Richmal Crompton

Richmal Crompton (1890 – 1969) was best known for her Just William stories. She originally trained as a Classics teacher and taught first at St. Elphin’s boarding school and then Bromley High School, which is less than 2 miles from Max's offices in Chislehurst where she also lived most of her life. She turned to full time writing after having contracted polio in early 1920s which left her unable to teach. The stories were published between 1919 (first published in the Happy Magazine) and 1970 (Newnes and later MacMillan).

The Richmal Crompton Collection was transferred to the University of Roehampton as a deposit by the Literary Estate of Richmal Crompton Lamburn in late 2007 with an opening in January 2008. It comprises of all her belongings associated with her as a writer but also private life such as material concerning her education or correspondence with family members and friends, and diaries. Of course there is a rich collection of manuscripts, drafts, jottings, radio plays, correspondence with fans and publishers (continuing after her death), press cuttings and of course photographs, etc. The collection also holds her private library, and last but not least her publications, namely Just William books in numerous editions and translations as well as her lesser known adult fiction.

Max are delighted to be digitising this fantastic collection.

The longitude problem: 300-year-old archive opened to the world.

It was the conundrum that baffled some of the greatest and most eccentric experts of the 18th century - and captivated the British public during an era of unprecedented scientific and technical transformation.

Now, for the first time, the full story of attempts to solve the longitude problem - unravelling the lone genius myth popularised in film and literature - is freely available to everyone via the Cambridge Digital Library at http://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/
The new Board of Longitude Collection includes the complete archive of the Board, held by the Library, along with associated collections from the National Maritime Museum. Treasures of the Longitude archive include accounts of bitter rivalries, wild proposals and first encounters between Europeans and Pacific peoples. This includes logbooks of Captain Cook’s voyages of discovery, the naming of Australia and even a letter from Captain Bligh of HMS Bounty, who writes to apologise for the loss of a timekeeper after his ship was ‘pirated from my command’.

The University Library’s Digital Library project was launched in June 2010 following a £1.5m gift from the Polonsky Foundation. University Librarian Anne Jarvis said: “With the digitisation of this incredible collection, we have taken another important step towards realising our shared ambition of creating a digital library for the world.”

Max worked onsite at the National Maritime Museum digitising 32,000 pages.

Page turning

 Max now brings you the ability to read your scanned books, magazines, newspapers online, just like you were reading the real thing with page turning technology. Please click the following link to see an example of such a procedure:

 'A Statement Regarding Sarawak'

Altar Piece

 Crucifixion with Saints, 1348 - Daddi, Bernardo

Tempera on panel, integral frame gabled top.

The altar piece was donated by Courthauld Images, The Courthauld Gallery. 

Max printed the altar piece, the image of which was supplied by the Courthauld Institute, directly on to Foamex board which is lightweight for use but very strong. The image was then cut out to replicate the original 14th century Altar piece, for Priory Church of St Bartholomew the Great, West Smithfield, London.

Saint Bartholomew the Great is one of London's oldest churches. Founded in 1123 as an Augustinian Priory,  built when Henry I, son of William the Conqueror, was King. It survived the Great Fire of 1666 and both World Wars unscathed. Today the Church, which is well worth a visit, has appeared in numerous films including Four Weddings and a Funeral, Shakespeare in Love, Amazing Grace,Elizabeth: The Golden Age, and The Other Boleyn Girl, as well as in numerous television programmes, including The Hollow Crown.