UCD Woodland Path
In April 2023 on a rather damp day, I stepped onto UCD’s campus for a walk. Little did I know then that two years later I would be contributing to the university’s Cultural Heritage Blog. As a recent addition to the Special Collection’s team getting to know its collections, my attention turned to the university’s campus and its waysides and woodlands when considering what to write.
Making Belfield (48.0.25)
UCD’s Special Collections and Woodland Walks provide visitors, students and staff with avenues for exploration. John McCafferty notes in Making Belfield that “peoples experience of Belfield is one of walking” (48.0.25, p.227). Published to mark fifty years at Belfield, Making Belfield provides insight into the history of UCD’s landscape. Additionally, it introduces the university’s cultural and heritage collections to its reader.
How to Study Wild Flowers by George Henslow (581.905 HEN)
From birds in birch trees to swans in the lakes, nature is found on campus. It may be experienced on a visit to Special Collections to view a book; for example, How to Study Wild Flowers by George Henslow (581.905 HEN). It may be heard listening to birdsong or seen while observing Lesser Celandine, a plant from the buttercup family, growing beside a woodland path. Published in 1886, Our Irish Song Birds by Charles William Benson includes birds which may be heard on a woodland walk (598.29415 BEN).
Our Irish Song Birds by Charles William Benson (598.29415 BEN)
McCafferty suggests that the university’s heritage collections can be viewed as “walkways into the past present and future” (48.0.25, p.227). While viewing collections may lead our research down certain routes, words put down on paper are also inspired by nature.
Animal Life of the British Isles by Edward Step (591.2 STE)
A search for woodlands in the library’s catalogue informs us (at the time of writing) that there are eight items relating to woodlands held in Special Collections. If we vary our search term and search for wood, woods or for that which may be found in woods (squirrels, woodpigeons etc.), additional items can be found. Search results may refer to an author’s name in addition to the subject if not filtered. Authors whose work is held in UCD’s Special Collections include Macdara Woods (51.R.44), Joseph Woods (107.H.101), Norman Wood (69.B.45/9) and William Wood (109.C.53) to name but a few.
Lesser Celandine in Wayside and Woodland Blossoms (13.T.29) & UCD Woodlands
In researching this blog post I came across Edward Step (1855-1931). For Step woodlands were comparable to cathedrals. Writing in Flora’s Realm: a story of flowers, fruit and leaves, Step wrote that; “when I enter an old wood be it of beech or oak or pine, I feel that I am in natures cathedral, from which no doubt the cathedral builders copied in stone what they find here built of living wood” (580 STE, p.30)
Step’s work features in a series called Wayside and Woodlands published by Frederick Warne. Collectively these books and their colourful illustrations, provide insight into the life of our wayside and woodlands. Books from this series in Special Collections include:
- Wayside and Woodland Blossoms: A pocket guide to British wildflowers for the country rambler by Edward Step (13.T.29)
- Animal Life of the British Isles: A pocket guide to the mammals, reptiles and batrachians of wayside and woodlands by Edward Step (591.2 STE)
- Life of the Wayside and woodland: Where When and What to observe and collect by T.A. Coward (508 COW)
Endpapers (13.T.29) & image of UCD Woodland Path
Two editions of the Edward Step’s Wayside and Woodland Blossoms are held in Special Collections. While ferns are clearly printed on the endpapers of the book published in 1896 (40.I.26). It could be said that the endpapers in the 1895 edition (13.T.29) resemble a woodland path (see image above).
Pruning Shears for the Management of Woods (25.K.20)
Books relating to the management of trees in Special Collections include: A Practical treatise on planting and the management of woods and coppices by S. H. published in 1794 (25.K.20), the 1825 publication The Woodlands: or A treatise on preparing of ground for planting, on the planting, on the cultivating, on the pruning, and on the cutting down of forest trees… the trees being arranged in alphabetical order by William Corbett (41.A.13) and Manual of Tree Diseases by L.H. Baily, published in 1918 (RCScI, 581.85 RAN).
Example of the book plate used by Augustine Henry (49.I.23)
Augustine Henry, the first professor of forestry in Ireland worked in the Royal College of Science for Ireland and later at UCD. Books in Special Collections formerly owned by Henry include The Manner of Raising, Ordering and Improving Forrest Trees by Moses Cook, Gardiner to the Earl of Essex which was published in 1717 (49.I.20) and Our Forests and Woodlands by John Nisbet which was published in 1909 (49.I.25). His career is outlined in The Wood and the Trees-a biography by Shiela Pim (580.92HEN/P).
The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood: A Tale by Charles Perrault (34.P.13/2)
To an extent nature and Special Collections are intertwined. Wood was used to construct moulds for paper making and wood pulp has been used to make paper (010.42 GAS). Book boards were created using wood (OFM XL6) and illustrations have been printed from woodcuts. Examples can be seen in Charles Perrault’s The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood: A Tale which was printed in 1796 (34.P.13/2).
Whether we are on a woodland walk on a damp spring day or when it is dry and the sun is shining, we are affected, as is the woodland, by environmental conditions. Light, heat and humidity will have an impact on our collections and their preservation. In Special Collections the researcher can find books relating these topics. For example, Lessons in heat and light by D.E Jones, published in 1892 (536 JON) and Forests and Moisture; or effects of forests on humidity of climate by John Croumbie Brown (581.85.BRO).
Tales and Talks in Natures Garden (45.U.25)
From children’s tales (45.U.25) to novels (50.X.61) and poetry (107.K.169) reference is made to woods in UCD’s Special Collections. Spending time on a woodland walk can provide us with time to think. This could include reflecting on items viewed on a visit to Special Collections and how they may be incorporated into our work. Books viewed in Special Collections may take us on a journey into the woods, plant a woodland scene in our imagination or provide insight into the value of our waysides and woodlands as habitats for plants and animals, which should be preserved.
This post was written by Patricia Bedlow, Library Assistant, UCD Special Collections / Information and Learning Services