The gift to Wellington of Queen Victoria, Edward VII, George V, Edward VIII, George VI and HM The Queen….

…returns to Wellington in the form of the ‘Illustrated London News’.

This is the last of the ‘Royal Libraries’ restored this year (Benson and Beresford have the others).

In many ways it is the most remarkable:

Queen Victoria gave the first copies of the Illustrated London News, a newspaper published weekly with etched/ mezzotint prints, to College.

Her descendants continued the tradition, right up until the Queen sent the last edition (presumably not personally!), published in 1993. We have a near complete set, dating back from the early 1840s.

Many of the illustrations are of very high quality, especially if you think that they had to be produced within a weekly deadline.

They are fascinating.  Anyone can use them – you just have to lay the books out flat on one of the tables to prevent damage to the spine.

To find them, go to the DLR where you will see the set in a commissioned bookcase.

The books have been on an expensive holiday in a Reading warehouse for many years.  It’s good to get these Royal gifts back in College.