The Twining Collection
The Twining Collection is a collection of books, pamphlets and photographs on the subject of royal jewellery, crown jewels, regalia and coronation rites. It is an evolving collection which is regularly added to.
The core collection was the work of Lord Twining, (1899-1967), a colonial administrator who became Governor of Tangyanika, which is now part of the United Republic of Tanzania. Lord Twining was fascinated by the regalia of Western Europe and wrote two major books on the subject – A history of the crown jewels of Europe (1960) and European regalia (1967) both of which were published by B.T. Batsford. The former was 720 pages in length, containing 232 pages of plates with over 750 photographs. With self-deprecating humour, Lord Twining described his extraordinary work as ‘Too heavy to hold, too dull to read and too expensive to buy’. But despite its intimidating size and cost (16 guineas) it was a commercial success, selling over 1,000 copies.
The second part of the history – the regalia – necessitated journeys to Europe for further information and it was not until 1967, the year of Lord Twining’s death, that European regalia was published.
During his research Lord Twining built up a collection of books, pamphlets and photographs on the subject of European regalia, crown jewels and coronation rites which was donated to the Goldsmiths’ Company. The Library continues to add to this gift by acquiring new books published on the subject from around the world, keeping the Twining Collection up-to-date and widening its subject reach to encompass other countries, cultures and traditions.
Additions to the Twining Collection include works on the personal jewellery of monarchs, the crown jewels of India and Iran, and the monumental The Crown Jewels: the history of the coronation regalia in the jewel house of the tower of London, published by the Stationary Office in 1998.
What to expect when using the Twining Collection
Seven folders of photographs showing royal plate, regalia, portraits and pictures of coronations, together with some notes (principally European but also including some examples from further afield). These are divided alphabetically by country.
Five boxes of manuscript translations of non-English books and articles on the subject of royal regalia
Three boxes of pamphlets on the subject of European royal regalia. These are divided by country.
Approximately 200 books, housed separately from in the Library’s store.
Many of the more recently acquired books have been added to the Library’s main catalogue, and their catalogue records accessed through the general search box or through using the ‘Twining Collection’ special search. The other material must be searched manually.
Please book an appointment to view the material, letting us know that you would like to use the Twining Collection, and stating the kind of research you would like to carry out – for example, whether it relates to a certain country or time period. This will allow library staff to prepare material for you in advance.
We look forward to your visit!