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Priaulx Library, Guernsey

Image credit: Gemma Dorrity

Visit by appointment

Library or archive in Guernsey

7 artworks

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The Priaulx Library is a long-established research and local studies library with a number of special collections including rare books, maps, photographs and manuscripts. The staff also specialise in genealogical and local research. The collections include a small but significant number of prints, drawings and paintings, mostly with local connections, and all are available to view on appointment. All but one of the Library's oil paintings are portraits and have been gifts, with the exception of the portrait of the founder, Osmond de Beauvoir Priaulx (1805–1891) which was a commission from the newly formed Priaulx Library Council in 1888. The present Council work hard at ensuring that all the collections, in whatever format, are available to locals and visitors alike, for research and education purposes and strives to encourage interest in local studies, development of new research and promotion of all material relating to the rich and varied culture of the Channel Islands. Once known as Candie House, the Priaulx Library was built in the late eighteenth century by merchant Pierre Mourant and remained a family home for almost a century. In the 1880s, the owner, Osmond de Beauvoir Priaulx, gave the building to the people of Guernsey as a gift, along with his collection of books and the Priaulx Library was born, opening its doors to the public in 1889. Standing in the beautiful Candie Gardens, once the gardens to the house, the Library enjoys commanding views over St Peter Port and the other Channel Islands and retains all the ambience of the original Victorian interiors. Being designated the local studies library in the 1980s enabled the Library to concentrate its expertise on the rich collection of local material and make it accessible to the people of Guernsey, as the founder had intended.

Candie Road, St Peter Port, Guernsey GY1 1UG Channel Islands

info@priaulxlibrary.co.uk

01481 721 998

Before making a visit, check opening hours with the venue

http://www.priaulxlibrary.co.uk/