Exploring Eliot's Coventry

The Herbert is celebrating 200 years since the birth of author George Eliot with a new display about her connections with Coventry.

Find out about her life and friends and how the city itself influenced her work.

Visitors will be able to see the original manuscript of her greatest novel, Middlemarch, on loan from the British Library from Friday 1st Nov 2019 to Sunday 5th Jan 2020, after which it will be in Nuneaton for a further 8 weeks. (The manuscript is no longer included in the display)

This item has been loaned as part of the British Library’s Treasures on Tour programme, which is generously supported by the Helen Hamlyn Trust. From da Vinci’s notebooks and Jane Austen’s writings to rare sacred texts and the earliest newspapers, the British Library works with partners across the world to share its collection of over 170 million treasures, inspiring the next great idea or moment of joyful discovery.

Visitors will also get the chance to see her writing desk, a copy of the original painting of Eliot by Durade, her stationary cabinet and writing board which would have been used in creating her famous works and the statuette which sat on her desk at Bird Grove in Foleshill, Coventry, as she wrote.  

Alongside Eliot’s personal items and clothing, there are original copies of local studies on the author and reproductions of the real-life residents who inspired characters in her works.  

There’s also the chance to see beyond her work to the inspiration she took from Coventry and her friends in the city, including Cara and Charles Bray who she visited frequently at Rosehill in the city.  

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