Excerpt from The John Rylands Library, Manchester: A Brief Historical Description of the Library and Its Contents, With Illustrated Catalogue of a Selection of Manuscripts and Printed Books Exhibited in the Main Library<br><br>Doubtless many of our guests will be visiting this city for the first time, and it may be of interest to them to learn, by means of this exhibition, something of the character of the collections which have made this library famous in the world of letters, and which at the same time have helped to make Manchester a centre of attraction for scholars from all parts of the world.<br><br>It is impossible, within the limited exhibition space at our disposal, to attempt to convey anything like an adequate idea of the scope and importance of the library's collections in gen eral, comprising, as they do, something approaching printed books and 7000 manuscripts. We have, therefore, made a selection of some of the most noteworthy and famous of the possessions of the library, in the departments which are most likely to appeal to the members of the Congregational Union, whose visit it welcomes.<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.