UK Museums: John Rylands Library, Manchester
John Rylands Library
The John Rylands Library on Deansgate in Manchester is one of Britain's best libraries.
The Neo-Gothic library is now part of Manchester University and is located near the renovated Spinningfields district and the River Irwell.
History
The building is a tribute and memorial to John Rylands by his wife Enriqueta Augustina Rylands. It opened as a public library in 1900 after ten years in construction. It was one of the first buildings in the city to be lit by electricity and cost around 60 million pounds in today's money to build.
John Rylands (1801-1888) was a local businessman, entrepreneur and philanthropist. He was indeed the city's first multi-millionaire by modern standards, something of a Bill Gates of his day who supported numerous charities after his retirement.
His wife purchased a site in Deansgate and the architect Basil Champneys, who was responsible for several colleges in Oxford and Cambridge, designed the beautiful building in Victorian Neo-Gothic style with an ornate facade.
The interior has stained glass by the artist Charles Eamer Kempe and a series of statues in the main reading room of such figures as Francis Bacon, Bunyan, Caxton, Goethe, Gibbon, Gutenberg, Milton, Newton, Shakespeare, and Wesley, etc.
The white marble statues of John and Enriqueta Rylands are by John Cassidy who also produced the allegorical figures of Theology, Science and Art in the vestibule.
Collections
The wood-paneled rooms with stained glass hold a collection of rare books and other manuscripts which include many Medieval pieces, a Gutenberg Bible, a first edition of Ulysses, and the second largest collection of print works by William Caxton.
Altogether the library holds around 1.4 million items. Of particular historic interest is the Fragment of the Gospel of John, a small piece of papyrus considered by scholars to be the earliest part of any New Testament.
Enriqueta Rylands also purchased the Crawford Manuscripts Collection from James Lindsay the 26th Earl of Crawford for the library in 1901. It contains 6,000 hand-written manuscripts in over 50 different languages.
She had previously purchased the Spencer Collection (Althorp Library) in 1892 from the 5th Earl Spencer, the ancestor of Lady Diana Spencer, the late Princess of Wales.
This amounted to around 43,000 pieces of which 3,000 date from before 1501 and are classified as incunabula.
The library continued to grow thanks to a generous bequest from Enriqueta Rylands upon her death.
The original Victorian toilets still survive downstairs from the Entrance Hall and are as they were in 1900.
Enriqueta's cafe is the perfect place to enjoy some refreshments during your visit. It opened in 2018 and serves delicious tea and coffee.
Access - Getting There
The John Rylands Library
150 Deansgate
Manchester
M3 3EH
Tel: 0161 306 0555
www: library.manchester.ac.uk/rylands
Hours
The library is open 7 days a week. Check the website above for Covid-19 restrictions.
Entrance is free.
Public Transport
There are free shuttle buses from both Piccadilly Station and Victoria Station.
The number 1 free shuttle bus leaves from the forecourt of Piccadilly station every few minutes. Get off on John Dalton Street at stop WX from where the library is a short walk.
The number 2 free shuttle bus leaves from Victoria Station approach every ten minutes. Get off on Deansgate, opposite the Library.
The library is about 20 minutes on foot from Piccadilly Station via King Street.
The nearest Metrolink stop is St. Peter's Square which is approximately 7 minutes on foot.
The following buses stop nearby at either the Deansgate or John Dalton Street stops: V1, V2 and Stagecoach 197 from Manchester University Students Union, 191, 197, 34, 34A, 36, 37, 38, 50, and 51.
Other excellent libraries, museums and art galleries in Manchester include the Portico Library, the Manchester Museum, People's History Museum, the Greater Manchester Police Museum, the Whitworth Art Gallery and the Transport Museum.
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