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Special Collection

The Library has some of the UK's outstanding collections of rare books and manuscripts. The vast holdings of Special Collections cover wide-ranging subjects across hundreds of thousands of irreplaceable manuscripts and archives and nearly 200,000 rare books and hundreds of thousands of manuscripts and archives. Designated status for outstanding national and international collections.

The Special Collections are distinctive because they are not confined to a particular time or subject. The selection presented here is merely a snapshot of what are extensive collections, definable as treasures due to their value, rarity or distinctiveness.

Examples of Special Collections

1. 1710-1719 collection Miscellaneous books published in England in the second decade of the 18th century. Includes subjects on Great British history, kings and rulers, politics and government, church and state and foreign relations. Also religion, sermons, literature and poetry.

2. 1890s collection (Brotherton Collection) Literary works published in the final decade of the 19th century. The collection also contains a small number of more recent works surveying the literary and artistic movements and ideas of the closing years of the century. Subjects include English literature, fiction, short stories and verse.

Benefaction

Leeds University Library is indebted to its benefactors. The monetary value of their gifts over more than a century is incalculable, and their contributions of time and expertise have been invaluable. The resulting benefits enjoyed by generations of Library users are beyond imagining.

The Library's Special Collections in particular owe almost everything to benefaction. Such distinctive, unique and rare collections could never have been acquired and developed by relying on the conventional funding of a university library. They are the result of almost a century's worth of gifts, large and small, of many thousands of private individuals and groups.

It would be impossible to list all of these benefactors - the donors of individual books and entire personal libraries, of single letters and extensive archives, of modest and huge financial sums. That said, three names indisputably stand out - Brotherton, Elliott and Burton.

Lord Brotherton's astonishing philanthropy in the 1920s transformed a modest provincial academic library into a university library of international standing within less than a decade. In the 21st century Fay and Geoffrey Elliott have not only given books and manuscripts which would be the envy of any arts research library in the world, but have also provided substantial funding to secure significant additions. Stanley and Audrey Burton are commemorated in the name of the University's Art Gallery, which, in its present splendid form, we owe to them entirely. The great majority of works on permanent display from the University's art collection are also gifts from them.

A new phase of benefaction is being nurtured by the University's current Fundraising Campaign. Special Collections is already benefitting from the generosity of Campaign supporters, who wish to enhance their predecessors' great collections even further while improving access to them in innovative ways.

Leeds lives

Leeds lives is a celebration of writers, artists and public figures with strong connections to Yorkshire and the University of Leeds. Whether they were students or staff, their subsequent lives and careers were undeniably shaped by their time with us, and we are proud to give their archive material a home in Special Collections.

Examples of Leeds lives:

1. Sir Michael Sadler (1861-1943)

Vice-Chancellor of the University, 1911-1923 Honorary DLitt, 1924

A progressive educationalist, he believed strongly that a rich cultural knowledge greatly enhanced a student's learning. He introduced a wider curriculum and facilitated more interaction between the University and the community. Sadler donated artworks and papers to the University in 1923.

2.Sir Herbert Read (1893-1968)

Student, 1912-1915 Honorary DLitt, 1932

Poet, critic, curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum, and knighted anarchist. Herbert Read was the son of a Yorkshire farmer who became one of the leading critics of art in Britain in the middle 20th century. His personal library of 14,000 volumes came to the University in 1996.

Reference