Bristol Univeristy treasures

They have been quietly lining the shelves of the University of Bristol's library for generations, enjoyed only by academics, librarians and a few of the more bookish students.

But now 100 of Bristol's little-known treasures are being made available via the internet.

As part of its centenary year celebrations, the university plans to reproduce a page from each of the 100 works, all of which will be rare or extraordinary pieces. The first eight "treasures" are available to view online now.

Librarian Michael Richardson and archivist Hannah Lowery have the job of whittling down the library's Special Collection to just 100 extraordinary pieces.

"We haven't sat down and come up with a list of 100 treasures," says Hannah, as she leads the way through the library's labyrinthine corridors, "that would be spoiling the fun for the rest of the year. We've just chosen the first eight that have gone online for January/February."

The Special Collection room is an intriguing place, with its walls lined with leather-bound volumes, dark wood cabinets and a great oak table. A statuette of Brunel gathers dust on the sideboard, while more of Bristol's long-dead worthies peer down through history via the heavy-framed oil paintings on the walls.

Michael and Hannah have the eight chosen books ready and waiting to be discovered, perched delicately on special cushions and spread out neatly around the table. They seem fairly anonymous in their old leather bindings, but vary enormously in shape and size.

The smallest is little more than a pamphlet. But as you open the first page, you realise you are holding an historically important document. The title page reads: "Kings Charls (sic), His speech made upon the scaffold at Whitehall Gate, immediately before his execution on Tuesday, the 30 of Jan, 1648, With a relation of his manner of going to the execution."

It may not be the snappiest title, but there's nothing like a bit of regicide to focus the attention.

"This was the official pamphlet that was produced and distributed around the country within hours of the execution of Charles I," Michael explains. "If you like, this was the breaking news channel of the day.

"It's so immediate in fact, that the very last line of the booklet says: "The King's body now lies in his lodging chamber in Whitehall." So he's not even been buried when this was produced.

"Although it was distributed in its hundreds, it was a flimsy piece – little more than a newsletter – so most have been destroyed over the years. This is one of just seven left in existence."

The first thing you notice is that the date is wrong – or were we taught wrongly at school that the unfortunate king lost his head in 1649, not 1648?

"No, that's right," says Michael. "It was January 30, 1649, by today's standards. But back then the new year started in March, on Lady Day, so January 30 was still technically 1648.

"Interestingly, though, further down the title page it says the pamphlet is printed in 1649, so they must have been in the process of moving over from the old style to the new style of dating."

The pamphlet records the king's own, now famous, final words: "I go from a corruptible to an incorruptible crown; where no disturbance can be."

The next cushion on the old oak table features a considerably larger work, Edward Dodwell's Views Of Greece.

Published in 1821, it brings to life the Greece of 1801, when Dodwell, a great traveller and antiquarian, recorded his experiences in scores of watercolours.

"There are some really quite beautiful paintings in the book," Michael says. "The fascinating thing to note is the Ottoman influence in the pictures – this was a few years before the Greek war of independence, when the country was still occupied by the Turks. The frontispiece of the book seems to offer a political statement, with an image of Greece depicted as a lady enslaved by an Ottoman."

The first wave of "treasures" also includes Thomas Hawkins' lavishly illustrated work from 1840, The Book Of The Great Sea Dragons; a handwritten recipe book compiled by Hester Pinney (1657-1740); Richard Hooke's Micrographia (1667), which charts his early experiments with a microscope; the hand-written travel journal of explorer William Gell from about 1800; and a collection of sketches of sailors making first contact with Eskimo tribes in Greenland in 1818 – A Voyage Of Discovery, by John Ross.

But the most striking book in the collection is much older. Richard Cobden's Book Of Hours, which dates back to the 15th century, is a handwritten and beautifully illustrated religious work. The illuminated manuscript was owned by the Liberal statesman in the 19th century.

"We think that Cobden probably bought the book while travelling in France," Hannah explains.

"After his death, he left it to the library of the National Liberal Club in London.

"Bristol University bought the Liberal Club library in its entirety in the 1970s, and the Book Of Hours was undoubtedly one of the highlights."

The book truly lives up to the name "treasure", its hand-painted, gold-leaf illustrations radiant in the dimly-lit library back room.

"It sparkles like a piece of finely cut crystal glass," Michael says, as he turns the leaves of the book with delicate precision. "This truly is unique. The fact that it was owned by Cobden, the great social reformer, when it was already 300 years old, simply adds another layer to the historical value of the book."

The book follows the story of the New Testament, with illustrations giving a curious combination of medieval scenery and costume, mixed with the world of the Holy Land from 2,000 years ago.

"It is funny how you get medieval castles and kings dressed in medieval robes thrown in here and there," Michael says. "The 15th-century artists who put this together didn't seem to worry as much about historical authenticity as we would today.

"It may well have been written and illustrated by monks, in the great medieval monastic tradition of illuminated manuscripts, but we don't think it was designed for monastic life.

"The sheer richness of the detail means it must have been almost priceless even then. It must have been created to order for a very wealthy patron. Today it certainly is one of Bristol University's greatest treasures."

Parts of the books are available to view online, with more treasures being added throughout the year. To discover the treasures for yourself, visit www.bris.ac.uk/is/library/ collections/specialcollections/ archives/treasures