Wednesday, 17 September 2025, 7:30 PM
Location: St Luke’s Hall, St Luke’s Place, Cheltenham, GL53 7HP
For more than 80 years, from around 1863 to 1946, Thirlestaine House in Cheltenham was home to the manuscript collection of Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792 – 1872), arguably the largest such collection ever created by a single individual. This talk will consider the history of the collection, with particular emphasis on the period after Phillipps’ death, looking at how the collection was made available to visiting academics and historians, and some of the rare and unique treasures that they found on its shelves.