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Alpine Club Library

@alpineclublib.bsky.social
4.4K followers 285 following 387 posts

The Alpine Club Library - devoted to mountains, mountaineering and the history of both. Part of @alpineclub.bsky.social Open to visitors & club members on Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Thursdays.

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The Alpine Club @alpineclub.bsky.social · 2h
Just getting things lined up ahead of tonight's exhibition opening with Salto Ulbeek. Unfortunately, the event is sold out, but you can book to visit the exhibition throughout the rest of its run via our website ➡️ tinyurl.com/yc4v2rdn
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Alpine Club Library @alpineclublib.bsky.social · 4h
Today's @artukdotorg.bsky.social #OnlineArtExchange theme is 'Autumn' 🍂 We're guessing everyone else went with leaves & trees ... but it's spooky season after all. Charnel house at Täsch - engraving by Edward Whymper #SkullsForSpookySeason
A black and white engraving of the Charnel house at Täsch.  Most of the image is of a pile of skulls and other bones with an open door.
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The Alpine Club @alpineclub.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Alongside the spectacular platinum-palladium prints at our new exhibition 'Long Exposure' (book here ➡️ tinyurl.com/4uvxtm85) we’re also displaying a selection of Führerbucher. These "Guide’s Books" were used to record testimonials from the clients of guides to help them secure future work.
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Alpine Club Library @alpineclublib.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
We're very excited to be going to the opening of @trincolllibcam.bsky.social Trinity Mountaineers exhibition this evening! Had the privilege of a sneak peak at the preperations a few weeks ago when delivering some loan items! #MountaineeringHistory #NightClimbing #Mountaineering
Photograph of the back of a painting with a photo of two men standing on itScrapbook open to a photo of a climber and a photograph of an alpine mountain rangeThe head of an ice axeA selection of books relating to night climbing in cambridge
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Mountain Stories, Mountain Futures @futuremountain.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
CFP: Towards a Posthumanistic Mountain Humanities, Online Workshop 11 December 2026. shorturl.at/wnsS8 #Mountains #EnvHist #EnvHums #HistGeog #IndigenousKnowledge #AnimalHist #NewAnimism #NewMaterialism #AssemblageTheory #Posthumanism
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The Alpine Club @alpineclub.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
One of the featured photographers in our new exhibition 'Long Exposure' (book here ➡️ tinyurl.com/4uvxtm85) is Frank Smythe. One of the first climbing celebrities, Smythe brought the public closer to mountaineering than ever before, illustrating 27 books with his own stunning monochrome photography.
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Alpine Club Library @alpineclublib.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Stop the presses! Our librarian is on a roof! (Of a church, using stairs) #RBSCG26
Roof of St Mary's CambridgeCambridge rooftopsCambridge rooftopsCorner of head and view over Cambridge roofs
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Alpine Club Library @alpineclublib.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
So much roof - so little climbing. Apparently she was too busy listening to talks, meeting nice people & visiting the Parker library (also climbable) and the conservation centre (probably climbable) #RBSCG26 #NotForMountaineers #ButAGreatTimeForlibrarians
View from librarians accommodation across the roof of St Johns old court towards the chapel Virw of the Parkers Library, with kickstoolThe first printed anglo-saxon book on display at the Parker librarySelection of different sewings and spines from the conversation centre
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Alpine Club Library @alpineclublib.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Our librarian is just trolling us now - so many climbable roofs! #RBSCG2026 #LibrariansAreMeantToClimb #RareRoofsandSpecialClimbs
View from our librarian's conference window across St Johns and Trinity roofs
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Alpine Club Library @alpineclublib.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
We've sent our librarian to the #RBSCG conference - despite all the talk of Night Climbing she's still refusing to climb anything #NotMountaineering #WhyIsntOurLibrarianOnaRoof? @ciliprarebooks.bsky.social
Picture of opening slide saying RBSCG 2026Slide about Night Climbing in St Johns
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Alpine Club Library @alpineclublib.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Excited to deliver loan items for @trincolllibcam.bsky.social upcoming exhibition on Trinity Mountaineers!
Ice axes and unwrapped copy of Roof Climbers of Trinity lying on tableView of the Wren Library at Trinity
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Sporting Heritage CIC @sportingheritage.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
🎉 The Countdown Begins...Celebrate National Sporting Heritage Day on September 30th! 🎉 Share your collections, stories, events and activities with us using #NSHD2026. More Info: sportingheritage.org.uk/nshd
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Alpine Club Library @alpineclublib.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Today’s @artukdotorg.bsky.social #OnlineArtExchange theme is Reflections. We're sharing this photo taken by Lizzie Le Blond - one of the pioneers of female mountaineering and a founder member of the Ladies Alpine Club
Black and white photograph of the Matterhorn reflected in a lake
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Alpine Club Library @alpineclublib.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
The Audrey Salkeld #Bursary is now open for applications! It provides UK-based researchers, writers, artists, videographers and filmmakers with an opportunity to visit and conduct research using the #archives and #heritage collections of the @alpineclub.bsky.social . alpineclub.org/page/audrey-...
Audrey Salkeld in snow goggles
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Alpine Club Library @alpineclublib.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Excited to get a name check for our librarian and the Audrey Salkeld Bursary in this new book by Rosemary Brown looking at women climbers. Rosemary also has a lecture lined up at the club in October alpineclub.org/event/rosema... #womenshistory #mountaineering #sporthistory
Cover of Moving Mounrains by Rosemary Brow n
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Alpine Club Library @alpineclublib.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Our librarian went to the Society of Bokkbinders conference and all she got us are these boxes. #conferenceseason #boxes
Pile of cardboard a5 boxes made from a single sheet of folded card
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Alpine Club Library @alpineclublib.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Temperatures mean we're back in the basement - turns out one of the map portfolios also contains old tourist posters!
Large 1920s style poster advertising Pilatus NahnLnWR poster advertising climbing in the Lake District Poster advertising the Alps
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Alpine Club Library @alpineclublib.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Today's job is stabilising and repairing the slightly nibbled looking corner of this map. This is one of the panels of the @alpineclub.bsky.social map of Swotzetland from 1876 #repairs #conservation
Pitcure showing map with paint brush, bone folder and japanese repair tissue
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Alpine Club Library @alpineclublib.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Today's @artukdotorg.bsky.social #OnlineArtExchange theme is ‘nature and animals’ for An A-Z of Beatrix Potter at The Armitt 🐇 As we've recently added a bunch of Whymper engravings to our ArtUk page we couldn't resist this one of foxes in the snow originally drawn by Joseph Wolf
Black and white engraving of foxes circling a tent in the snow.  Signed Wolf 1883, Whymper's signature is in the opposite corner but partially cut off by the image cropping
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Alpine Club Library @alpineclublib.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Today's @artukdotorg.bsky.social #OnlineArtExchange theme is summer! We've chosen Monte Civetta and Lago di Alleghe by Josiah Gilbert (1814–1892). The green fields and calm water promise relaxing summer walks and perhaps a cooling swim!
Monte Civetta and Lago di Alleghe
Josiah Gilbert (1814–1892)
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Alpine Club Library @alpineclublib.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Excitingly we've just received the April issue of Who Do You Think You Are? which has a very nice piece on one of our archive items! (Still available as a back issue 😉)
Page entitled An Alpine guides book from the Who do you think you are magazine
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Alpine Club Library @alpineclublib.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Many of the items in our collection lived full lives before coming to us. It's lovely to see inscriptions like this that show that books have always been a welcome gift
Inscription says "gift of her papa" clearly written by a childTitle page of the juvenile travelers,  1814Half red leather covers with marbled papers
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Alpine Club Library @alpineclublib.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
Had a great visit from the @ruskinsociety.bsky.social - glad to see they enjoyed it as much as we did!
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Ruskin Society @ruskinsociety.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
#Ruskin kept returning to the #Alps not to conquer summits but to understand them. He drew glaciers like the Mer de Glace with extraordinary geological precision, recording their form & movement. His works are now invaluable records of Alpine glacier loss. #AlpineClubVisit #ClimateChange
John Ruskin, The Mer de Glace from the Montanvers Hotel above Chamonix (1849). Viewed from above, the broad glacier fills the valley with a maze of jagged ice ridges and deep crevasses. Steep rocky slopes rise on either side, leading the eye towards distant snow-covered peaks beneath a pale, hazy sky. Executed in graphite, pen and ink, and delicate brown and blue-grey washes, the drawing combines artistic beauty with remarkable geological precision.
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Alpine Club Library @alpineclublib.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Are those #hedgehogs ?!? Also please enjoy some cooling pictures of #glaciers from Davy's translation of Bourrit's A Journey to the glaciers, 1776
Armorial bookplate of William Harris showing aggressive hedgehogs on a shieldEngraving of the glaciers near Chamonix Engraving of the Bosson glacierEngraving of the glacier at Montanvert
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Alpine Club Library @alpineclublib.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
This book has some lovely folded plates- including one of some #mountains. Plus is it even a map if its not held aloft by Hermes? Pics from Travels through Germany etc by Keysler, 1760
Drawing of a mountain passMap of Keysler route through Europe held by the figure of HermesTitle pageDrawing of John George Keysler
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Alpine Club Library @alpineclublib.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Our librarian is once again hiding in the basement - she's from the north so really doesn't do heat - on the plus side it means more pics from our #antiquarian books! Enjoy these of Keswicks "druid circle" and Lanercost Priory #lakedistrict #stonecircles
Drawing of a stone circle near KeswickDrawing of Lanercost PrioryTitle page of An excursion to the lakes by Hutchinson, 1776Drawing of R Hutchinson looking down on something (or someone)
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Alpine Club Library @alpineclublib.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
It us too hot to work in the library so we're hiding in the basement adding volumes to the #estc - which leads to things like this discovery of a map of the north west in a book from 1800
Map of Cumberland, westmoreland and Lancashire from 1800Map of Cumberland, westmoreland and Lancashire from 1800Map of Cumberland, westmoreland and Lancashire from 1800Title page of a descriptive tour and guide to the lakes caves and mountains of Cumberland, Westmoreland and Lancashire
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Alpine Club Library @alpineclublib.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
#OnlineArtExhange theme is 'discovery' for 'Wiltshire and the World: John Aubrey and the Quest for Knowledge' at Chippenham Museum We've chosen Janssen's observatory - the Edicule by Edward Whymper. This was a scientific station perched on to of Mont Blanc
Janssen's observatory - the Edicule. A small wooden shed with an open door propped with an ice axe and a man perched on top
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Alpine Club Library @alpineclublib.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Spot the difference! Our librarian had to get our copy of Coleman's Scenes from the Snow-Fields out for a visitor so we thought we'd post thus side by side of one of the illustrations with our copy of the original painting. The frontispiece says these were 'sketches made on the spot'.
 Illustration of victorian climbers using a ladder to navigate a crevassePainting of victorian climbers using a ladder to navigate a crevasse
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Alpine Club Library @alpineclublib.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Despite the fact that we are housed in a former furniture manufacturers we only have deeply impractical doors (Also our librarian would like people to go and visit @amberleymuseum.bsky.social because it's excellent even it has nothing to do with mountains)
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Alpine Club Library @alpineclublib.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
Our librarian has made a concertina to hold these postcards by ET Compton. This allows for easy handling and keeps them together as a group for users.
A concertina containing postcards by ET Compton depicting mountains and alpine hotelsOpen concertina showing first postcard of the Karersees HotelClosed concertina - showing buff archival card case
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Alpine Club Library @alpineclublib.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
We don't have murals - but this is round the corner from us! As are many other fine examples of street art :-) #OnlineArtExchange
One of the areas most iconic and longstanding murals with two tube train carriages sitting on the roof above it. The piece has become a landmark of Shoreditch.
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Art UK @artukdotorg.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
🤔 We’re curious... Do you visit artuk.org? Take less than a minute to complete our survey and have a chance to win a £10 Amazon voucher 👉 www.surveymonkey.com/r/3RQPK7N 'The Curious Cat' by Ruskin Spear (1911–1990) © the artist's estate / Bridgeman. 📷 The Ingram Collection
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Alpine Club Library @alpineclublib.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
One of our old AJs is now fit to go back on the shelf! New printed end papers replace the ones which were rubbing off on people's fingers, its been resewn and given a headband to help protect the spine. And the bookplate of the previous donor has been packed back into the front! #bookbinding
Alpine journal volume, hardcover in red bookcloth with gilt stamp showing mountaineers Inside volume showing endpapers and bookplate of Alajn de SuzanetFrontispiece of volumeClose up of head of spine showing new headband
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Alpine Club Library @alpineclublib.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
Putting up our next exhibition! Can you guess what it is ? #photography #mountains #mountaineering #mountaineeringphotograpg
Display board with poster and photograph waiting to be hung.  Also featured is a yellow stepladderBuff (as in the colour) archival boxes containing photographsOpen wooden box containing glass lantern slides from Everest 1936
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Alpine Club Library @alpineclublib.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
If you missed the lecture then you'll be pleased to know we have copies of the book available for sale in the club shop - alpineclub.org/shop/first-o...
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Alpine Club Library @alpineclublib.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
We're currently dreaming of snow ❄️🏔️❄️ The library is (unsurprisingly) very warm today - so if you're planning on visiting us (or coming to the club lecture tonight) be prepared. Bring some water and a fan and take it slow!
Curved Track of a Fallen Ice block in Oberland - painted in white and blue tones with small figures heading along the track tot he peaks beyond.
By Arthur David McCormick (1860–1943)
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Alpine Club Library @alpineclublib.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
Today's job - sewing up an early volume of the Alpine Journal so ot can go back on the shelves and be used! #conservation #bookbinding
Journal sections with needle and thread Journal sections being seen into a text block
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Alpine Club Library @alpineclublib.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Insects and bees is @artukdotorg.bsky.social #OnlineArtExchange theme this week. We've had to hit the books to bring you this delicate watercolour by G Flemwell from the Flower-fields of Alpine Switzerland (plus one of a mountain for good measure) #mountains #butterflies
Young blue flowering plants of Veratrum album together with the white and yellow euphoria and yellow clover   also several red butterfliesGreen cloth book cover with gold titling and a rondel with alpine flowers at its centreFields of pink bistort looking towards lake Champex and a sunset gold glow on the Grand combin mountain
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Alpine Club Library @alpineclublib.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
Happy #InternationalMuseumDay to all who celebrate! 🏛️✨ Obviously we are a library - but we do put on exhibitions and we have a basement of strange objects* so we figure we're half way there. This odd object is Greene carrier - bit.ly/43eWgAH
A Greene carrier - a bamboo frame with leather harness designed to carry someone off a mountain
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Alpine Club Library @alpineclublib.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
We're closed all next week because our librarian is on holiday (apparently librarians don't just live in the library) You can still visit us virtually on Bloomberg Connects though! guides.bloombergconnects.org/en-US/guide/... #wheredolibrariansgoonholiday #bloomberg #mountainsarecool
Homepage of the Alpine Club's bloomberg site - shows blue frontage of club
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Alpine Club Library @alpineclublib.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
The Library's working copies of the Alpibe Journal get used a lot - which means they can show their age. Our librarian is working on repairing these copies with damaged stitching - can't have the pages falling out! #bookbinding
Cover of an alpine journal volume - bound in red cloth with a gold image of mountaineersPages from journal showing a paper guard to repair holes
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Alpine Club Library @alpineclublib.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
#Archive30 today is about #ArchiveBeginings - so the club's letters of formation are an obvious choice! ES Kennedy wrote to prospective members at the end of 1857 - and from these overtures the club was formed!
Leather spine with letters relating to the formation of the Alpine Club tooled in gold on itNote from ES Kennedy saying this is original correspondence between club members from 1857Albert Smiths letter agreeing to join Continuation of Albert Smith letter in which he asks if 13000 feet is too high?
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Alpine Club Library @alpineclublib.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
We love all our wonderful #ArchiveVolunteers #Archive30. They index, catalogue, manage sales, sort donations and generally keep us going! Our keepers who are in charge of various parts of the collection are all volunteers and we couldn't manage without them!
Man working on a laptop in a library
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Alpine Club Library @alpineclublib.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
Spring 🌼 is the theme for today’s @artukdotorg.bsky.social #OnlineArtExchange. We've chosen this gorgeous work by Hilda Hechle - Fee Glacier and Allalinhorn
Watercolour of the Fee Glacier and the Allinhorn.  The viewer stands on a path on a green hillside overlooking the jagged glacier below while the Allinhorn rises away in the distance
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Alpine Club Library @alpineclublib.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
Today's #archive30 is #archivepeople. We figured we'd actually share a pic of our current librarian - Emma - who looks after the collections alongside the club's volunteer Keepers. She's been here 3 years - and a librarian for nearly 20 - but has yet to climb a mountain.
Librarian smiling at camera with newspaper cutting volumes behind her
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Alpine Club Library @alpineclublib.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
Todays #archive30 is #SoundandVision So we're sharing the Kapadia interviews - a video archive that was donated to the club by Harish Kapadia and is watchable on the club youtube channel. It's a treasure trove of insightful interviews with prominent mountaineers! www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
Thumbnail of the Kapadia Interviews playlist showing a picture of Chris Bonington
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Alpine Club Library @alpineclublib.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
Happy #NationalTeaDay - our librarians favourite tipple! She's currently drinking peppermint oolong so the library smells of mint ♡ #tea #looseleafisbest
Cup of tea next to a tiny model of a screaming tiger and a box of tea in the background
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Alpine Club Library @alpineclublib.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
Yesterday's ##archive30 was #archivestorage. We're not as neat as the big guns ( @mrcwarwick.bsky.social & @romanpalace.bsky.social ) but we try our best!
Archive boxes and bound volumes on shelvingArchive boxes and small bound volumes on shelving
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