RARE finds have been made at a city library after a team of five staff and more than 40 volunteers spent two years cataloguing more than 40,000 books.
Yesterday Sir Harry and Lady Djanogly cut the ribbon at the launch event for Bromley House Library's new computerised system as it moved from typewritten cards.
Librarian Carol Barstow said: "During the course of re-cataloguing, we have uncovered some curious books and other material.
"They reflect the tastes of members as Nottingham grew from a town into a city and the places they visited as the Empire expanded."
Among the most bizarre was a book written on palm leaves donated by one of the library's founders in 1827, as well as a book published in Britain during the Second World War and smuggled into France to promote resistance against the Nazi occupiers.
This is the first complete re-catalogue of the library on Angel Row in more than 100 years and it was funded by £60,000 from the Heritage Lottery and local trusts, which was matched by the library.
Mary Auckland, catalogue project manager and ex-university librarian, said: "It did seem very daunting at the beginning, but as we catalogued each book we put a white slip of paper in it and when you looked back you could see the progress that was being made – I think it contributed hugely to keeping people motivated.
"When the library last decided to modernise and produce a card catalogue with a typewriter it took them 26 years to do – we're pretty chuffed with ourselves that we've catalogued 40,000 books in just two years."
Books are now searchable using keywords and subjects, although the unique Bromley House headings are being kept.
The volunteers brought a range of experiences, including IT skills and languages such as Latin, Greek, and German.
Volunteer Stephen Brown, 57, of The Park, said: "It was an opportunity to get to know library and the collection a bit better.
"We had quite a few laughs really – there's this sort of literary cliché about 'it was a dark and stormy night' and we did actually find a book from the 18th century or so that started with that."
And retired lecturer Anne Jenkins said: "Lots of books were written during the First World War predicting how things would be after it finished, it was so interesting to read how people felt while all that slaughter was going on."
The cataloguing is the first step in a significant refurbishment of the library.
Other improvements include renovating one wing and an appeal is being launched to raise £450,000 to fund the work.
