Register of the French Church of New York, 1688-1804
The De Lanceys in New York.
Library Book Collection
New books 2010
Jersey Law, Guernsey-French stories, Caxton, 19th-century news stories, Medieval Printing, Sailing round the Islands.
Lamentations de Damaris: a poem about old Fountain Street
The remodelling of Fountain Street was undertaken by the States at their own expense. They formed a Committee to oversee the works, which took place over several years in the 1820s. George Métivier wrote a poem in Guernsey French about the demolition of the street, which was so narrow in places that residents were said to be able to shake hands from the third storeys of their houses, from the point of view of one of its oldest denizens.
Victor Hugo and Guernsey: Paul Stapfer
16th June 2017
The Parisian Paul Stapfer was born in 1840 and graduated in Classics in 1860. In 1866 he joined the staff at Elizabeth College, Guernsey, to teach French. He calculated that this employment would give him time to work on his doctorate in English literature, and that he could thus both improve his English and observe the doings of Victor Hugo. He was the author of a significant book of memoirs of Victor Hugo, Victor Hugo à Guernesey: souvenirs personnels. This is part of the Victor Hugo and Guernsey project. [By Dinah Bott]
Victor Hugo's Christmas fete, 1865
2nd December 2016
Two accounts of Victor Hugo's Christmas party for the poor children, from 1865, one from The Star, edited by John Talbot, and the other by E L Samuel, from the Daily Post. The illustration is an engraving (with suspiciously well-dressed children!) from Alfred Barbou's biography of Hugo, here in English translation, Victor Hugo and his time, London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, and Rivington, 1883; we also have the original French version in the Library. [D Bott]
Guernsey Currency and Coins
For centuries Guernsey coinage was a ragbag of foreign currency, including for example French currency, dollars, and piastres, Guernsey’s own livre tournois, and sterling.
Acquisitions: Summer 2012
Jutland letters (Col. Charles Le Mesurier), 1916; Orne Bridgehead; Jersey Evacuees Remember; The Channel Islands, 1370-1640: Between England and Normandy; Sweet water and bitter.