Frontispiece from Mercurius Helveticus
Cover of Climbs in Japan and Tibet. A blue silk japanese stab binding
Finally we have books that should be put away! Happy #worldbookday to you all!
Cover of Tibet the Mysterious. Green cloth with a large compass design with astrological signs surround it
Front page of Narrative of An Ascent to the Smmit of Mont Blanc by John Auldjo. Dated 1750
And there's the exhibition research books ... one of these is for a future AC exhibition and one is for an exhibition we might be loaning items to ...
Book called Artists of the Alpine Club by Peter Mallalieu
Next up - the book thats always on her desk because she needed it two minutes ago and never puts it back ...
Pile of art books - Frederic Church and the landscape oil sketch is on the top
More art books - Ruskin and the light of nature is on the top
It's #worldbookday and we couldn't really choose between pur books because we love them all. So this a thread about the books on our librarian's desk.
And we begin with - these all need cataloguing ...
Black and white watercolour of climbers bivouacing in a cave. Illuminated with a single lantern climbers in early 20th century gear rest, talk, and prepare a fire
Today's #OnlineArtExchange theme is 'Art that explores home' for Catherine Opie: To Be Seen at National Portrait Gallery π‘@artukdotorg.bsky.social
We're sharing Rest after Toyle by Henry Willink - which perfectly captures the sense of home and community that mountaineers find on the mountains.
Showing a fly leaf with a strip that has been cleaned and is much whiter than the rest of the page
A small book with a blue paper cover that has a tiny gilt border
Title page of Helvetischer Calender 1798.
Paper cleaning tiny books! There's a box of these and they all have some staining from soot and a few need their fold out pages refolded so they don't overhang the edge.
Loved giving a talk at @alpineclub.bsky.social @alpineclublib.bsky.social last night on the history of the UIAA and also of its connection with the League of Nations. t.co/dJdcDhrY4l
A cosy dining room with a table set for tea, featuring cakes, pastries and teacups on a floral tablecloth.
Happy 10th birthday Art UK π #ArtUK10thBirthday
On our birthday we have reach a huge one million artworks on Art UK!
Discover more and celebrate with us π https://artuk.org/
π§βπ¨ Peggy Angus (1904β1993) Β© estate of Peggy Angus. All rights reserved, 2026 DACS. π· City of London Corporation
Have also now enabled the setting that stops us posting without alt-text!
Watercolour showing contrasting ways of descending a glacier. One party walks down with a guide while another struggles to support themselves descending with an umbrella
Black and white watercolour of victorian climbers bunking down in a cave for the night
Cartoon showing two men in evening dress using rope to enter the Alpine Club on the first floor. Caption reads 'some cad used the door last week'
Sketch of an alpine valley showing a church abd other buildings with peaks rising in the distance
So yesterday we spent some time in the basement identifying items to add to @artukdotorg.bsky.social (Our office manager has big plans!)
We figured we'd share these beauties as a taster! #mountaineering #cartoons #sketches
Reposted with alt text - @ameliaearhart2.bsky.social
Watercolour of the Mer de Glace with two gentlemen pointing to the glacier below them
Today's @artukdotorg.bsky.social #OnlineArtExchange is land and sea for Of Land and Sea at @scarbsmuseums.bsky.social
We're sharing the Mer de Glace by Jean Dubois (1789β1849) - Mer de Glace translates to Sea of Ice (so it counts!) So detailed you can even see parties on the ice below.
Today is very exciting as we welcome back two paintings from restoration! Seracs has had its old varnish removed and has turned out to be blue - not green! While Himalayas from Almora has had anti reflective glass fitted and a stain from its old wood boards removed #artrestoration #mountains
These botanical illustrations are beautiful π From Alberti von Haller Icones plantarum Helvetiae, 1795 #botany
Today's #OnlineArtExchange theme for @artukdotorg.bsky.social is strange and subtle for Gwen John: Strange Beauties at National Museum Cardiff ποΈ
We might have ignored the theme- but Gwen John's work reminded us of these watercolours by F E Blackstone. Subtle if not strange!
Sketch of Mont Blanc in pen
List of people who had submitted Mt Blanc between 1786 and 1827
Title page to John Auldjos diary
Getting items out for a visit from @trincolllibcam.bsky.social peeps and loving this diary of John Auldjo in which he's not only sketched Mt Blanc but listed how few people had climbed it before him. It'd be a much long list nowadays!
Well done to all the recipients! Can't wait to see what's uncovered!
Off to ask our librarian why we don't have a delicious salami collection
Today's @artukdotorg.bsky.social
#OnlineArtExchange theme is #WinterSports!
We were a bit spoilt for choice but we've gone with this watercolour by Samivel. We love the use of blue and how clearly it conveys both the cold and the time it takes to climb a peak.
Yes it's signed by him. Lots of writing looks a bit like this from this period
ΰ€¬ΰ€Ύΰ€ ΰ€ΰ₯ ΰ€§ΰ₯ΰ€°ΰ₯ ΰ€ΰ₯ΰ€¨ βFather Has No Roof over his headβ
An #OtherEverests #ConfluenceCollective exhibition, Kalimpong 21-27 February 2026 shorturl.at/YrbVv
Lost archives & hidden histories of Indigenous high-altitude workers from the 1920s & 1930s @adambutterworth.bsky.social
@alpineclublib.bsky.social
'From the suburbs of London to the slopes of Stβ―Moritz'. @icshc.bsky.social Emeritus Professor Martin Polley will be speaking at this Olympic Studies Research Centre (University of East London (UEL)) online webinar on 18th February. Register at - www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/from-the-s... #sportshistory
Our librarian is still moving everything - which has turned up these maps covered in japanese silk. The photo does not convey how nice they are to handle!
Another decorative cloth cover - this one has an equally pretty spine
Moving books in the library and found this beautiful cloth cover
This weekβs #OnlineArtExchange from @artukdotorg.bsky.social is βlight and darkβ π
We've chosen a personal favourite - Between the Lights by Henry Willink
Our librarian is making phase boxes. Obviously other organisations pictures of doing this look very neat and orderly - but we prefer to keep it real
We're extremely excited to be working with @londonmountainfestival.com to bring you two exciting mountain film screenings at our HQ in #Shoreditch: Scottish mountaineering history in Kevin Woods' '3,000 Feet' and a dive into mountain photography in 'A Thousand Words' β‘οΈ tinyurl.com/yx4kk5fv
No - it's by Arthur Girdlestone (not a Dickensian villain despite the name!)
Sketch of a carriage with a figure laying down and the back end of a horse
Scanning a letter for an email request and found this drawing of a carriage and a horse's behind. Makes a change from the usual sketches of mountains!
Snow covered Everest rises between the valley sides. A tent with yaks is in the foreground
Today's @artukdotorg.bsky.social #OnlineArtExchange theme is motherhood for Anna Ancher: Painting Light at
@dulwichgallery.bsky.social ποΈ
We've chosen Everest from the Rongbuk, 1924 by TH Somervell. Everest is known as Qomolangma in Tibetan which translates as Holy Mother.
