It’s December so time for some #EYASparkle and we bring you gifts from our silver collection. The collection dates back as far as the 18th century and has been accumulated by the Press over the last couple of centuries. It includes tableware, desk accessories, trophies, and other decorative pieces.
The items on show here are both ink stands and stand out for their sparkly cut-glass inkwells. The larger dates from 1892. The tray is raised on four scroll feet and features a gadrooned and shell border. It holds two silver-topped inkwells with two pen recesses and is engraved with the OUP crest. The smaller dates from 1912. The tray has a reeded and ribbon border, and the silver-lidded inkwell is engraved with a lion rampant. The inscription on the tray reads “This inkstand, once the property of Arthur Cowley, Bodley’s Librarian, then given to Percy Allen, President of Corpus Christi College, was bequeathed by him to John Johnson, Printer to the University, 16 June 1933”.
A recent asset audit prompted the Archive team to conduct a re-cataloguing exercise for the dispersed silver collection, which had been inadequately added to our cataloguing system in the past. The silver has now been fully catalogued with dates, makers, sizes, and conservation requirements.
