The Bodleian Libraries consists of 27 libraries across Oxford and contains over 13 million items, of which over 1 million are categorized as ‘special collection’ items. The Bodleian is the current custodian of Esther Potter’s 141 item collection of knitting and crochet books and leaflets that Potter donated in 2012. Potter’s journal article and book list of English Knitting and Crochet Books of the Nineteenth Century published in The Library in 1955 is an excellent starting point for anyone researching nineteenth century printed instructions for knitting and crochet. When I visited the Bodleian as part of my MA research in 2018, Potter’s items had been absorbed into the John Johnson Collection of Printed Ephemera. There were 4 archive boxes with the reference ‘Fancy Work’ that contained the leaflets and booklets including many from Potter’s list. The books are available from the main catalogue. 12 of Potter’s items have been digitised and available to view online.
The Bodleian Library catalogue is available to search online at http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk
To search for the items donated by Potter select Advanced Search. Set [Search Scope = Oxford Collections] and [copy-specific Notes contains “ether potter”].
For the John Johnson Collection a good starting point is the research guide page of the Bodleian Libraries website https://libguides.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/jj or go directly to the website for the collection https://www2.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/johnson which includes a link to the online image catalogue of c. 74,000 items.
Sally Kentfield
References
ESTHER POTTER, English Knitting and Crochet Books of the Nineteenth Century, The Library, Volume s5-X, Issue 1, March 1955, Pages 25–40, https://doi.org/10.1093/library/s5-X.1.25
ESTHER POTTER, English Knitting and Crochet Books of the Nineteenth Century, The Library, Volume s5-X, Issue 2, June 1955, Pages 103–119, https://doi.org/10.1093/library/s5-X.2.103