Chetham’s Library

Well-preserved medieval college buildings housing a seventeenth-century library, believed to be the oldest public library in England. Interior, furniture and fittings date from 1654. The Library is open to the public without appointment from Monday to Friday, 9-12.30 and 1.30-4.30pm.

www.chethams.org.uk

 

International Anthony Burgess Foundation

 

The International Anthony Burgess Foundation at the Engine House houses the work of the Manchester-born novelist, composer, translator, journalist, playwright, poet, critic and linguist Anthony Burgess. It is the home to collection of books from Burgess’s own library, the manuscripts and scores he wrote as well as the musical instruments he owned.
The Engine House is also a performance venue where visitors can catch new work by writers, artists and musicians or stop for a bite to eat at the cafe.

www.anthonyburgess.org

 

John Rylands Library Deansgate, Manchester

 

 

For those who set eyes on Deansgate’s John Rylands Library for the first time, ‘library’ might not be the first word that comes to mind. This masterpiece of Victorian Gothic architecture looks more like a castle or cathedral. When John Rylands died in 1888, he was one of Manchester’s most successful industrialists with a personal fortune of £2.75million. The library was commissioned in 1890 by his wife Enriqueta Rylands in memory of her late husband. This world class collection includes the oldest known piece of the New Testament, the St John Fragment. Other treasures of the vast, varied collection include magnificent illuminated medieval manuscripts and a 1476 William Caxton edition of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.

www.manchester.ac.uk/library/specialcollections

 

Portico Library

 

A beautifully restored Geordian private subcription library, founded in 1806 and reowned from Victorian days. Contains some 25,000 volumes, mainly 19th Century works of fiction, travel, history and biography. Monthly art and books exhibitions open to the public.

http://www.theportico.org.uk

 

More . . .

MMU Special Collections

North West Film Archive

People’s History Museum Manchester

Working Class Movement Library