John Rylands Library

The neo-Gothic building of the Library at Deansgate

The John Rylands Library ( John Rylands Library ) is a part of the John Rylands University Library in Manchester. The library was founded by Enriqueta Augustina Rylands in memory of her husband, John Rylands.

History of the Library

After Enriqueta Rylands had earned a place on Deansgate in the heart of Manchester city center, they commissioned the architect Basil Champneys with a design. Originally Mrs. Rylands had the library primarily intended for accommodation of a theological collection. The architecture of the building, a fine example of Victorian Gothic architecture, so in their appearance strongly reminiscent of a church. The core of the library formed a collection of 40,000 books including many rarities that George John Spencer had collected and was purchased in 1892 by Mrs. Rylands. Finally, the library opened on 1 January 1900 for the readers.

The building and its collection

In addition to the main collection of the library, a reading room with an overhead gallery, the building has also a Bible and cards room on the first floor as well as conference and meeting rooms on the ground floor. A portion of the ground floor was planned as a lending library, but was never opened as such. Another part is reserved for the caretaker. Matching white marble sculptures of John Rylands Enriqueta Rylands and were created by John Cassidy and are now in the library reading room.

Mailing address

150 Deansgate, Manchester M3 3EH, United Kingdom