Fran Baker, Head of Library and Archives, introduces a selection of remarkable objects from House of Stories: Tales from the Chatsworth Library, our exhibition exploring literature, collecting, memory and creativity across the centuries.
From a medieval fragment of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, to letters connected with Charles Dickens, Elizabeth Gaskell and Charlotte Brontë, the exhibition reveals the many ways stories have shaped Chatsworth and the people connected to it.
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Video Transcript
Chatsworth’s library and archives hold many remarkable traces of literary history, from medieval manuscripts to 20th-century novels, along with personal letters and journals reflecting how people experienced and responded to literature.
A selection of these items are now on display in the house, forming our House of Stories exhibition.
The oldest item in the exhibition is a fragment of Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, written between about 1425 and 1450, only a few decades after Chaucer’s death.
Chaucer’s work helped establish English as a respected literary language at a time when French and Latin still dominated literature in England. The Canterbury Tales brings together a varied cast of pilgrims whose stories offer a vivid glimpse of medieval society.
Chaucer never finished the work, and no manuscript from his lifetime survives. However, the stories circulated widely through handwritten copies like this one, made by scribes in the early fifteenth century.
This fragment survives largely by chance. It was probably reused as binding material for another book, which is how many medieval fragments have been preserved. The language and letter forms suggest it was written by a scribe from the Northeast Midlands, perhaps not far from Chatsworth itself.
Although it contains only part of the Man of Law’s Tale, fragments like this remain highly significant, showing how literature circulated before the age of print.
A century later, printing began transforming how literature spread across Europe. A beautiful example of that change is this 1514 edition of Petrarch’s poems, printed in Venice by Aldus Manutius.
Manutius pioneered the italic typeface and produced small portable books; this volume is small enough to fit into a pocket.
This particular copy is exceptional. It is printed on vellum and richly illuminated by hand, reflecting how early printed books often imitated manuscripts, with decoration added afterwards by artists.
The book was likely produced for a member of the Medici family before eventually being acquired by George John, 2nd Earl Spencer, who presented it to his sister, Duchess Georgiana, as a gift.
It became one of her treasured possessions, and in 1792 she left it to her young son, the 6th Duke, as a personal remembrance, ensuring it remained part of the Devonshire Collection.
One of the most personal objects in the exhibition is Lady Caroline Lamb’s Mourning Book, created after the death of her aunt, Duchess Georgiana, in 1806.
Its black cover holds a glazed oval frame containing a lock of Georgiana’s hair entwined with gold thread, alongside a pearl monogram of her initials.
Inside, Caroline filled the book with poems, watercolour illustrations and sketches reflecting grief and remembrance, including several self-portraits.
Some of these writings respond to Georgiana not only as a family member, but as a writer. Georgiana herself composed poetry, including a piece titled “To Myself,” reflecting on emotion and the inner life, which is also on display.
Caroline Lamb later became famous for her relationship with Lord Byron and for her novel 'Glenarvon'. But this book shows she was already a thoughtful and creative writer and artist.
It even contains the unfinished draft of another Gothic novel, featuring a troubled hero in the Byronic mould.
The exhibition also includes a first edition of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice once owned by Lady Caroline Lamb, borrowed from Jane Austen’s House in Chawton.
Literary life at Chatsworth was particularly vibrant during the Victorian period. A scrapbook compiled by the 6th Duke of Devonshire records a theatrical performance held at Devonshire House in 1851 in aid of the Guild of Literature and Art, founded by Charles Dickens.
The Duke was a great fan of Dickens’s work, and hosted the event, bringing together writers, artists and members of high society, and securing royal attendance.
The scrapbook captures this moment and marks the beginning of an enduring friendship between Dickens and the Duke, bringing together two very different kinds of celebrity: one a world-famous novelist, the other one of Britain’s most prominent aristocrats.
That sense of personal connection appears again in a letter from Elizabeth Gaskell to the 6th Duke of Devonshire, written after her visit to Chatsworth in 1857.
In it, she thanks the Duke for his hospitality and encloses as a gift a letter she had received from Charlotte Brontë, which she described as the most interesting she had ever received from her. It was not something she would have parted with lightly.
The letter offers a glimpse into Brontë’s life at Haworth, but also shows her engagement with literature and wider cultural life, and her views on the position of women in society.
Together, these letters reflect how literary relationships, reputation and exchange formed part of the wider cultural world connected to Chatsworth.
That literary connection appears again in the Handbook of Chatsworth and Hardwick, written by the 6th Duke himself as a personal letter to his sister describing the house, its rooms and collections.
Although intended to remain private, the Duke loaned copies to certain literary acquaintances. Charles Dickens admired the Duke’s writing, while the writer and campaigner Caroline Norton called it “the perfection of the gossip style.”
One remarkable version was later created by the Duke’s niece, Lady Louisa Egerton, who transformed a large-paper copy into a six-volume illustrated work filled with watercolours, sketches and engravings of the collections and interiors.
Her work reflects both a deep love of Chatsworth and an early commitment to preserving its history.
Together, these objects reveal the many ways literature connects with Chatsworth; through collecting, reading, writing, friendship and memory, and through the generations who have preserved these remarkable books and documents.
About the exhibition
House of Stories: Tales from the Chatsworth Library runs from 21 March to 4 October 2026.
Artefacts, artworks, and furniture connected to the exhibition are on display throughout the house at various points on the visitor route.
Access to the exhibition is included with all house and garden tickets; you do not need a separate ticket.
House of Stories is supported by Sotheby’s, Chatsworth’s Arts and Exhibitions Partner.
All income from ticket sales and Gift Aid is reinvested in Chatsworth by the Chatsworth House Trust charity.
