We pride ourselves on celebrating culture, people and history here in Manchester, and all of those things are included in a brand new exhibition that has arrived at the wonderful John Rylands Library. Launching The John Rylands Library’s New Collections Gallery, Rylands125 celebrates a key milestone in the library’s history with the development of new exhibition spaces.
The New Collections Gallery showcases over 40 rare and remarkable objects tracing the history and evolution of the library’s special collections, revealing the influence of visionary founder Enriqueta Rylands on the library’s collections.
Highlights in the new Collections Gallery include an early fragment of the New Testament, a clay cylinder from King Nebuchadnezzar‘s temple, and the Peterloo relief fund accounts. At the heart of the gallery is a case containing a 14th-century trilingual Qur’an manuscript, Shakespeare’s first folio and the Rylands Beatus, a beautiful 12th-century book.
The exhibition also has undeniable links to its home of Manchester, with Alan Turing‘s notes on programming the MARK I computer, and a notebook handwritten by Joy Division’s manager Rob Gretton showing 20th-century history in the making.
The exhibition reveals the breadth and importance of the collections and the innovative work behind the scenes to preserve and share them. For the care of the collections and to showcase a wide variety of material, objects on display will change after six months.
The new gallery is part of Rylands125, a special year-long events and exhibitions programme to celebrate the 125th anniversary of The John Rylands Library. This initiative by The University of Manchester Library delves into the library’s storied past to celebrate its vibrant present and look forward to the promising future of the institution.
Established by Enriqueta Rylands as a library for the people of Manchester, the Rylands opened in January 1900. To create this remarkable library, Enriqueta Rylands spent about £1 million (over £100 million today), wanting it to be a catalyst for the cultural, social and religious advancement of the city.
Enriqueta Rylands started buying books for the new library in November 1889 – before the builders started work. Her early purchases included a wide variety of valuable printed books and handwritten manuscripts – some are very beautiful, others rare or remarkable. She was very interested in Christian reform but also collected poetry, bird books and history.
Enriqueta Rylands laid the groundwork for a growing library, now home to an astonishing variety of books, manuscripts, archives, maps and visual materials. They include world-class holdings of ancient papyri, early European and Chinese printing, Islamic and medieval manuscripts, bibles and modern archives.
The collections have come to John Rylands Library as gifts, purchases and loans; some as ready formed collections, others as individual items. The Rylands has grown into a renowned cultural and academic destination that welcomes readers, researchers and visitors from around the world – and as such, Rylands125 aims to celebrate all it has achieved, one exhibition at a time.
The library continues to bring in and preserve collections, especially in the creative arts and British pop culture – with a now extended collection of objects and stories exploring the LGBTQ community in relation to pop culture. Modern collecting brings a plethora of formats, with exciting opportunities and challenges in a digital age.
This fascinating exhibition as part of Rylands125 is open to the public at John Rylands Library for six months, when the collection changes.
Free entry, Wednesday-Saturday, 10am-5pm (last entry at 4.40pm).
📍 John Rylands Library, 150 Deansgate, Manchester M3 3EH.