Exhibitions

Christmas 2011

In addition to our Christmas shop, we are displaying part of our collection of Christmas-themed Guernsey stamps and First Day Covers, including the first Guernsey Christmas stamps, produced in 1970, which featured four of the Bailiwick's churches. Edwardian postcards with a local Christmas theme from our extensive collection can also be seen.

On Display for Summer 2011

Exhibited in the upstairs cabinets are a few satirical works from the rare book collection. They include a copy of the outrageously scurrilous Guernsey periodical from the 1840's, the Chit-Chat, affectionately known as the "Chit", which, along with its French-language equivalent Le Bavard, that served primarily the country parishes, remains absolutely hilarious, if you like laughing at someone eles's expense and totally unfounded rumours; a 1560 Stow edition of the works of Geoffrey Chaucer; Brant's Ship of Fools, 1570; and three works illustrated by George Cruikshank. The Priaulx Library has a particularly good collection of Cruikshank, who seems to have been a favourite of Osmond de Beauvoir Priaulx. Those on display are Cruikshankiana, a large-format "best of" compendium; Thackeray's Probable Effects of Over Female Emigration, and A Swallow at Christmas, ed. J. C. Hotten, both from the Comic Almanack of the 1830s-40s, written by Thackeray et al.. Osmond Priaulx was an acquaintance of Thackeray's, whose protégé Cruikshank was.

Favourite examples of rare books of local interest, including Douglas' The Guernsay-Lilly, are also on view.

Guernsey Photography Festival: June 2011

Identity

The Library's contribution to this year's Guernsey Photography Festival once again consisted of enlarged and laminated photographs from the Library collection. The Festival's theme this year was Identity, and the photographs were selected to reflect that. We again used our unique hand-crafted display units out on the lawns in front of the Library. Postcards of five of the photographs on display are available to purchase from the Library.

The lawn with some of the 2011 photographs

Quakerism in Guernsey

The Library hosted an exhibition celebrating 200 years of Quakerism in Guernsey. The Quaker Meeting House was opened in 1811; leading lights in the movement were the Naftel family, and a lovely clock built by Thomas André Naftel, born in Guernsey in 1759, was lent to the Library as part of the exhibition. Other interesting materials and artefacts on display included a Visitors' Book from 1911, part of a tea set, undated, with the Guernsey Quakers' emblem printed on it, and other documents and contracts concerning the development and renovation of the Meeting House.

The Exhibition began on 7 March 2011 and is now finished.

For background to the Exhibition, read Edith Carey's study "The Beginnings of Quakerism in Guernsey", reprinted from the Transactions of the Société Guernesiaise, 1918, in the Library.

The History of the Câtel Parish: October-December 2010

This exhibition was the brainchild of Liz Hutchins, whose interest in family history led her to suggest to the Câtel douzaine that an exhibition, similar to those already produced by the Vale and Torteval parishes, should be put together for the Câtel parish. The exhibition used 200 blue panels to support myriad photographs and extensive family trees. Its popularity with the public when it was opened in 2009 led to the publication of a book based upon it by one of the exhibition collators, Dave Wylie's Câtel Parish Past and Present.

To widen access to this fascinating collection, the Priaulx Library hosted a repeat of the exhibition, although space constraints meant that the exhibits themselves were be on view on a fortnightly rotating basis. Now the exhibition is over, most of the material displayed can be seen in Wylie's book, copies of which are available at the Library.

Guernsey Photography festival: May 2010

Invasion, Occupation, Liberation, Celebration

Red Cross child Photographs from the Library's collection illustrating this theme were enlarged and laminated and were on display in the Library garden, part of the historic Candie Gardens in St Peter Port. Mounted onto eye-catching display units, hand-built here at the Library, the exhibition of 15 photographs proved very popular with the public. It complemented other cultural sites in the island that are taking part in the Photography Festival, all of whose displays are based around the theme of the 65th anniversary of the Liberation of the Island from the German occupying forces.

Guernsey Heroes of the Royal Society

A comprehensive display of biographical information, works, and objects associated with members or would-be members of the Royal Society with links to Guernsey went on show at the Library, complementing the series of lectures taking place in the Island to celebrate the Society's 350th anniversary. From 1st April to 25th June the Library hosted a free exhibition, featuring the lives and works of ten Guernsey Fellows of the Society, and information about other Fellows who have some connection with the island.

The earliest Fellow featured was the Stuart courtier Sir Henry de Vic, an "Original Fellow", having been elected in 1662 prior to the granting of the Royal Charter to the Society. Case displays are dedicated to the 19th-century astronomer Warren de la Rue and to S. Elliott Hoskins, some of whose geological specimens are included in the exhibition.

In 2010 the Royal Society is celebrating its 350th anniversary and is supporting a series of commemorative lectures, of which three focus on Guernsey's own contribution to the Society. The island was honoured in November 2009 by being the site of the first anniversary lecture under the Society's auspices.

The lecture was One shilling weekly: 350 years of the Royal Society, and was given by Keith Moore, Chief Librarian and Archivist, Royal Society, at the Frossard Centre in Candie Gardens, who informed the slightly bemused local audience that a former Guernsey Fellow had submitted a recipe for cooking cormorant to the Society. They were relieved to discover that this was not a recent event.

On 13 May 2010, Les Cotils Centre, 8.00 p.m. Amanda Bennett, Chief Librarian, Priaulx Library, and David Le Conte, Chairman, WEA Guernsey, gave The Raymond Falla Memorial Lecture, Guernsey Heroes of the Royal Society, to a large and enthusiastic audience.

On 20 October 2010. Frossard Centre, 8.00 p.m. by Professor Nicholas Day CBE, FRS, delivered a lecture entitiled What’s the point of the Royal Society? A modern perspective.

For more information please contact David Le Conte: Email: dleconte@guernsey.net.

Guernsey in Photographs

From 5th July 2008 some thirty photographs were exhibited at the Gallery in Mansell Street, St Peter Port, to great acclaim, as Early Guernsey Photography 1845-1900. This was supplemented in late 2009 by a new set of around seventy slightly later photographs from the collection, all of local interest. Reproductions of all these are now available for purchase and some of the photographs are on public view at the Library and the Gallery. This major 2010 exhibition, Guernsey in Photographs, includes the work of photographer Carel Toms and includes many previously unpublished works.

The new set of photographs can now be viewed online as small images; a full catalogue is in preparation. All of these prints can be purchased, framed at the following sizes and prices:

A4: £45.00, A3: £65.00 and A2: £95.00

For further information and to order please contact the Gallery.

The Chief Librarian was interviewed by the BBC about the 2008 exhibition.

A Guernsey Press photographer for nearly fifty years, Carel Toms accumulated an unparalleled archive of images detailing Guernsey’s past and present, many of which were given to the Priaulx Library after his death in 2002. These exhibitions provide a unique opportunity to view some of these unseen images.

Appointment with Venus - A Celebration, 5-9 May 2009

CineGuernsey, the Priaulx Library, and the Guille-Allès Library joined forces to celebrate the book and film, Appointment with Venus (1951).

Appointment with Venus is a novel by the Irish author, Jerrard Tickell (1905-1966). Set on the fictitious Channel Island Island of "Armorel" during the German occupation, the story involves a plan by the Nazis to export a valuable pedigree Guernsey cow, named Venus, from the island to Germany. The Ministry of Agriculture in London realise that Venus is in Nazi hands and they petition the War Office to mount a rescue, and so an entertaining farce begins. The film adaptation was made in 1951, the same year as the novel's publication, starring David Niven and Glynis Johns, and was directed by Ralph Thomas. "They came home with the milk!" was the film's tagline. There are strong similarities between "Armorel" and Sark, and several scenes from the film were shot on the island.

To accompany the screening of the film by CineGuernsey to coincide with Liberation Day, the Priaulx Library hosted an exhibition of original photographs from the film shoot and open readings of the novel.

Copies of the novel Appointment with Venus are available from the Guille-Allès and Priaulx Libraries.

Christian Corbet, Artist: July 2009

Works on Guernsey themes by this Canadian artist were on display in the Library's refurbished exhibition room; some can still be purchased. The artist, who is a descendant of the Guernsey poet Denys Corbet, attended the private opening on Friday 10th July. The Bailiff, Sir Geoffrey Rowland, unveiled a portrait of himself recently completed by the artist. Also on display is a new portrait of Denys Corbet, featured in the recent Denys Corbet Centenary Exhibition and on loan from the Forest Primary School.

Jane de Carteret, Milliner: February 2009

Poster for the exhibition of Spring 2009 From February 10th the Library hosted an exhibition of the work of Guernsey milliner Jane de Carteret. The hats from the exhibition were for sale, along with jewellery made by Jane. Items of from the milliner's toolbox were also on view, including rare vintage French wooden hat blocks and unique fabrics from Paris, and Jane was available to answer questions at the Library. The exhibition proved very popular. Please contact a Librarian for further information.

Guernsey on the Map

In 2004, an important exhibition of local maps was shown at the library and a book produced in parallel. Visit http://www.guernseyonthemap.co.uk/ for further details on this attractive publication.