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77-402: The origins of AUP can be sought in a small short-lived printing firm founded by brothers George and Robert King, which operated between 1840 and 1850 in the city of Aberdeen. Shortly after the brothers' printing business ceased and their Diamond Street storefront became a bookstore, a third King brother, Arthur, set up his own printing venture in the city: Arthur King and Co. "Statements concerning

154-421: A typewriter roller which friction-feeds paper into position below the typebars or print head. It can refer to the glass surface of a copier, and the rotating disk used to polish semiconductor wafers. In office copiers and scanners , the platen is a flat glass surface on which operators place papers or books for scanning. The platen is also called the flatbed. Platens are also used in some printers, such as

231-689: A close relationship with the John Rylands Library and the Manchester University Press , but periods of steady productivity were few and far between. AUP was not the only struggling Aberdeen-based printing company. Negotiations between AUP and the Rosemount Press ended with the decision to merge. "AUP was predominately a book and journal printer, whilst the Rosemount Press carried out considerably more jobbing and general commercial work. Complementarity, therefore,

308-505: A council of governors to maintain the building and control expenditure. The council consisted of some representative and some co-optative governors while honorary governors were not members of the council. Both these bodies were dissolved at the merger in 1972. Members of the council of governors included Professor Arthur Peake and Professor F. F. Bruce both biblical critics and Rylands Professors of Biblical Criticism and Exegesis . Many notable people including heads of state have visited

385-456: A decorated neo-Gothic style with Arts and Crafts details. It is constructed of Cumbrian sandstone , the interior a delicately shaded 'Shawk' stone (from Dalston , varying in colour between sand and a range of pinks) and the exterior, dark red Barbary stone from Penrith . built around an internal steel framed structure and brick arched flooring. The red 'Barbary plain' sandstone, which Champneys believed 'had every chance of proving durable' for

462-467: A national collection dedicated to the preservation and research of popular culture, opened with an exhibition at the library in May 2022. Librarians at John Rylands before its merger include Edward Gordon Duff in 1899 and 1900 and Henry Guppy between 1899 and 1948 (joint Librarian with Duff until 1900). Duff was responsible for the original library catalogue, compiled between 1893 and 1899: Catalogue of

539-614: A pitched roof but Mrs Rylands was advised that an internal stone vault would reduce the fire risk and it was not built. The £17 million project was completed by summer 2007 and the library reopened on 20 September 2007. A £7.6m plan to upgrade the library was issued in February 2024 under which Manchester City Council will allow a series of "sensitive adaptations" to update the John Rylands Research Institute and Library. The project 'John Rylands Next Chapter'

616-550: A range of important projects. In September 2016, Hannah Barker, Professor of British History, took up the role as Director of the John Rylands Research Institute, and in March 2021, the John Rylands Research Institute and The John Rylands Library forged a new partnership as the John Rylands Research Institute and Library . Mrs. Rylands established a board of trustees to hold the library's assets and

693-492: A series of statues in the reading room by Robert Bridgeman and Sons of Lichfield; and bronze work in the art nouveau style by Singer of Frome. The portraits in sculpture (20) and stained glass (40) represent a selection of personages from the intellectual and artistic history of mankind. The western window contains "Theology" from Moses to Schleiermacher; the eastern "Literature and Art" (including philosophy). The portrait statues of John and Enriqueta Rylands in white marble , in

770-410: A substantial pressure on the stock that tends to push the stock toward the infeed, the hold down shoes and rollers hold the workpiece down against the belt while it is moving through the machine in order to ensure uniform contact with the abrasive and continuous movement. In metal forming processes, a platen is the component that houses the mold for forging the required shape. The platen tends to be

847-543: A tale of the consolidation of the British printing industry. From 1970 until its demise, AUP was passed from corporate giant to corporate giant. Riding the wave of consolidation, the British Bank of Commerce acquired AUP in 1970. The bank's small acquisition spree continued with Central Press Ltd. and George Cornwall and Sons Ltd. between 1970 and 1972, fully integrating each new firm with AUP. Between 1970 and 1978, AUP

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924-480: A vast collection of type ; over 600 tons worth, including Russian, German, Bengali, Greek, and Hebrew. Rather than purchasing typesets as many other printers did, John Thomson had preferred the firm to maintain its own type foundry. This arrangement was beneficial for the company, as Thomson explained in an article in the British Printer in 1904: "We can cast nearly all the type we want, and at much less than

1001-532: Is a central three- bay entrance resembling a monastery gatehouse. Its two-centred arched portal has doorways separated by a trumeau and tall windows on either side. Above the doors are a pair of small canted oriel windows . Surfaces are decorated with lacy blind tracery and finely-detailed carving. The carving includes the "J. R." monogram, the arms of Rylands, the arms of Rylands' native town, St Helens, and those of five English, two Scottish and two Irish universities and those of Owens College . On either side of

1078-411: Is a part of its Imagine2030 vision. By the nineteenth century Manchester was a prosperous industrial town and the demands of cotton manufacturing stimulated the growth of engineering and chemical industries. The town became 'abominably filthy' and was 'often covered, especially during the winter, with dense fogs ... there is at all times a copious descent of soots and other impurities'. This, and

1155-597: Is no history of this copy of the Gutenberg Bible before it was acquired by the 2nd Earl Spencer. The library houses papyrus fragments known as the Rylands Papyri and documents from North Africa . The most notable are the St John Fragment , believed to be the oldest extant New Testament text, Rylands Library Papyrus P52 , the earliest fragment of the text of the canonical Gospel of John;

1232-540: Is one of the museum, library and archive collections of national and international importance under the Designation Scheme for England. As of 2020 , 152 collections are officially designated. Enriqueta Rylands purchased a site on Deansgate for her memorial library in 1889 and commissioned a design from architect Basil Champneys . Mrs Rylands commissioned the Manchester academic Alice Cooke to index

1309-641: The Aberdeen Free Press and produced a great many papers, announcements and notices relating to the expansion of the railway system into the North and North-East of Scotland." The new owners were: John Thomson, former compositor and later foreman in the case room of the Aberdeen Journal , Alexander Troup, a wholesale bookseller and stationer, and a Mr. Mackenzie. Over the next fifteen years, Thomson bought out his partners, becoming sole owner of

1386-612: The Aldine Collection and an incunabula collection of 3,000 items. The incunabula included a few block books and the St Christopher block print (southern Germany, 1423) the latter being the earliest dated block print whose date in undisputed. During subsequent years, more than 1,000 more incunabula were added to the collection (from various sources). Owens College Library received Richard Copley Christie 's library of over 8,000 volumes including many rare books from

1463-477: The Bibliotheca Lindesiana of James Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford at Haigh Hall in 1901. Quickly and without discussion, Mrs Rylands took them off his hands for £155,000, having made her decision based upon cursory description, as Lord Crawford had never produced a definitive description. After its inauguration on 6 October 1899 (the wedding anniversary of John Rylands and Enriqueta Tennant),

1540-699: The Concise Scots Dictionary after its rejection by three other publishers was a point of pride for AUP; it became a best-seller at the Edinburgh International Book Festival that year. While its acquisition by Pergamon enabled AUP to modernize and rehabilitate, these boons did not come without drawbacks. The success of AUP's publishing arm overwhelmed AUP's printing arm, to the extent that the corporate board questioned in 1989 whether AUP Publishing should look elsewhere for its own printing needs. AUP's printing arm

1617-517: The Crawford MSS .) Mrs Rylands negotiated Deeds of Agreement with her neighbours to fix the heights of future adjacent buildings. The permissible height of the building was fixed at just over 34 feet, but it was suggested that it could be taller at the centre if there was an open area around the edges, at the height of buildings that had been demolished to make way for the construction. Champneys incorporated this suggestion into his design, setting

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1694-673: The Renaissance period in 1901. It was part of the Victoria University of Manchester library from 1904 and was transferred to the John Rylands Library building after the merger in 1972. In 1901, Mrs Rylands paid £155,000 for more than 6,000 manuscripts owned by James Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford of Haigh Hall . The Bibliotheca Lindesiana was one of the most impressive private collections in Britain at

1771-404: The dot-matrix printer . In semiconductor manufacturing, specifically chemical-mechanical planarization , a flat, rotating platen covered with a pad is used to polish semiconductor wafers (see image). In textile screen printing , a platen is a flat board onto which the operator slides the garment . It is generally made of either a plywood laminate or aluminum with a rubber laminate. Often

1848-506: The AUP board that they could no longer place printing orders with the company. The period between 1914 and 1920 was difficult for AUP. This was the result of two sets of factors: general industry conditions caused by World War I, increased commodity prices and the overall depression in the trade, as well as factors unique to AUP. A 1916 valuation of the company's type and machinery revealed that they had previously been vastly overstated, and much of

1925-516: The Elphinstone Institute. The next volume will be Vita Mea , the autobiography of Scottish literary scholar and Aberdeen alumnus, Sir Herbert Grierson . Platen A platen (or platten ) is a platform with a variety of roles in printing or manufacturing. It can be a flat metal (or earlier, wooden ) plate pressed against a medium (such as paper ) to cause an impression in letterpress printing . Platen may also refer to

2002-857: The Institute is to open up the Library's Special Collections to innovative and multidisciplinary research, in partnership with researchers in Manchester and across the globe. Since its inception, the Institute has gained both national and international recognition and has been 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, have helped to support

2079-525: The Printed Books and Manuscripts in the John Rylands Library, Manchester ; ed. E. G. Duff. Manchester: J. E. Cornish, 1899. 3 vols. The cataloguing of the books was done by Alice Margaret Cooke , a graduate of the Victoria University. Dr Guppy began publication of the Bulletin of the John Rylands Library in 1903; it later became a journal publishing academic articles and from autumn 1972 the title

2156-488: The University of Aberdeen announced the re-launch of Aberdeen University Press, as a traditional university press directly affiliated with the university. Though the new AUP is positioned by the university as the successor to the defunct printing firm and publishing house of the same name liquidated in 1996, the two publishing houses are distinct and legally separate entities; only the thread of historical narrative connects

2233-854: The archives of the Methodist Church of Great Britain in 1977. In 1924 the library purchased the greater part of the French revolutionary collection of the Bibliotheca Lindesiana; and then on the occasion of the library's semi-jubilee the 27th Earl of Crawford donated the French Revolutionary Broadsides from the Bibliotheca Lindesiana. Between 1946 and 1988 a number of sections of the Earl of Crawford's library were deposited here, however all but one of these were withdrawn in 1988. The British Pop Archive,

2310-571: The board in 1907, and the University Librarian, P. J. Anderson, in 1921. John Thomson continued as a member of the corporate board until his death in 1911. According to an 1899 internal review of Arthur King and Co. conducted to prepare the firm for its new existence as AUP, the firm's equipment holdings included 1,300 iron chasses, 10 American-built Miehle 2-revolution presses, 6 Wharfedale, and 2 jobbing machines . Besides printing equipment, AUP also inherited 3 type-casting machines and

2387-403: The books and manuscripts, 'it will be very desirable to keep the air in the interior of the building as clear and free from smoke and chemical matter (both of which are held in the air of Manchester) as may be possible'. The ground floor was built with numerous air inlets and, although his client felt it would prove impossible to exclude foul air, Champneys installed jute or hessian screens to trap

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2464-414: The city, but was awkward in shape and orientation and surrounded by tall warehouses, derelict cottages and narrow streets. The position was criticised for its lack of surrounding space and the fact that the valuable manuscript collections were to be housed in "that dirty, uncomfortable city ... [with] not enough light to read by, and the books they already have are wretchedly kept" (written in 1901 about

2541-464: The commission. Thereafter frequent disagreements arose and Mrs Rylands selected decorative elements, window glass and statues against his wishes. Champneys was given the honour of speaking about the library at a general meeting of the Royal Institute of British Architects and was awarded a Royal Gold Medal in 1912. The library was granted listed building status on 25 January 1952, which

2618-599: The earliest fragment of the Septuagint , Papyrus Rylands 458 ; and Papyrus Rylands 463 , a manuscript fragment of the apocryphal Gospel of Mary. Minuscule 702 , ε2010 ( von Soden ), is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament , on parchment. Among the papyri from Oxyrhynchus are a homily about women (Inv R. 55247), part of the Book of Tobit (Apocrypha) (448), and Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 73 , relating to

2695-460: The entrance portal are square two-storey two-bay wings with plain walls with a string course containing grotesques and large octagonal lanterns . Behind the entrance portal flanked by square towers is the three-light east window of the reading hall. It has reticulated tracery and shafts in a similar style to the parapet. In front of the library are Art Nouveau bronze railings with central double gates and lamp standards. The main reading room on

2772-484: The equipment needed to be replaced. This put the board in the embarrassing position of having to obtain agreement from the shareholding to devalue the company's shares. At the same time, AUP was also dealing with issues on the labor front. Firstly, there was the simple shortage of able-bodied men. Due to this labor shortage, though AUP was a defiantly non-union shop, the company "had got itself into an ultimately unsustainable and unsympathetic position, in that every time there

2849-475: The exterior, was an unusual choice in late Victorian Manchester. It proved relatively successful, as an inspection by Champneys in 1900 revealed little softening by the 'effects of an atmosphere somewhat charged with chemicals' although, by 1909 some repairs were needed. The library has a crypt above which the building has two unequal storeys giving the impression of three. The ornate Deansgate façade has an embattled parapet with open-work arcading under which

2926-442: The firm: AUP's printing shop was to be vastly modernized, transferring the majority of work from hot metal typesetting and letterpress printing to photo-composition and lithographic printing , and AUP's publishing side was to be developed, with the goal of making AUP the conglomerate's signature Scottish academic and educational imprint . The modernization of AUP's printing shop meant that, while some employees were re-trained on

3003-468: The first floor, 30 feet above the ground and 12 feet from all four boundaries, was noted for the pleasant contrast between the 'sullen roar' of Manchester and the 'internal cloister quietude of Rylands'. It was lit by oriel windows in the reading alcoves supplemented by high clerestory windows along both sides. Embellishments in the reading room include two large stained glass windows with portraits of religious and secular figures, designed by C. E. Kempe ;

3080-557: The heaviest and strongest part of the press due to the massive forces that it has to withstand. A platen for a 5000-ton press can weigh up to 350 tons. In manufacturing, a platen is a flat plate of a press utilized in laminate , plastic and forest product industries. A platen is typically heated with oil, water, steam or electricity and is used in the production of furniture, tires, gaskets , particle board, composite heaters and plywood . In high frequency welding products, platens are used to put lines on PVC binders and folders down

3157-595: The largest in the United Kingdom, include medieval illuminated manuscripts and examples of early European printing, including a Gutenberg Bible , the second largest collection of printing by William Caxton , and the most extensive collection of the editions of the Aldine Press of Venice. The Rylands Library Papyrus P52 has a claim to be the earliest extant New Testament text. The library holds personal papers and letters of notable figures, among them

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3234-469: The library became one of the first to collect historical family records. The library's collections include exquisite medieval illuminated manuscripts, examples of early European printing including a fine paper copy of the Gutenberg Bible and books printed by William Caxton , and personal papers of distinguished historical figures including Elizabeth Gaskell, John Dalton and John Wesley . There

3311-537: The library had 70,000 books and fewer than 100 manuscripts and by 2012, more than 250,000 printed volumes and over one million manuscripts and archival items. The main foundation of the library's collections acquired in 1892 was the Althorp Library of Lord Spencer regarded as one of the finest library collections in private ownership with 43,000 items - 3,000 of which originate from before 1501. Mrs Rylands paid £210,000 for Spencer's collection which included

3388-567: The library opened to readers and visitors on 1 January 1900. At the time of Enriqueta's death in 1908, the library held more than 50,000 volumes of exceptional quality. In the following years, thanks to bequests, the library acquired 80,000 works and 3,000 manuscripts, which required the construction of an annex behind the main building. The John Rylands Library and the Manchester University Library merged in July 1972 and

3465-433: The machinery held by King & Co. in the 1860s and later are somewhat inconsistent, but it appears that from the middle of that decade, it owned a large, double-quad platen , and two (later, three) Wharfedale machines ( cylinder presses ) of varying sizes." The firm was a well-established printing house by the time Arthur's son sold Arthur King and Co. in 1872. The firm "did much jobbing work, and for many years had printed

3542-529: The new machines, many more employees were laid off as their jobs were made redundant. The painfulness of this process inevitably slowed the pace of Pergamon's modernization scheme. Unlike the modernization of AUP's printing shop, the other half of Pergamon's rehabilitation plan—the development of AUP's publishing side—proved swift and successful. In 1979 AUP published 1 title; in 1980, 3; by 1988, 38 titles. AUP's publishing arm benefited from its narrow focus on Scottish academic and scholarly titles. The publication of

3619-531: The novelist Elizabeth Gaskell and the scientist John Dalton . The architectural style is primarily neo-Gothic with elements of the Arts and Crafts movement in the ornate and imposing gatehouse, facing Deansgate, which dominates the surrounding streetscape. The library, granted Grade I listed status in 1994, is maintained by the University of Manchester and open for library readers and visitors. The library

3696-410: The overcrowded site, created many design problems for the architect. During the century most textile manufacture moved to newer mills in the surrounding towns while Manchester remained the centre of trading in cotton goods both for the home and foreign markets but pollution from burning coal and gas remained a considerable nuisance. The site chosen by Mrs Rylands was in a central and fashionable part of

3773-679: The platen will be pretreated with a spray adhesive. This allows the garment to effectively become a rigid immobile substrate, especially important when printing multiple colors or utilizing an on-press infrared dryer. The screen is brought parallel and close to the garment (often within 1/32") and the squeegee pressure then brings the screen into contact with the garment so that the ink transfer may occur. There are many special platen types, such as those for printing sleeves or pockets, vacuum platens, platens with clamps to hold bulky materials such as jackets, and even curved platens for printing on hats. In woodworking, wide belt sanders use platens to press

3850-574: The printing and publishing industries. Iain Beavan, in his recently published history of AUP noted that "Harold Watt, as Managing Director of AUP is reliably reported to have admitted that, against a background of adverse trading conditions and rapid technological advances, AUP would not have survived had it not have been for the support of Pergamon Press and Robert Maxwell ." This support was made clear in Pergamon Press's bold plan to rehabilitate

3927-626: The printing business was unstable and AUP's relationship with the Aberdeen community fraught, these were not the ultimate factors behind AUP's demise. Death was a top-down affair. In 1982, at the command of Robert Maxwell Pergamon Press was integrated into the British Printing and Communication Corporation, creating the Pergamon-BPCC Group, with the ultimate parent company being Maxwell Communications Corporation . In 1986 AUP

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4004-484: The profitable enterprise. Arthur King and Co. grew at strong clip throughout the period; the number of employees increased from 21 in 1872, to 66 in 1887, to 118 by 1894. The firm was sufficiently competitive to undertake work for metropolitan publishers, despite the distance from Aberdeen to the centers of the British publishing world: Glasgow , Edinburgh , and London . Aberdeen University Press sprung into being in 1900, "fully formed, fully functional, and capitalised to

4081-587: The public in 1900, was founded by Enriqueta Augustina Rylands in memory of her husband, John Rylands . It became part of the university in 1972, and now houses the majority of the Special Collections of The University of Manchester Library , the third largest academic library in the United Kingdom. Special collections built up by both libraries were progressively concentrated in the Deansgate building. The special collections, believed to be among

4158-436: The reading room, were sculpted by John Cassidy who also executed the allegorical group of 'Theology, Science and Art' in the vestibule. Aside from the main library and reading room with gallery above, the design incorporated Bible and map rooms on the first floor, and conference (lecture) and committee rooms on the ground floor, part of which was intended to be a lending library but never operated as such. A caretaker's house

4235-405: The sanding paper into contact with the wood being sanded. The platen sits between two steel rolls which deliver the moving force to the sanding belt. Sanding heads with a platen are used on finish sanding with papers of finer grits, when the coarser ones are typically used with contact drum type sanding heads. Stock is fed into and out of the machine on a conveyor belt. Since the abrasive belt creates

4312-536: The soot, with water sprays to catch the sulphur and other chemicals, which was a very advanced system for the period. Internal screen doors were employed in the entrance hall to prevent the air being 'fouled by the opening of the outer doors' with internal swing doors between the circulation areas and the main library to 'preserve the valuable books from injury'. By 1900 the ventilation system had evolved to include electric fans to draw in air at pavement level through coke screens sprayed with water. On opening in 1900,

4389-480: The spine lines. Platens are utilized in impact testing in research; a specimen is crushed between platens. The platen also refers to the fixed part of a linear motor. John Rylands Library The John Rylands Research Institute and Library is a late-Victorian neo-Gothic building on Deansgate in Manchester , England. It is part of the University of Manchester . The library, which opened to

4466-621: The time, both for its size and rarity of some of its contents. Walter Llewellyn Bullock bequeathed 5,000 items (notably early Italian imprints) during the 1930s. Mrs Rylands died in 1908 having bequeathed her private collections and an endowment of £200,000 to enable the library to expand. The funds were used to acquire 180,000 books, 3,000 manuscripts and extend the building. The Librarian, Henry Guppy , invited individuals to deposit their archives for safe keeping in 1921 when there were no county record offices in Lancashire or Cheshire and

4543-520: The transfer of a slave. The Arabic papyri were catalogued by David Samuel Margoliouth ; his catalogue was published in 1933. In addition to the collections of Spencer, Crawford, Christie and Bullock , holdings have been enriched by gifts, permanent loans or purchases of several libraries belonging to institutions and individuals. These include the French Revolution Broadsides donated by the 27th Earl of Crawford in 1924 and

4620-400: The tune of £54,000." AUP was formed as a public company to acquire Arthur King and Co. In an illustration of the close relations between AUP and the University of Aberdeen, (Sir) William Ramsay , Professor of Humanity at the university was installed as the first chairman of the board of the company. Cross-pollination between the two entities continued when James Trail, Professor of Botany joined

4697-575: The two entities. It is unclear who owns the copyrights to the defunct AUP's backlist titles. With the launch of the University of Aberdeen's first official university press, the administration hopes to communicate the university's research output to a wider audience while increasing institutional prestige on the global stage. The first title published was Taking Part in Music: Case Studies in Ethnomusicology , released in 2013 by

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4774-409: The two towers of the façade twelve feet back from the boundary and keeping the entrance block low, to allow light into the library. He designed the building in a series of tiered steps with an almost flat roof to give a 'liberal concession' to the neighbours' 'right to light'. The library was built on a rectangular plan and subsequent extensions are to the rear. It was designed to resemble a church in

4851-422: The typefounders can sell it to us. Why, we gain close on 50% on the type account." World War I critically impacted this arrangement. With wartime scarcity, the price of metals increased to the point that AUP could not afford the required lead and antimony . The resultant drop in quality of AUP's type metal and increase in printing prices began to impact their customer base, as in 1917 when John Long Ltd. informed

4928-408: The vast library of the 2nd Earl Spencer which she had purchased and another collection of autographs. Mrs Rylands intended the library to be principally theological , and the building, which is a fine example of Victorian Gothic, has the appearance of a church , although the concept was of an Oxford college library on a larger scale. Champneys presented plans to Mrs Rylands within a week of gaining

5005-617: The volume of work had increased, "a considerable number of reprint orders having come in as a result of the destruction of printed stocks by recent enemy action in London." From the postwar period until 1970, AUP maintained a pattern of comfortable growth and small-scale absorptions: William Jackson Ltd. in 1950; John Avery & Co. (the Greyfriars Press), a firm of general printers, in 1953; Edmond & Spark, stationers and bookbinders, in 1966. AUP's post-1970 existence can be read as

5082-421: Was a wage increase – either a general increase, or a War Bonus – agreed between union shops, the unions themselves, and employers’ federations, the firm was obliged to match it, for fear of losing valuable and skilled staff to other printers." Though there was optimism in the initial postwar period, for most of the 1920s business was erratic for AUP. The company had a handful of dutiful customers and seemed to have

5159-468: Was acquired and sold by three investment groups: Brandt Ltd., Grindlays Holdings, and Spey Investments, before landing with Pergamon Press in January 1978. Significantly different from earlier corporate deals, AUP's acquisition by Pergamon Press meant that rather than being anonymous object within an investment company's curio cabinet, AUP was now among family, an important piece of a conglomerate rooted in

5236-502: Was appointed John Rylands University Librarian and Director of The University of Manchester Library in February 2019. The John Rylands Research Institute was originally founded by Acting Librarian David Miller in 1987, to promote, fund and stimulate research on the primary material held at Deansgate. It was relaunched in 2013, with Professor Peter Pormann as director, as a collaboration between The University of Manchester's Faculty of Humanities and The John Rylands Library. The mission of

5313-495: Was built in 1969. In January 2003, an appeal to renovate the building was launched. Funds were generated from grants from the University of Manchester and Heritage Lottery Fund and donations from members of the public and companies in Manchester. The project, Unlocking the Rylands , demolished the third extension, refurbished parts of the old building and erected a pitched roof over its reinforced concrete roof. Champneys designed

5390-625: Was changed to the Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester (further slight changes have occurred since). During the First World War 11 members of staff joined the armed forces; of these only Capt. O. J. Sutton, MC, lost his life while serving. Other noteworthy members of staff were James Rendel Harris , Alphonse Mingana , the Semitic scholar Professor Edward Robertson (d. 1964) who

5467-539: Was incorporated in the building until it was demolished for the extension of 1969. Electric lighting was chosen as the cleanest and safest alternative to gas but, as the use of electricity was in its early stages, the supply (110 volts DC) was generated on-site. This took some years to achieve due to the inexperience of contractors, but the library became one of the first public buildings in Manchester to be lit by electricity and continued to generate its own supply until 1950. Champneys suggested that, in order to protect

5544-408: Was named the John Rylands University Library of Manchester. Special collections built up by both libraries were progressively concentrated in the Deansgate building. The building has been extended four times, the first time to designs by Champneys in 1920 after the project was delayed by World War I . The Lady Wolfson Building opened in 1962 on the west side and a third extension, south of the first

5621-408: Was seen as the best way to business survival." World War II brought to AUP a cautious market and a labor vacuum. However, these conditions—the fragility of the market, scarcity of qualified labor, and the rationing of paper and metals—were felt across the entire British printing industry. Due to these conditions, profits dipped during the early years of the war. However, in 1941, the company noted that

5698-519: Was sold to another Maxwell company, before being re-sold back to Pergamon-BPCC. In 1991, the Pergamon Group, minus AUP, was sold to Elsevier This left AUP tethered to the fortunes of Robert Maxwell and his publishing empire. After the death of Maxwell in November 1991, the extent of his corporation's debt was discovered. In the ensuing legal mess, AUP was liquidated in 1996. In October 2013,

5775-438: Was the third librarian, and Moses Tyson , keeper of western manuscripts, afterwards librarian of Manchester University Library. Stella Butler, a medical historian, was Head of Special Collections from 2000 until 2009, and she moved to the University of Leeds in 2011 as University Librarian. From 2009 to 2019, Rachel Beckett was Head of Special Collections and Associate Director of The John Rylands Library. Christopher Pressler

5852-427: Was upgraded to Grade I on 6 June 1994. The core of the library's collection was formed around 40,000 books, including many rarities, assembled by George Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer , which Mrs Rylands purchased from Lord Spencer in 1892 for £210,000. She had begun acquiring books in 1889 and continued to do so throughout her lifetime. Another notable purchase made by Mrs Rylands was that of over 6,000 manuscripts from

5929-465: Was wracked with instability throughout the 1980s. AUP's initial acquisition by Pergamon caused discomfort among many among the Aberdeen firm's long-time customer base. AUP's neutrality and independence was in question, as it was now owned by a very real competitor to many of AUP's former clients. With local publishing houses shifting away and local artisans being laid off, AUP's links to the local Aberdeen community were becoming increasingly fraught. Though

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