Hobill Collection

Date range: 18th-19th centuries

Medium: Printed

Number of items: 4,600 items.

Formed by G. A. K. Hobill, (1842-1912), a leading layman of the Methodist New Connexion, this collection encompasses a wide range of material including hymns, pamphlets and newspaper cuttings. Covering all aspects of Methodist history, there is information on Methodism in the USA as well as the UK, with a significant element of local and ephemeral material.

In 1894, Hobill passed his collection to the Methodist New Connexion (later the United Methodist Church) training college of Ranmorr, Sheffield. Later, the library was transferred to Hartley Victoria College, Manchester, where it was augmented with material acquired by the minister and historian James Everett (1784-1872) and with volumes relating to Primitive Methodism.

When purchased by the John Rylands Library in 1973 it consisted of 475 periodical volumes, 1,000 books and 3,100 pamphlets. Topics for the pamphlets include Methodist biography, anti-Methodism and defence, Methodist history and reform agitation. Around 200 items make up the 18th-century material, with the majority of the collection comprising 19th-century publications.

See also:

• Wesley Collection (Rylands)
• Methodist Printed Book and Periodical Collections

Further information:

• Unpublished list.
• Pamphlets recorded on Eighteenth-Century Short Title Catalogue (ESTC) and Nineteenth-Century Short Title Catalogue (NSTC).

Location:

• The John Rylands Library, Deansgate  [Map]
• Find out how to use the reading rooms in the John Rylands Research Institute and Library