Glad tidings we bring, to you and your kin (and colleagues) with this December newsletter from Mary Evans Towers. We hope you've wrapped the presents, decorated the tree and have had a chance to go through the Christmas Radio Times with a highlighter pen.

Whatever your festive schedule, may we suggest you have a nice sit down with a sherry for a minute or two and enjoy our News of Note, which this month includes updates on royal memorials, a classic Christmas story book, and a landmark birthday event at an iconic London venue.

Farewell to Jessica

Most of you in the course of using Mary Evans over the years will have experienced the efficient and ever-helpful assistance of Jessica, our Deputy Picture Research Manager, who first started at the library on 1st June 1998.

If so, you'll be as sorry as we are to learn that after a very impressive twenty-six years of service, Jess has decided to move on and will be leaving Mary Evans on 10th January.

We will miss her encyclopaedic knowledge of the archive, her keen eye for detail, witty way with words, and forensic record-keeping, but above all, we'll just miss her. Please join us in wishing her all the best, and although we'll be seeing less of Jess, she remains a star in the firmament of Mary Evans staff, past and present.

The Story of Christmas

Margaret Tarrant (1888-1959), began to work regularly for the Medici Society in 1920 and became closely associated with the publisher, especially for the delightful illustrations she provided for their series of fairy books written by Marion St. John Webb.

We have all this material via our representation of Medici, but also a large quantity of Christian Christmas imagery. Deeply religious, much of Margaret Tarrant's life revolved around activities of her parish church and the Church Missionary Society. A six-week trip to Palestine in 1936, funded by Medici, provided her with inspiration for her pictures, including those for The Story of Christmas which was first published in 1952.

We recently licensed the artwork for a new edition of this classic book to Arcturus Publishing, who created a lovely, larger format hard back which does justice to the original. Available from all good bookshops, it would make a lovely last-minute Christmas gift for children. And do remember we have a large number of Medici children's books available for licensing.

Notre Dame Renewed

Roving photographer Manuel Cohen's latest submission is very topical, and shows an insider view of the restoration work on Notre Dame which re-opened earlier this month.

From extracting and cutting limestone blocks from the Croix Huyart quarry to the painstaking work on carpets and stained glass, there are over 450 images here which tell the story of this incredible five-year project. Fascinating stuff.

Calendar Days

A little reminder after last week's newsletter, that while we are not printing a calendar this year, we have created two lovely calendar designs for 2025 which can be downloaded and, if desired, printed out.

Choose from the striking inter-war air display posters calendar, or the whimsical watercolours of Margaret Tarrant to help you count down the days.

Memorial Memories

The announcement that the Queen Elizabeth II memorial to be erected in St. James's Park is to cost an estimated £46m sent us scurrying into the magazine archive to see what we could find on the Victoria Memorial, the huge monument to Queen Victoria, first mooted in 1901, unveiled in 1911 and finally completed in 1924!

There was plenty to discover including illustrations of unsuccessful plans and a particularly acerbic review of the completed memorial in The Sphere magazine!

Click here to see a selection.

Hippodrome 125

The London Hippodrome will be celebrating its 125th birthday on 15th January and our Head of Sales & Research, Luci, author of 'The London Hippodrome: An Entertainment of Unexampled Brilliance' is putting on a show!

Taking place at what is now the Hippodrome Casino on the 14th January audience members will be treated to an evening of stories, pictures and reminiscences from the building's eventful history, with musical accompaniment by West End cabaret performers, Robert Hazle and Wendy Carr. There will even be a few sing-a-longs and a specially created 125th anniversary cocktail available.

Tickets can be booked via eventbrite, here.