Butler's Adventures in Italy

The Library is pleased to announce details of the forthcoming ‘Butler Day’, which marks another opportunity for members of the public to visit the Old Library and learn more about our exciting collection relating to the Victorian polymath Samuel Butler (1835-1902).

Butler, among many other things, was a great traveller, who in the latter part of his life adopted Italy as his second country. From the Alpine ranges bordering Switzerland in the north to Trapani on the west coast of Sicily, Butler covered hundreds of miles (many of which were off the standard tourist track), carrying out hugely original literary-historical research and befriending the locals wherever he stopped to rest. The places and scenes that caught Butler’s imagination in the 1880s and 1890s are beautifully documented in the Library’s collection, which includes almost 2000 original photographic prints and several hundred artworks created by Butler as he went – as well as maps and souvenirs which he used and collected on his travels.

On Saturday 12th January 2013 a selection of these items will be on display in the Old Library, for anyone to drop in to see, between 10am and 4pm. Simultaneously, free talks will be running in the newly refurbished Divinity School (a beautiful building, worth visiting in its own right), relating to the items on display and to Butler’s special relationship with his adopted country.

Anyone with an interest in Italy, the Alps, nineteenth-century travel, walking, photography, art, art history, classical literature, and (last but not least) Samuel Butler himself should take a look at the full programme for the day – as should anyone who hasn’t yet visited the beautiful seventeenth-century Library at St John’s! We look forward to welcoming you in January.

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A note about the Samuel Butler Project:

The Project began in July 2011 and aims to catalogue and to make accessible the Library’s extensive collection relating to Samuel Butler (1835-1902), which includes manuscripts, books, music, photographs, paintings, drawings and personal effects, and is one of the most important resources in the Old Library. Thanks to a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Butler Collection is now catalogued and the catalogue accessible online through Janus (a catalogue of archives and manuscript collections in Cambridge). Since the project began, 1279 adults and young people have visited the Library to engage with the collection through exhibitions, talks and workshops on a range of topics. Find out more at http://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/samuel-butler-project.