Our history

The John Rylands Library was founded by Enriqueta Rylands in memory of her husband John Rylands, who died in 1888.

The building and collections

The following year Enriqueta commissioned the architect Basil Champneys to design the Library, which took ten years to build and opened to readers and visitors on 1 January 1900. Enriqueta was closely involved in the design and construction of the building, and in the simultaneous development of the collections.

In particular, she was personally responsible for purchasing the two foundational collections: the incomparable collection of printed books assembled by the 2nd earl Spencer (which she bought for £210,000 in 1892) and the earl of Crawford’s collection of manuscripts (costing £155,000 in 1901).

The John Rylands Library is one of the finest examples of neo-Gothic architecture in Europe and is indisputably one of the great libraries of the world. The library became part of The University of Manchester in 1972. It now houses the majority of Special Collections of The University of Manchester Library, the third largest academic library in the United Kingdom.

The John Rylands Research Institute

The John Rylands Research Institute was created in 2013 and gained both national and international recognition.

It was involved in attracting grants to support research on the collections from funders including the Arts and Humanities Research Council, Leverhulme Trust, British Academy and Marie Curie Foundation.

In addition, generous philanthropic donations from Amin Amiri, David Shreeve, The Soudavar Memorial Foundation and Mark Younger, amongst others, helped to support a range of important projects.

Rylands125 and Next Chapter

In 2025 The John Rylands Library celebrated Rylands125, marking 125 years since the building opened, alongside the completion of the John Rylands Next Chapter project. The redevelopment transformed the visitor and researcher experience, delivering a new main entrance, refurbished galleries and event spaces, and the sector-leading Rylands Heritage Imaging Lab.