David Murray Prize 2025 Winner
It was a delight to offer the David Murray Book Collecting Prize in 2025, and the University’s student community once again proved their passion for all things books and collecting.
The Library, and panel of judges, were impressed by the quality of the submissions received. It was a hard job to whittle the field for the final round of presentations. However, six collections and collectors stood out, and the judges assembled in March 2025 to allow the collectors to share their stories of the origin, development and aims of their book collection.
Our grateful thanks to Finlay, Haizea, Madeline, Natasha, Riley and Safia for their wonderful presentations; each was full of the joys of these books and the adventure of collecting. Each collector vividly brought to life the time and dedication taken in crafting their collection. Across the afternoon the stories of cookery books, of Jane Austen and Frankenstein, of antiquity and Aztecs mingled with stories of family, of private and shared passions, and of finding oneself.
The judging panel once again found themselves with a difficult decision, with every applicant commended. The David Murray Book Collecting Prize 2025 was awarded to Safia Postgate, honours student in English Literature & Art History. Safia’s collection of around fifty beautiful nineteenth and twentieth century books of literature and history, are bound together by their exploration of non-normative gender expression and sexuality. Safia clearly set out a focus in their collecting and plans for continuing to develop this further into the future.
Congratulations to Safia and all those who applied; and thanks to our panel of judges: Bill Zachs (founder and director of Blackie House Library and Museum), David McMenemy (Reader, Information Studies), Iris Duane (Students Representative Council VP Student Support 2024-25), Malcolm Chapman (Head of Collections Management, The Hunterian), and Martina McChrystal (Director of Library Services).
