The John Rylands Library. Basil Champneys, 1900. Deansgate, Manchester, England, UK.
The John Rylands Library. Basil Champneys, 1900. The library was founded by Mrs Enriqueta Augustina Rylands in memory of her late husband, the cotton merchant John Rylands. The foundations of the Library's collections were the Althorp Library of Lord Spencer acquired in 1892 and a part of the Bibliotheca Lindesiana purchased from James Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford, in 1901. The Bibliotheca Lindesiana was one of the most impressive private collections in Britain at the time, both for its size and for the rarity of some of the materials it contained, including Chinese and Japanese printed books. The collections include exquisite medieval illuminated manuscripts, examples of the earliest forms of European printing including a fine paper copy of the Gutenberg Bible and a collection of books printed by William Caxton, as well as the personal papers of distinguished historical figures including Elizabeth Gaskell, John Dalton and John Wesley. The library also houses the papyrus fragments known as the Rylands Papyri and documents from North Africa. The most notable of these is the St John Fragment, believed to be the oldest extant New Testament document.
Size: 2848px × 4642px
Location: Deansgate, Manchester, England, UK
Photo credit: © lowefoto / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: architecture, basil, champneys, deansgate, eec, england, eu, europe, gothic, john, library, manchester, repository, rylands, sandstone, spinningfields, uk
