Manchester Libraries
in the City Centre

Manchester Central Library

St Peters Square, Manchester M2 5PD
Telephone: 0161-234 1900

Central Library, St Peters Square & GMEX
Aerial Photo Courtesy of www.webbaviation.co.uk © 2005
CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE

An important British library, which serves the city and the region, and one of the largest outside London, it has an extensive collection of books for lending and for reference, as befits a major university city. It also houses audio-visual material and exhibitions.
Manchester had been the first local authority in Britain to introduce a public lending and reference library, under powers granted by the Public Libraries & Museums Act of 1850. Lending of books was free, costs being supported by ratepayers.
The existing building came as a result of many years searching for a suitable place to house Manchester's growing collection of books and printed materials. Amongst these are 30 incunabula - books printed before 1501. It also houses the Library Theatre, a café, shop and Local Studies Unit.
It was designed by London architect E. Vincent Harris, who won the competition for its design as well as the adjacent Town Hall Extension (built later). The foundation stone of the library was laid by Prime Minister Ramsey MacDonald in 1930, and it was officially opened by King George on 17 July 1934. It is regarded as one of Harris's most confident and impressive buildings - a Manchester landmark which dominates St Peter's Square, and commands an imposing position when approaching from the south along one of Manchester's busiest thoroughfares, Oxford Street.
The building was constructed as an underlying 4 storey high steel frame, clad in Portland stone, and rising 90 feet, with attic and storage facilities below ground. It is clearly influenced by the Pantheon in Rome. Rustication is employed on the two lower floors to give the whole building a feeling of massiveness and strength. Above this level are two storeys behind giant Doric columns
Its southern front is dominated by an imposing 5 bay portico of Corinthian columns with rounded arches at each side. On top is a large domed glass roof covering the central reading room, (similar to that at the British Museum), but this is hidden from street level by a higher surrounding lead-covered roof. Harris also designed the furniture which is in evidence throughout the building. It cost some £410,000 and the site on which it stands cost £187,800.
It is also home to an extensive local history collection and a wide range of specialist materials for visually and hearing impaired people is available. It also has a Chinese book collection, reflecting the large ethnic influence in Chinatown which is nearby.

John Rylands University Library

150 Deansgate, Manchester M3 3EH.
Tel: 0161- 834 5343/6765
Website: http://rylibweb.man.ac.uk/spcoll/

Statue of John Ryland in his library

This is a superb Neo-Gothic building of the 1890s housing one of the finest collections of rare books and manuscripts in the north of England, including a copy of the Gutenberg Bible of 1455, and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales printed by William Caxton in the early 16th Century. The library's international renown lies with its rare books, many of which were purchased initially by Mrs Rylands; these include the Spencer Collection of printed books, purchased for £210,000 in 1892, as well as many valuable manuscripts from the Biblioteca Lindesiana acquired in 1901 for £155,000.
The building has many notable fine architectural features, including its early Art Nouveau bronze fittings - among them are light switches, gates and radiator grilles. It was one of Manchester's first electrically lit buildings, and had air conditioning. Stone for the building came from Penrith in Cumbria; known as shawk, it varies from grey to buff and pink. Woodwork is in Polish oak and there are many fine pieces of detailed carving.
There is a substantial collection of portrait busts of great writers such as Darwin, Shakespeare and Bacon, as well as symbolic statuary representing Theology, Science and the Arts. White marble portraits of John Rylands and his wife, Enriqueta are to be found at either end of the Reading Room.
When John Rylands, a Manchester cotton merchant died in 1888, he left a personal fortune of some £2,750,000, which provided the finance for building the library, commissioned by his third wife and widow Enriqueta Augustina.

New entrance - from modern into Victorian

The commission was granted to the architect Basil Champneys (later knighted), who was to produce a design that would make it one of the finest libraries in Britain. Champneys also designed all the furnishings and fittings to maintain the consistent Neo-Gothic style. Taking 10 years to build, the library was opened to the public on New Year's Day 1900, and it remained an independent public library until 1972, when it merged with Manchester University Library. It still boasts that it is the 3rd largest academic library in the United Kingdom.
Open : Monday-Friday 10.00am-5.30pm. Saturdays 10.00am-1.00pm. Closed on Sundays. Other times by appointment. Visitors and group parties are welcome, and guided tours are available by prior arrangement. There are frequent special exhibitions and imaginative displays of printed material. Toilets and facilities for the disabled.
Library accessible to serious students by arrangement. Enrolment as a reader is free. Guided tours are available for groups of up to 50 people by prior arrangement. Tours last about 1 hour and there is a small charge of about £1.50 with half price concessions. Members of Library Staff welcome the opportunity to give outside illustrated talks on the history and work of the library. Rooms available for hire for seminars, receptions and private functions. Bookshop on site with postcards and library publications are on sale in the entrance hall to the library .

See Also: Plan of John Rylands Library

Chetham's Library

Long Millgate, Manchester.
Telephone: 0161-834 9644 / 7961.
Website: www.chethams.org.uk

In 1655 Chetham's Hospital and Chetham's Library were established from monies left by Sir Humphrey Chetham , a wealthy local textile merchant, in his will at his death in 1653. The term "Hospital" is an interesting point - it referred to the poor (who in those days were invariably also the sick - wealthy people had their own private "surgeons"). "Chets", (as it became known) was set up as a charitable free school to provide education for about 40 boys (girls were not then regarded as worth educating!!) from poor families, who showed aptitude to learn.
The site also included a free library - the first free public library in the world with over 100,000 books, many of them quite rare, and over half printed before 1850. The public may still access this library by appointment with the warden. Built in red sandstone, like the cathedral, it originally formed dormitories and quarters for cathedral clergy. The buildings, grouped around a central courtyard with a defensive entrance gate, were typical of medieval building style.
From 1547, after the reformation, when Henry VIII closed and dissolved monasteries, the premises were the town dwellings of the Earl of Derby. The college was refounded in 1557, but by the time of the outbreak of the Civil Wars, the buildings were in a dilapidated state. Their purchase by Humphrey Chetham almost certainly saved them from demolition. He purchased the lot for £400 just prior to his death.
Chetham's is now a music school for musically gifted young men and women, and attracts young proteges from all over the north-west of England. It still largely maintains the original principle of admitting talented youngsters, and barring none because of financial hardship. The school is well funded and maintains poorer pupils. Lunchtime concerts are held every Wednesday in the Baronial Hall. Concerts can be combined with a guided tour of the school and library. The library, containing a large collection of books, specialises in local history material. In this library, Frederick Engels spent many hours researching for his numerous writings.

See Also:
North West Film Archive

The Portico Library

57 Mosley Street, Manchester 2.
Telephone: 0161-236 6785.
Website: www.theportico.org.uk

Situated on the corner of Mosley Street and Charlotte Street, this narrow elegant classical building was designed by Thomas Harrison of Chester in 1806, at the height of the so-called classical revival. It was commissioned by the wealthier gentlemen of Manchester, as a reading room to compete with the one which they had seen in Liverpool. Not to be outdone by Liverpudlians, they even installed a wind measuring machine in the building!
The library contains over 25,000 volumes. It is also the home base of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society. Its imposing pediment dominates the street, rising high on slender Ionic Columns to create the Portico after which it is known.
Sadly, the ground floor was lost in recent times, due largely to financial considerations, and the private library now occupies only the upper floor. The ground floor has become a bar Café.
Until the Public Libraries Act of 1850, this was the only circulating Library in Manchester. Initially, its 400 shareholders paid an annual subscription of £2.10s.0d (£2.05) for use of the ground floor newspaper reading room and the upstairs gallery. This gallery is supported on iron columns and is topped by a glass dome. Unfortunately, the building was divided in two at the time of the Second World War, and the ground floor subsequently became a branch of Lloyds Bank.
Frequent exhibitions are held, and certain areas are still open to non-members. Well worth the climb upstairs to see this prize of early 19th century architecture.

Working Class Movement Library, Salford

Jubilee House
51 The Crescent, Salford M5 4WX.
Tel: 0161-736 3601.
Email: enquiries@wcml.org.uk.
Website www.wcml.org.uk.
History of working people is stored here. Extensive archives. Open to the general public, researchers, students and schoolchildren - please ring to make an appointment.

The Working Class Movement Library began in 1953 and now has a large archive collection of 50,000 books, pamphlets, manuscripts and memorabilia related to the development and history of the labour movement since the late eighteenth century. It is a major educational resource for the region, and is an independent charitable trust supported by the City of Salford's Heritage Department. It is located in Jubilee House on The Crescent (the A6) opposite the University of Salford. The library welcomes students, researchers as well as general enquiries.
Material has to be studied on site as materials cannot be borrowed, but there is a photocopying service. Admission is free. Prior to visiting the library you must make an appointment, during normal opening hours. Organised groups are also welcome.
Computerised cataloguing of the archive began in 1996, financed by a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Opening Hours
Closed all day on Mondays and Saturdays. Sunday opening from 2.00pm to 5.00pm on alternate weeks - please check. Weekdays open from 10.00am to 5.00pm from Tuesday to Friday with late opening till 7.00pm on Wednesdays.

Friends of WCML
The Friends of the Working Class Movement Library are devoted to the support and advancement of the Library's aims including fund-raising from lectures, Open Days, book sales, and financial donations, in order to promote the growth of the Library. Membership: Annual subscription is £5 for employed and £2 for unemployed members.

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