BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk//
X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Chocolate and Bibles: How Victorian Collectors Spent their Evening
 s and Shaped Scholarship - Dr Harry Spillane\, Munby Fellow in Bibliograph
 y\, University Library and Research Fellow\, Darwin College
DTSTART:20250204T131000Z
DTEND:20250204T140000Z
UID:TALK227083@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Dr Amelia Hassoun
DESCRIPTION:One of the most prolific chocolate makers of the Victorian per
 iod\, Francis Fry\, was also one of the most prolific collectors of bibles
 . Though chocolate and bibles are at the heart of this talk\, bigger quest
 ions about authority and who decides what is and what is not authentic and
  true arise. Through Fry’s activities important and interdisciplinary qu
 estions are raised about how status and control of source material exert i
 nfluence over scholarly study.\nFry’s enormous collection of many thousa
 nds of religious texts allowed him to write several books of his own. In t
 urn\, these allowed readers who owned copies of the English Bible from the
  1500s and 1600s to identify what edition they had\, how complete it was a
 nd thus its value. Fry’s methods were unusual and he openly revealed tha
 t he frequently commissioned modern copies of missing pages for his own bo
 oks in order to ‘complete them’. Ultimately\, a letter of authenticity
  from Francis Fry became a valuable thing and auction houses across the wo
 rld used his verdict as a guarantee when pricing copies for sale.\nToday\,
  Fry’s bibles sit at the heart of the Bible Society Collection within th
 e University Library at Cambridge. His collection has been used to make ca
 talogues that scholars still refer to and it is visited by researchers fro
 m across the world who wish to learn more about the history of print and b
 ible production. What shadows has Fry cast over modern scholarship?
LOCATION:Richard King room\, Darwin College
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR