The Friends of the National Libraries' latest annual report gives details of the 47 grants that were awarded during the year. The short essays on each grant are rich in fascinating detail about the items acquired and their context. The grants awarded by FNL came to a grant total of £299,846 - the highest in our history. In addition two generous charitable foundations gave £281,000 through FNL as further contributions to help The Ruskin - Library, Museum and Research Centre at Lancaster University acquire the immense and pre-eminent Ruskin Whitehouse collection. These brought to the total grants awarded during the year to over half a million pounds.
Three of the grants awarded in 2019 were towards the acquisition of items stopped from export. Two of these – the notebooks of Sir Charles Lyell and the Judge’s copy of Lady Chatterley’s Lover were completed during the year and are featured in the report.
Click here to download a copy of the 2019 Annual Report
All FNL members receive a hard copy of the annual report. You can download a pdf below but we would love it if you would support our work by becoming a member (starting at just £52 a year) and we will send you the hard copy along with Max Egremont's Friends of the National Libraries: a short history
