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University Chancellor unveils an inspirational collection

The University’s Chancellor, Lord Sawyer of Darlington, has unveiled a unique exhibition of influential hand-bound books.

The exhibition of 20 books has been professionally bound by some of the UK’s top bookbinders and will be displayed at the University until Friday 22 October. It is free and open to the public and displayed in the University’s Main Tower reception area, open from 8.30am to 5.00pm each day. A catalogue detailing all the texts will also be available.

Celebrating the best of radical English writing Lord Sawyer’s private collection celebrates the best of radical English writing, covering ideas, movements and individuals that influenced socialism. These include Utopia by Sir Thomas More, first published in 1551, Robert Blatchford’s Merrie England, The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan and The Rights of Man by Thomas Paine.

Lord Sawyer said: ‘I am thrilled that I have been able to bring this collection to my university. I am extremely proud of these books and their bindings and to be able to show them at the University of the Year in our 80th birthday year is a genuine pleasure.’

Artist Caroline Marsland will also be displaying her painting ‘In the First Rank’ at the exhibition throughout the week.

The painting was commissioned by Lord Sawyer and depicts a demonstration which took place on 14 September 1889 to celebrate the victory of London Dockers’ strike to improve their pay and conditions.

Caroline Marsland was inspired by the Social Realist painters of communist countries and her painting reveals the key figures of the time when Lord Sawyer’s book collection began.

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