John Rylands Research Institute and Library

10/04/2026

New items on display!
These beautiful bindings are now on display in the Collections Gallery.

Binding with beads by Dawson Brothers (left) and embroidered biding by Ah Hin (right) were part of a commission by London booksellers James and Mary Tregaskis. They commissioned 76 unique bindings of the same book. Their 1894 exhibition displayed bindings from 27 different countries.

📕Bindings by Dawson Brothers (Montreal) and Ah Hin (Hong Kong), King Florus and the Fair Jehane, 1893 By William Morris (R183558, 6 & 8)

07/04/2026

It’s marking the anniversary of the founding of the World Health Organisation in 1948. Explore the Museum of Medicine and Health collections online at Manchester Digital Collections: https://ow.ly/4IQf50YE5ME

A sphygmograph is a device that was used for making a short paper recording of the pulse. This type of sphygmograph, known as a Mohamed sphygmograph, was developed by physician Dr. Frederick Akbar Mahomed (1849-84) in 1872, while he was still a medical student.

06/04/2026

Have you been watching the coverage of the Artemis II crew mission to the Moon?

We looked for a marvellous moon in the collection and found this friendly face. This moon is from a 17th-century Persian manuscript titled ʻAjā’ib al-Makhlūqāt va Gharāʼib al-Mawjūdāt (Wonders of Creation and Oddities of Existence).

🌚 ʻAjā’ib al-Makhlūqāt va Gharāʼib al-Mawjūdāt (Wonders of Creation and Oddities of Existence), 1041 AH (30 Jun. 1632 CE), Persian MS 3

04/04/2026

How did Manchester became part of world-wide trading routes with India, Africa and America

On Thursday 9 April, join a Cottonopolis tour led by exhibition curator Professor Edmond Smith with researcher Dr Jo Tierney. They’ll be charting the transformation of Manchester into a global powerhouse of textile manufacturing.

Drop in to a Collections Encounter to see collections exploring the relationship between trade and consumption that propelled Manchester's wealth and influence across the globe.

👥Exhibition tour 1.30-2.00pm. Meet in the exhibition on level 1.
📖Collection Encounter 2.30-4pm. Find Edmond and Jo in the Reading Room on level 2.

Both activities are free to attend and no booking is required.

📷Towel labels from W.M. Christy & Sons Ltd Archive, 1910-1920 (WMC/4/4/16)

02/04/2026

Just a reminder that the Rylands is closed on Good Friday (Friday 3 April).

Easter opening hours
✅We are open as usual on Saturday 4 April.
❌We are closed as usual on Sundays and Mondays.

📅Normal opening hours resume next week. Visit Wednesday-Saturday, 10am-5pm.

🥚Egg of Numenius tenuirostris from Eggs of the birds of Europe by Henry Dresser, 1910 (SC13619D)

01/04/2026

On 1 April 1977, the Guardian printed a seven-page feature on San Serriffe, a fictional archipelago floating in the Indian Ocean.

With maps, photographs and reports by the paper’s usual writers, the feature was very credible. Aided by major companies, including Guinness, Kodak and Texaco, the elaborate San Serriffe prank included spoof advertisements to make the joke even more realistic.

The joke was at the expense of a readership with patchy geographical knowledge and stereotypical views of far-off places.

Swipe to explore a map of San Serriffe. The two main islands, Upper Caisse and Lower Caisse ‘grouped roughly in the shape of a semi colon’ ushered in a series of typesetting jokes.

📰Details from 'San Serriffe supplement', The Guardian, 1st April 1966 (R235187)

Learn more about this April Fool’s Day hoax in an online exhibition about the history of the Guardian and it's predecessor the Manchester Guardian.

Explore the exhibition here: https://ow.ly/vmUs50YzhgZ

31/03/2026

Have you seen our new showcase yet? It explores the history of women's education at the University of Manchester through a selection of items from our special collections.

Come and visit the showcase in the foyer of the Main Library on Oxford Road, or have a look at our digital version: https://medium.com/.collier/degrees-of-change-the-fight-for-womens-education-at-the-university-of-manchester-5644c30e45e2

30/03/2026

🚨New post on our Teaching and learning platform!

In April 1983, Harold Washington made history as Chicago’s first Black mayor, but his victory was about more than just a milestone. It marked a shift in how political campaigns could be built and won. UG student, Alexander Martin, reflects on a series of interviews undertaken by Lou Kushnick in the 1980s and 1990s which form part of the Lou Kushnick archive held at the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah RACE Centre and Education Trust discussing A Turning Point in Progressive Politics.

🔍Link: https://ow.ly/i8Go50YxBgW

📸 Image: Harold Washington, 1986. Photograph by Richard C. Grant. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Guest post by Alexander Martin, American Studies undergraduate student at the University of Manchester. The post reflects Alexander’s…

28/03/2026

🐰Easter opening hours🥚

❌Closed Friday 2 April (Good Friday)
✅Open Saturday 4 April
❌Closed as usual on Sunday 5 April

📅Usual opening hours Wednesday-Saturday, 10am-5pm

🐇Rabbit from 15th century Book of Hours (Latin MS 162)

27/03/2026

For let’s explore some items in the Collections Gallery.

Two posters celebrate productions by Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre.

For touring show ‘As You Like It’, this poster features photography by Kevin Cummins. It was designed by Central Station, the Manchester-based agency known for their work with the band Happy Mondays.

A poster advertises a 1985 adaptation of Joe Orton’s play, ‘Entertaining Mr Sloane’. Kevin Cummins’s photograph of popstar Adam Ant, in the lead role, is the central feature of the design by Neville Brady.

You can also learn about radical theatre company Pit Prop Theatre, founded in 1979 in Leigh (near Wigan). Pit Prop was active in the theatre-in-education movement, touring schools and community theatres.

Poster for 'As You Like it', 1986
Poster for ‘Entertaining Mr Sloane, 1985

26/03/2026

Get the most of your visit to the Rylands by dropping into a free activity…

📖Stop by for Rare Reads to explore accurate copies of books from the collection and delve deeper into the stories inside each book.

📜Watch a demonstration of a 200-year-old Columbian printing press.

👀Join a tour to discover more about the library and its collections.

See full listing of these activities on our website. All are free and no booking is required.

25/03/2026

Want to take a look around our Research Room and find out how to access the collections?

📅On Saturday 28 March from 2-4 pm we'll be having an open afternoon with the Reader Services Team.

You can meet the staff, see how researchers access the collections and find out about the intriguing materials that the library holds.

Make your way to the Research Room on level 3. Free event- drop in, no reservation and everyone is welcome!

Did you know?
Enriqueta Rylands was born in Havana, Cuba as the founder of the John Rylands Library. It is because of her vision that one of the most remarkable research libraries in the United Kingdom was created. She was subsequently the first woman to be awarded the Freedom of the City of Manchester in recognition of this.

Learn more about Enriqueta Rylands by visiting the Collections Gallery. Open Wednesday-Saturday, 10am-5pm.