Bored with the same old books? Not now Chetham's catalogue is going into Copac...

We’re not sure what this fellow is reading, but we agree that the remedy is surely to be found in Copac Thanks to the inclusion of libraries like Chetham’s (the oldest public library in the English-speaking world, no less) our users are going to be able to discover some fascinating and rare materials, many of them unique to the UK. The Challenge Fund has aided us in bringing in catalogues from fifteen such libraries (the Tate Gallery, Lambeth Palace, Kew Royal Botanical Gardens, to name but a few).

This is a long tail made up of not a few long titles. We particularly like this one from Chetham:

Felix Folio: the hawkers and street dealers of the north of England manufacturing districts; including quack doctors, cheap Johns, book-sellers by hand, bookstall-keepers, watch-sellers, needle-dodgers, “land sharks,” alias “turnpike sailors,” alias “duffers,” nut-sellers, bird-sellers, wild-fowl dealers, “dollopers,” flying stationers, street ballad sellers, cheese hawkers, cum multis aliis. Being some account of their dealings, dodgings, and doings, by Felix Folio [pseud. of John Page]

(and you can even buy a facsimile)

p.s. anyone know what a ‘dolloper’ is ?