiny and its aftermath. There are many important runs of letters with such figures as George III, Queen Victoria, Pitt the Younger, Liverpool, Peel, Wellington and Florence Nightingale.

£20,000 to support the British Library’s ongoing Exhibition Programme, including the exhibition Georgians Revealed: Life, Style and the Making of Modern Britain. The Library plans to hold two major exhibitions a year in its PACCAR Gallery. £10,000 towards the purchase of a set of 52 playing cards, bound in atlas form, each bearing an engraved hand-coloured county map, along with a general map of England and Wales. These tiny maps, designed by William Bowes, and published in London in 1590, were copied from the map of England and Wales by Christopher Saxton (circa 1579), included in the first atlas of Britain which was engraved by the Englishman Augustine Ryther, who was also responsible for these playing cards. Their acquisition fills the single greatest gap in the British Library’s otherwise near comprehensive collection of Elizabethan printed cartographic production.

£10,000 to support the further cataloguing and digitization of the Library’s Persian manuscripts, one of the largest and most important of such collections in the world, containing material from Iran, India and Central Asia dating from the 12th century onwards.

£5,500 towards the publication of a commentary on the late seventh century St Cuthbert Gospel, the oldest intact European book. The acquisition of the Gospel by the British Library in 2012 was supported by a Friends’ grant of £50,000. The commentary, to be edited by Claire Breay and Bernard Meehan, will bring together new research on the Gospel by six leading experts on its codicology, binding and historical context.

£2,500 towards a new Educational Video for the Business & Intellectual Property Centre (BIPC), with sub-titles, showcasing people from diverse background including those with disability needs and providing case studies from a mix of businesses, explaining how to make the best use of the Library’s resources.

25th Annual Report 2013/14 Summary

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Above: Georgians Revealed Exhibition. William Bowes, [Playing card map of England and Wales] engraved by Augustine Ryther, 1590 [British Library Maps C.44.d.90]

Front cover: Emperor Vespasian entering Rome, Eustache Marcadé, Mystère de la Vengeance de Nostre Seigneur Ihesu Crist, Add MS 89066/2, f. 163v

Page 4: 25th Annual Report 2013/14 - British Library · First World War the Library had contributed to Europeana 1914–1918, an online resource, bringing together original wartime material

Statement of Financial Activities Year Ended 30 June 2014 2014 2013 £ £ INCOMING RESOURCES (FROM GENERATED FUNDS)

Members’ subscriptions 93,924 090,263 Donations 15 ,051 6,005 Legacies 76,022 – Income tax recoverable under Gift Aid 16,097 15,497 Investment income 8,016 8,017 Events income 8,679 4,254

INCOMING RESOURCES (FROM CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES) Other incoming resources 0000– 0000–

Total incoming resources 217,789 124,036

RESOURCES EXPENDED Cost of generating funds: Fundraising and publicity 1 1,126 8,743 Membership administration 34,398 33,999 Charitable activities: Grants to British Library 0118,000 69,676 Governance costs 1,680 1,680 Total resources expended 0165,204 114,098

NET INCOMING RESOURCES BEFORE TRANSFERS 52,585 9,938

OTHER RECOGNISED GAINS AND LOSSES Profit/Loss on revaluation of Investments 1 7,090 28,386 Net movements in funds 69,675 38,324 Total funds brought forward 350,751 312,427 Total funds carried forward 420,426 350,751

25th Annual Report 2013/14 Summary

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Page 5: 25th Annual Report 2013/14 - British Library · First World War the Library had contributed to Europeana 1914–1918, an online resource, bringing together original wartime material

Balance Sheet at 30 June 2014

2014 2013 £ £ FIXED ASSETS Furniture and equipment – – Investments 00 213,107 196,017 0 213,107 196,017 CURRENT ASSETS Stocks 120 120 Debtors 00 20,713 1 9,540 Cash on deposit and at bank 00 269,111 206,952 0 289,944 226,612

LIABILITIES: amounts falling due within one year 00 Deferred income: life membership subscriptions 00 4,216 4,823 Grants payable 00 45,500 36,100 Trade Creditors and accruals 11,431 12,213 00 61,147 53,136 0 NET CURRENT ASSETS 228,797 173,476 TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT LIABILITIES 441,904 369,493

LIABILITIES: amounts falling due after more than one year Deferred income: life membership subscriptions (21,478)0 0 (18,742) 0 420,426 350,751 FUNDS 00 General 0 300,426 230,751 Designated 0 120,000 120,000 0 420,426 350,751

Signed on behalf of the Council Ferdinand Mount Chairman 9 February 2015

25th Annual Report 2013/14 Summary

Notes to the accounts

NOTES These summarised accounts may not contain sufficient information for a full understanding of the charity. For further information, the Annual Report and Accounts should be consulted. Copies are available from the Friends of the British Library, 96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB. The full accounts have been examined by Chris Harris CPFA, MHA MacIntyre Hudson, and received an unqualified report.

INDEPENDENT EXAMINERS’ STATEMENT ON SUMMARISED FINANCIAL INFORMATION We have examined the summary financial statements above.

We have carried out the procedures we consider necessary to ascertain whether the summarised financial statements are consistent with the full financial statements from which they were prepared. In our opinion, the summarised financial statements above are consistent with the full financial statements for the year ended 30th June 2014.

MHA MacIntyre Hudson Chartered Accountants and Statutory Auditor New Bridge Street House 30–34 New Bridge Street London EC4V 6BJ

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Page 6: 25th Annual Report 2013/14 - British Library · First World War the Library had contributed to Europeana 1914–1918, an online resource, bringing together original wartime material

Friends of the British Library

Reference and administrative details of the Charity, its Trustees and Advisersfor the year ended 30 June 2014

President The Marquess of Salisbury PC DLVice Presidents The Lord Bragg of Wigton The Rt Hon Frank Field PC DL MP The Rt Hon William Hague PC MP The Lord Hameed of Hampstead CBE DL The Lord Jones of Birmingham Sir Geoffrey Leigh FRSA Dame Penelope Lively DBE Professor Sir Andrew Motion FRSL Cdr Michael Saunders Watson CBE DL The Lord Steel of Aikwood KT KBE DL

Council

Chairman Ferdinand Mount (from 17 Mar 2014; Acting Chairman from 4 Mar 2013) [4] Deputy Chairman Dr Christopher Wright OBE *[4]

Treasurer Graham Allatt FCA * (until 17 Mar 2014) [2] Keith Stephenson FCMA * (from 17 Mar 2014) [1]

Secretary Stephanie Kenna *[4]

Council Members Jean-Anne Ashton ‡[3] Peter Barber OBE [2] Jane Dobson [3]

Lindsay Duguid (co-opted 12 Aug 2013) [3] Nina Evans [3] Celia Gould [4] Frances Hawkins (until 17 Mar 2014) [3] The Lord Hemingford [3] Ed King MBE (from 17 Mar 2014; co-opted 12 Aug 2013) [3] Dr Norman James [3] Professor Kate McLuskie **[3]

Anthony Payne [3]

Professor Andrew Prescott [3] Dr David Shaw [3]

Membership Secretary Nichole Chapman

[#] Denotes number of Council meetings attended

* Member of Finance and Audit Committee

** Appointed by the British Library Board

‡ Co-opted as Co-ordinator of the Volunteers

Four Council meetings, as well as the AGM, were held during the year

Friends of the British Library 96 Euston Road London NW1 2DB

T 020 7412 7734 [email protected] www.bl.uk/friends

Registered Charity No 328095

25th Annual Report 2013/14 Summary

Bankers Barclays Bank plc Bloomsbury and Tottenham Court Road Branch 109 Tottenham Court Road London W1A 3AT

The Co-operative Bank plc 1 Balloon Street Manchester M60 4EP

CAF Bank plc 25 Kings Hill Avenue West Malling Kent ME19 4TA

Virgin Money plc Jubilee House Gosforth Newcastle upon Tyne NE3 4PL Principality Building Society Principality Buildings Queen Street Cardiff CF10 1UA

Scottish Widows Bank 67 Morrison Street Edinburgh EH3 8YJ Independent examiner Chris Harris CPFA MHA MacIntyre Hudson New Bridge Street House 30-34 New Bridge Street London EC4V 6BJ

Solicitors Russell-Cooke LLP 2 Putney Hill London SW15 6AB

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