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We’ll have reduced opening hours from Thursday 18 until Saturday 20 August, due to strike action affecting UK transport networks. The galleries, Reading Room and café will close at 17:00 on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The library will close at 17:00 on Thursday and Friday, and at 16:00 as usual on Saturday. Please check our opening times for more information.

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1 print : aquatint ; platemark 12.5 x 19.6 cm

Royal Baths, York Hotel, Stocker & Longmore's New Baths, York Terrace, Sidmouth, Devon. Tinted aquatint.

1 print : line engraving, with watercolour ; image 28.6 x 44.1 cm

Women washing clothes in Matlock Bath, Derbyshire. Coloured line engraving, 1794.

1 print : line engraving with etching ; platemark 24.7 x 37.3 cm

Naxia Town, Greece: from the harbour. Line engraving by F. Decquevauvillier, 1782, after Choiseul-Gouffier.

<p>The new bath buldings constructed at Montecatini near Florence in 1774-1778 by order of the Grand Duke of Tuscany</p>

Montecatini Terme, Italy. Etching by C. Zocchi after A. Terreni.

1 print : etching ; platemark 23 x 18.3 cm

Roman bath, Lidney Park, Gloucestershire: with a ground plan. Etching by R. Godfrey, 1775.

1 drawing : pen and ink, with watercolour

Baths of Diocletian, Rome: floor plan. Coloured pen drawing.

<p>Right up to the second half of the twentieth century, it was rare for working-class people in larger British cities to have facilities for bathing and washing clothes at home. The local baths and wash-house provided these essential services. In addition, some baths offered an opportunity to swim and socialise. Certain bath-houses such as the one pictured here at Bermondsey, in South London, acquired a reputation as being gay meeting places, particularly if the facilities offered included steam baths, as did the new Bermondsey baths, opened in 1927 (James Gardiner)</p>

The James Gardiner Collection. Photographs.

James Gardiner Collection: romantic fantasy and comic postcards, and photographs on gender and masculinity.

James Gardiner Collection: Romantic fantasy and comic postcards, and photographs on gender and masculinity.

Bermondsey swimming baths: interior. Photographic postcard, ca. 1906.

Matlock, Derbyshire. Etching by Rock & Co., 1862.

Naked men in a shower with a message about sweating, syringes and safe sex. Lithograph for Deutsche AIDS-Hilfe e.V.

1 print : lithograph, with watercolour ; image 30.2 x 40.6 cm

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Royal Baths, York Hotel, Stocker & Longmore's New Baths, York Terrace, Sidmouth, Devon. Tinted aquatint.

Women washing clothes in Matlock Bath, Derbyshire. Coloured line engraving, 1794.

Naxia Town, Greece: from the harbour. Line engraving by F. Decquevauvillier, 1782, after Choiseul-Gouffier.

Montecatini Terme, Italy. Etching by C. Zocchi after A. Terreni.

Roman bath, Lidney Park, Gloucestershire: with a ground plan. Etching by R. Godfrey, 1775.

Baths of Diocletian, Rome: floor plan. Coloured pen drawing.

Bermondsey swimming baths: interior. Photographic postcard, ca. 1906.

Matlock, Derbyshire. Etching by Rock & Co., 1862.

Naked men in a shower with a message about sweating, syringes and safe sex. Lithograph for Deutsche AIDS-Hilfe e.V.

Srirangam, India: water tank in the Temple. Coloured lithograph by T.C. Dibdin after J. Fergusson.

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Royal Baths, York Hotel, Stocker & Longmore's New Baths, York Terrace, Sidmouth, Devon. Tinted aquatint.

Women washing clothes in Matlock Bath, Derbyshire. Coloured line engraving, 1794.

Naxia Town, Greece: from the harbour. Line engraving by F. Decquevauvillier, 1782, after Choiseul-Gouffier.

Montecatini Terme, Italy. Etching by C. Zocchi after A. Terreni.

Roman bath, Lidney Park, Gloucestershire: with a ground plan. Etching by R. Godfrey, 1775.

Baths of Diocletian, Rome: floor plan. Coloured pen drawing.

Bermondsey swimming baths: interior. Photographic postcard, ca. 1906.

Matlock, Derbyshire. Etching by Rock & Co., 1862.

Naked men in a shower with a message about sweating, syringes and safe sex. Lithograph for Deutsche AIDS-Hilfe e.V.

Srirangam, India: water tank in the Temple. Coloured lithograph by T.C. Dibdin after J. Fergusson.

Stay in the know

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