🔦 A small torch for venturing in and around the shelves
💧 A water bottle
🧶 Knitting or other activities
❤️ An open heart.

We can’t wait to meet everyone who walks through our doors in 2026. Will it be you?
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Are you visiting us this year? Here’s what recent visitors recommended packing:
🧣 Layers! Our Reading Rooms are kept at a comfortable 18–20°C
🧘 A travel yoga mat
📓 A journal (or two… or three!)
👟 Comfortable shoes for walking
🍰 An appetite!
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Alongside good food, beautiful surroundings, and a team renowned for their kindness, this is a place to be still, to learn and to be reminded of the wisdom of the past. Whatever your reason for visiting, you’ll find a warm welcome.
-Revd. Dr Andrea Russell, Warden
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We reopen following the Christmas break on Tuesday 6th January at 2pm. We look forward to seeing you soon!

However you are marking these first days of the year, we hope there is time for rest, joy and thankfulness. We look forward to welcoming you to the Library from Tuesday 6th January at 2pm!

In a complex and uncertain world, your presence and encouragement reminds us why spaces for reflection and connection matter. As we look ahead, we hold hope for new conversations, quiet moments, good books, tasty food, and many visitors, both new and returning, through our doors.

👀 taken a peep into the Reading Rooms on 27 tours
❓ sent 447 email enquiries (and asked many more in person!) about the Reading Rooms and our collections
🪑and sat at our desks more than 1000 times a month!
We look forward to sharing our collections with you all again in 2026!

Long lay the world in sin and error pining
'Til He appeared, and the soul felt its worth
A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn

However you mark this day I hope that we all ‘feel our worth’.
Warmly,
Revd. Dr Andrea Russell, Warden

Come and meet our first Writer in Residence of 2026, David Hendy, for this Masterclass on writing for radio and on using sound to enrich writing for the page. Refreshments and lunch included, for more details visit our website.

Link in bio or go to our website -> Events.
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Thank you again and however you celebrate this season I do hope that there is time for rest, joy and thankfulness.

Warmly,
Andrea
Revd. Dr. Andrea Russell
Warden of Gladstone’s Library

If you’d like to read our Jan newsletter, with reflections and a look ahead for 2026, you can sign up on our website.

🎁And if you find yourself with an unexpected guest over Christmas, remember that Gladstone’s Library gift vouchers are available to buy online at any time!