Council to flog off our cultural treasures

"A lot of people are aghast about this. For Cardiff, having these books is the difference between Cardiff being a local and Welsh interest library to being a library in the international league. In the past the council has not invested in these books and did not include them on the electronic catalogue, which means that the majority of people did not know they were there."

Dr Wyn James, Secretary of Cardiff Welsh Bibliographical Society, speaking to the BBC

The Council has been sitting on a secret stack of antique books that should have been made available to the public, now they are flogging them off to the highest bidder!!!

See: http://cardiffrespect.blogspot.com/2008/09/cardiff-council-to-flog-off-our.html

As our correspondent laments:

"Books that may be flogged off include Tyndale's Bible, one of the oldest English translations of the Bible, published in the 16th Century when translating the Bible into the common tongue was a deeply suversive and political act, risking death; Second edition Shakespeare's; Key English and European texts from the Protestant reformation; And a substantial and significant collection of political tracts from the English Civil War, an epoch of democratic struggle and revolution that our politicians may wish to forget, when the people deposed an autocratic and out of touch leader."

A new cultural activist group has been launched called Cardiff Heritage Friends, more information of how you can get involved in the campaign will be poste shortly . . .

Wyn James asked me to circulate this:

An Open Letter to Cardiff City Councillors and
to the Assembly Members and Members of Parliament for Cardiff

Destruction of an Important Part of
Cardiff and the Nation’s Heritage

I am writing to you in my capacity as Secretary of the Cardiff Welsh Bibliographical Society.

It has come to our attention that Cardiff City Council intends to sell many of the rare books in Cardiff Public Library, in order to furbish the new library building in the centre of Cardiff. We understand that Bonhams of London are at present preparing lists of the Library’s books for sale by auction.

From the end of the nineteenth century until the Second World War, an enlightened Cardiff City Council created in the City Library a research collection of national and international status – a collection befitting a capital city.

The City Library holds one of the most important collections of Welsh books and manuscripts outside of the National Library of Wales at Aberystwyth; but it also has many thousands of rare books from the 15th to the 19th centuries, together with manuscripts from the Middle Ages, which are not ‘Welsh’ as such, although many of them have strong Welsh connections.

These truly remarkable collections include a notable collection of rare atlases; a good cross-section of ‘incunabula’ (i.e. early books printed in Europe pre-1501); an important collection of early printed Bibles; key English and European texts from the Protestant Reformation; a substantial collection of scarce political tracts from the Civil War; rare books on natural history, geography, and so on, and so on.

In other words, Cardiff City Library has a rich research collection of international prestige and importance.

It is probable that Cardiff is the only capital city in Europe without either a National Library or a National Archives. But at least it had the magnificent collection of the Cardiff City Library. That collection is now in danger of being damaged irreparably as a result of a little-publicised decision by the Council made in 2007.

The decision to sell many of the Library’s rare books was made following the recommendations in a document entitled ‘Disposal of Surplus [sic] Library Stock’ (11/01/2007). The document contains such statements as: ‘they [the rare books] are unsuitable for use by anyone other than academics and specialists’ – as if Cardiff did not have a substantial academic community and aspirations to be an international city of learning!

As the document admits, most of these valuable books – especially since the Library was moved from it old building in the Hayes in 1988 – have been lying in stores, uncatalogued, and their existence almost unknown to all but a few specialists. Who knows but that Cardiff would have been the cultural capital of Europe in 2008, if these rare books had been treated and promoted as they deserve!

But rather than ensuring that these valuable collections be catalogued, and exploiting these assets in a way that would substantially enhance Cardiff’s prestige as a city of culture and learning, the Council has decided to sell them, thereby losing the substantial long-term benefit – both cultural, academic and cultural – that would come to the city through their presence there.

It is true that many of the approx. 18,000 rare books the Council intends to sell are not ‘Welsh’ as such; but as a collection they are a significant part of the cultural history of Wales. And of course, all libraries which aspire to ‘national’ status include a good cross-section of books from outside their country, in order to place their culture in an international context. Indeed, selling the rare English and Continental books in Cardiff City Library would be a cultural disaster to Cardiff and Wales comparable to the National Museum selling ‘La Parisienne’ and the rest of its French Impressionist art collection!

Many of the items to be sold were gifts, donated to the City Library by benefactors for the long-term welfare of Cardiff, its citizens and the nation. Although the Council may (perhaps) have the legal right to sell these treasures, it certainly does not have the moral right.

We urge you, therefore, to do all in your power to overturn this shameful decision to sell an important part of the heritage of Cardiff and Wales, an act which will damage irreparably Cardiff’s standing in the world of culture and learning, both nationally and internationally.

Yours sincerely,

E. Wyn James
Secretary, Cardiff Welsh Bibliographical Society

We urge readers of this open letter to write to their Councillors and to their Assembly Members and Members of Parliament, pressing them to do their utmost to prevent this disgraceful sale of rare books and to ensure that the Council promotes it rich library collections in a way befitting of the capital city of Wales.

The Secret Destruction Of 'cardiff Heritage Collection'

A last ditch attempt has been launched to stop Cardiff City Council from breaking up and selling off a national heritage collection of Cardiff Public Library’s rare books dating from the 15th century. Sales lists are now being drafted by the auctioneers Bonhams in London and the first sales will probably take place before the end of the year.

A new action group, ‘Cardiff Heritage Friends’, which includes local Cardiff residents, academics, solicitors, historians and librarians, is calling for world-wide support from specialists in this field, demanding that the Council stop the sale of some of the greatest treasures in one of Wales’ great libraries. The group will also be seeking legal advice on the Council’s actions and exploring the case for stopping the sale.

It is thought insufficient funding has been earmarked by the Council to complete the new public library building in Cardiff, and that a decision has been made to sell at auction their most important British and European historical research collections in order to plug the financial gap.

There has been no consultation with local people, academics or other libraries, to discuss the wider value of the collection for Cardiff, Wales and beyond. It’s believed many new Councillors on the City Council are not aware that Cardiff’s heritage is being sold in their name!

Academics at Cardiff University have estimated that they could recruit between 15 to 20 postgraduates per year to the city if they had access to the collections for teaching and research; this would bring in around £150,000 to £200,000 per year in student fees and related spending to the city – not to mention the spending by people coming to Cardiff to consult these rare collections.

One Cardiff resident, Mr Siôn Tudur, said on behalf of the action group: “The idea of selling a heritage collection such as this is a national scandal, and brings shame to the City and its Councillors. In short, this is a classic example of cultural incompetence.”

Dr E. Wyn James, Secretary of the Cardiff Welsh Bibliographical Society, added: “It is ironic that the City Council intends selling this collection of international significance now, in the year Cardiff had aspired to be the cultural capital of Europe! The Council appears to be ignorant of the cultural and heritage importance of this unique collection, and of its prestige and potential use. Selling the Public Library’s rare books would be a disaster to Cardiff and Wales comparable to the National Museum selling its French Impressionist art collection.”

NOTES

In 2007 Cardiff City Council decided to sell the historical British and European collections in the Public Library, due to the shortfall in the budget to build the new public library building in the city. It is understood that they intend buying a computer system to loan library books with the profits from the initial sales of rare books, for £500,000. The intention is to sell in the region of 18,000 books dating from the 15th century to the 19th century, covering literature, history, religion, geography, natural history and politics.

Cardiff is the only capital city in the British Isles without either a National Library or a National Archives in the city – key institutions for supporting academic research and the resulting economic benefits. However, it is generally recognised that Cardiff Public Library’s outstanding humanities collection is one of international significance, befitting a capital city. That collection will be irreparably damaged if this sale proceeds.

If the Council continues with plans to sell the heritage collections in the Public Library, that step will substantially damage the City Council’s hopes of attracting further public funds or private grants for heritage projects. It could also jeopardise its applications for grants for the new Museum of Cardiff which it wishes to establish.

Because of the failings in the Council’s case for selling the collections, and the damage to the reputation of the City Council that will come in the wake of its decision, it is quite possible the Council will lose other rare and historical collections which are on loan or deposit at the Public Library, since owners will have no faith their collections will be preserved. There is already evidence to suggest the Council intends to sell collections it does not fully own.

The report recommending the sale of the collections is published on the Council’s website: http://www.cardiff.gov.uk/objview.asp?object_id=7331. The report is entitled: ‘Disposal of Surplus [sic] Library Stock’ (11/01/2007).

We attach a copy of a letter which ‘Cardiff Heritage Friends’ are encouraging its international network of specialists to send to Cardiff City Council.

(Statement by Cardiff Heritage Friends)

That's fucking disgraceful!

*disgusted.*

That is appalling. Email Alun Ffred Jones the Heritage Minister. He's a good dude.

Sounds like the council. Some people know the price / cost of everything but value of nothing.

An interesting issue that Wyn James makes is how very few people were aware that we had these books - hence, the Council's belief that nobody would miss them! He makes a good point that the books could be, or could have been used to enhance Cardiff's cultural reputation and some sort of wider engagement with the public could have been attempted.

The issue raised by the campaign that Cardiff is the only capital city in the British isles without a National Library is also significant (obviously there is a national library in Aberystwyth but this is not the issue). With the rise of devolution and "nation building" it is strange that there is a lack of vision of how to make Cardiff a "city of culture", and the failure of the administration to recognise the worth of things like the Point & the historical debacle over the Cardiff Bay Opera House. There is also the strange regeneration in Cardiff Bay where luxury apartments rise up while the Loudon Sq area remains one of the poorest in the city. Perhaps it is more appropriate to say there is a vision for the city based on neoliberalism and profit rather than the people who live here?

On the subject of Cardiff Central Library it has been barely publicised that the new replacement "state of the art library" promised will contain far less books than the previous incarnation - what is this but a cut? And hundreds of out-of-print and obscure titles were flogged off before the move to the shed. At the time a LibDem Councillor crassly referred to clearing out some "dusty old books" just as the council document on the current proposed sell-off actually refers to SURPLUS STOCK!

One wonders at the financial incompetence of the administration that with all the big companies that must be making a pitch to be housed in St Davids Centre 2 there is a shortfall in money for the library. And the bizarre idea that the only way to fund a public library is to get rid of books seems contradictory, no?

lewislewis said:

That is appalling. Email Alun Ffred Jones the Heritage Minister. He's a good dude.

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Heritage minister’s concern at historic books sale proposal:
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/p...-historic-books-sale-proposal-91466-21678473/

"Councillor Nigel Howells, who is responsible for libraries in Cardiff, said the council’s plan had always been to give the university the first opportunity to buy the rare texts once they had been assessed by auctioneers Bonhams.

He said the sell-off, which could bring in as much as £3m for the city, would help fund improvements to the library service."

Notice the contradiction, they had always intended to give the university first refusal, but already sent the books to be assessed by a comercial auctioneer. He boasts that they could raise £3m for Cardiff, when he knows that the university couldn't afford that!

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/w...ts-out-at-rare-books-sell-off-91466-21678538/

Chris Franks, Plaid AM (yet deafening silence from the Plaid Cllrs in power on the council!) and the Tory vermin on the council now speaking out. and apparently Rhodri Morgan and Rhodri Glyn T have met with Cardiff Council to discuss.

Thanks for bringing our attention to this Udo,I've read about councils doing similar before.

That sucks

am I right in thinking that Cardiff council sold lots of stuff/books from Cardiff castle? or was that a long time ago?

anyway, Cardiff council are a shower of useless twats.

PAD1OH said:

am I right in thinking that Cardiff council sold lots of stuff/books from Cardiff castle? or was that a long time ago?

anyway, Cardiff council are a shower of useless twats.

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That's not really fair - they're proving highly useful in making a large amount of money for a small group of people and businesses that have sweet fuck all to do with the community in Cardiff. Credit where credit is due, no?

Appalling cultural savagery from philistines who shouldn't be trusted to look after a light bulb.

Tried Private Eye? They always revealing stories like this...

Very best of luck with this.

Yep, it's official some of the items have now appeared on the website of a London auctioners as up for sale on November 4th. Despite Cllr Nigel Howells saying yesterday that "the council’s plan had always been to give the university the first opportunity to buy the rare texts once they had been assessed by auctioneers Bonhams". Strange yesterday they were only being "assessed", yet today they're being advertised as up for sale in an auction in a couple of months . . .

Bonhams have an office in Cardiff incidentally on park place.

Academics ‘outraged’ by council’s book sale
Sep 9 2008 by David James, South Wales Echo

CARDIFF council’s plan to sell off 18,000 rare texts has provoked outrage across the academic world.

Professors and book-lovers from as far afield as Winnipeg in Canada, Boston in the United States and, closer to home, Bangor in North Wales, have written to the local authority to express their anger.

Some of the rare items, which date back to the 15th century, have now appeared on the website of auctioneers Bonhams for sale on November 4 described as “exceptionally fine and rare” with guide values of up to £50,000 each.

Writing from Manitoba University, Winnipeg, Canada, linguistics professor HC Wolfart urged the city council to reconsider.

He wrote: “I urge you to safeguard the integrity of the Cardiff Public Library. To sell off your incunabula and other early and valuable books is a short-term measure (indeed, a one-off measure of desperation, it appears) which will do immeasurable harm to Cardiff’s cultural life, its place in the academic world and its reputation overall.”

From Bangor University, Professor Hywel Wyn Owen described Cardiff council’s belief that its city library system had no role preserving historic texts as “cultural naivety”.

He said: “To describe them as surplus and unsuitable for use by anyone other than academics and specialists is a betrayal of the trust Wales has in its capital city and its councillors.

“The city of Cardiff has a responsibility to the rest of Wales to protect whatever part of Wales’ heritage is in its care.”

The works on sale include a rare Tyndale’s Bible, dating back to the 16th century, historic books, including a second edition of Shakespeare, and sketches and illustrations of animals from natural history works.

Cardiff council argues that it cannot afford to properly care for and display the texts and that the money can be used to make the city’s lending stock better available to the public. In the paper ordering the sale that was approved by the city’s executive the texts were described as “surplus stock”.

Dr Wyn James, of the Cardiff Welsh Bibliographical Society, said: “My postbag shows that there is widespread outrage at this travesty. The auction in London on November 4 must be stopped.

“These prestigious library collections must be retained intact in our capital city for the sake of the people of Cardiff and of Wales.”

[email protected]

Rare books sell-off is due to lack of vision

SIR – In their response to the widespread outrage at the proposed sale of 18,000 rare books by Cardiff council, Councillor Nigel Howells and other council spokespeople make much of the fact that this is a “sell-off, which could bring as much as £3m for the city, would help fund improvements to the library service”.

I would be grateful if he could answer the following questions:

1. Now that Coun Howells has stated that the revenue from these sales in NOT needed for erecting and developing the new Cardiff library building in the Hayes, could he give exact details of what improvements this “windfall” revenue will fund?

2. Selling these heritage collections is a breach of trust with the people of Cardiff and Wales, and specifically with those who donated many of these rare books for the benefit of the citizens of Cardiff and the prestige of the city – benefactors such as John Cory, for example, who in 1902 bought for Cardiff Library its excellent collection of rare pre-1500 books, printed in Venice, Florence, Strasbourg, Basel and other great European centres of learning. But even if it were right to proceed with these sales, since there now seems to be no urgency to acquire the funds to complete the new library building, is a period of “credit crunch” the most prudent time to realise these lucrative assets?

3. Coun Howells estimates that there will be a short-term gain from these sales of £3m over the next few years.

Could he explain, however, why the council report which recommended the sale of these valuable rare books as “surplus library stock”, discusses in detail the maintenance costs which would be incurred if these books were retained, but makes NO mention of the substantial economic and cultural benefits which would accrue long-term to Cardiff from their retention – for example, the considerable visitor attraction and educational benefits of holding regular exhibitions of these treasures in the new Cardiff Museum?

E WYN JAMES
Secretary, Cardiff Welsh Bibliographical Society

Private Eye have been running stories about councils flogging off library stocks, including rare antiques, at knock down prices because they're not catalogued properly, for years now. This is nothing new. Still, nice that someone else seems to have noticed it...

kyser_soze said:

Private Eye have been running stories about councils flogging off library stocks, including rare antiques, at knock down prices because they're not catalogued properly, for years now. This is nothing new. Still, nice that someone else seems to have noticed it...

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Hey you get back to big city London!!
This is a forum for local people.


and it's truly shitty they are selling off these books!

PAD1OH said:

am I right in thinking that Cardiff council sold lots of stuff/books from Cardiff castle? or was that a long time ago?

anyway, Cardiff council are a shower of useless twats.

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Years ago they sold lots of furniture from Cardiff Castle which they are now trying to find and buy back

It was all stuff made for the castle by Burges

Is there an on-line petition (I'm very lazy)?

What a bunch of uncultured, short-sighted fuckers. And why they ever closed the wonderful library on the Hayes, I'll never understand. Spent hours there revising for 'A' levels and loved the building.

Alarm at proposed collections sale

SIR – I have been following with growing alarm the recent reports and correspondence over Cardiff County Council’s intention to sell off a substantial part of its library collection.

The sale and dispersal of such a collection would be a tremendous loss not just to Cardiff but to Wales and the UK more broadly.

It would also represent a major breach of trust with those who bequeathed their personal collections to the city in good faith.

I have read through the council’s report Disposal of Surplus Library Stock (January 2007), which makes much of the collection’s apparently narrow ‘readership’: the books are ‘unsuitable for use by anyone other than academics and specialists’ and ‘would only ever be used by a very narrow group of interested parties’.

My own experience indicates quite the contrary.

I am a university lecturer who teaches literature at Bath Spa University. Over the past five years, I have run a very popular undergraduate course on British printing and publishing, which draws directly on the rare book collections of Bath’s own public library: we visit the collection, students are required to examine specific books, and they are encouraged to use the material for their own research projects. In recent years, there has been increasing academic interest in the history of printing and publishing; courses such as mine are becoming more numerous across the UK.

There is also a broader public impact. The enthusiasm for “old” books that my course has generated in my students is palpable, with several having gone on to begin careers as librarians or archivists.

In addition, online digitisation projects such as those at the British Library are introducing more and more people to the cultural value of “old” books, while in Scotland, there have been a wide range of public events and exhibitions celebrating the 500th anniversary of the arrival of printing there; I myself have given a well-attended public talk at Bath’s public library about some of its rarer items.

In encouraging citizens to appreciate the richness and diversity of our printed heritage, public libraries are able to play an increasingly crucial role as they are explicitly public organisations, accessible to all. Indeed, I have been given greater access to the materials at Bath’s public library in order to teach my students and inform the wider public than I have been given at any major research library.

I strongly urge the council to reconsider their decision and instead to seize this opportunity to celebrate the printed heritage of both Wales and the UK. Such a rich and diverse collection could form a centrepiece for a redeveloped public library that not only would attract scholars and students from far afield but also would foster a greater understanding of Welsh and British culture among the people of Cardiff and beyond.

IAN GADD,
Senior Lecturer in English, School of English & Creative Studies, Bath Spa University

Council Corruption
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/c...of-planned-rare-book-sell-off-91466-21817485/

Website for the Campaign:
http://www.cardiffheritagefriends.org/

It's possible that the November auction may have been postponed a month, for the Council Exec to look again at the issue. I will have a fuller account of the special meeting that took place, tomorrow.

Popular pressure is having an impact.

I have sent my email to the leader of the council asking him to reconsider.

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it was in the post this week that they've withdrawn some books from the first sale, sounds like momentum to stop the sales might be building? walesonline

It's a bit smoke and mirrors, there have been a lot of statements that contradict each other.

30 books were withdrawn from the auction, but over 100 are still there. In a sense this is the kind of announcement that throws people of the scent.

The aim is to eventually sell around 18,000 books. But the first 100 are the jewel in the crown includes shakespeares, a tyndale bible, key text from the protestant revolution and political tracts from the English Civil War - an epoch of revolutionary democratic struggle that our political elites may prefer to forget . . .

I wrote yesterday - good luck with this.

There was also a recent report in Private Eye on this.

Just checking over with my colleagues the exact details to make sure (my only fear is that the Campaigners will broker a compromise with the Council rather than sticking to their guns), but this sounds like a positive development:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_east/7659957.stm

and also this piece of news:

http://www.eveningleader.co.uk/news/Wrexham-AM-challenges-Welsh-Lib.4571502.jp