University of Manchester Library in 1904. In July 1972 this library merged with the John Rylands Library to become the John Rylands University Library of Manchester (JRULM). On 1 October 2004 the library of the Victoria University of Manchester merged with the Joule Library of UMIST forming the John Rylands University Library (JRUL). The Joule Library was the successor of the library of the Manchester Mechanics' Institute (established in 1824) which later became the library of the University of Manchester Institute of Science & Technology (UMIST). One of the Institute's first actions was to establish a library, with a full-time librarian, at premises in
Rylands Papyri the Rylands Papyrus iii.458) respectively; Papyrus 31, a fragment of a papyrus manuscript of the "Epistle to the Romans"; and Papyrus 32, a fragment of the "Epistle to Titus." Also held in the collection is Papyrus Rylands 463, a copy of the apocryphal "Gospel of Mary" in Greek, and John Rylands Papyrus 470, a prayer in Koine Greek to the Theotokos, written about 250 CE in brown ink, the earliest known copy of such a prayer. It was acquired by the Library in 1917. Rylands Papyri The Rylands Papyri are a collection of thousands of papyrus fragments and documents from