John Rylands Library assembled by George Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer, which Mrs Rylands purchased from Lord Spencer in 1892. She had begun acquiring books in 1889 and continued to do so throughout her lifetime. After its inauguration on 6 October 1899 (the wedding anniversary of John Rylands and Enriqueta Tennant) the library opened to readers and visitors on 1 January 1900. The John Rylands Library and the library of the University of Manchester merged in July 1972 and 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
Dadie Rylands involved in the theatre. He directed and acted in many productions for The Marlowe Society, and was chairman of the Cambridge Arts Theatre from 1946 to 1982. Rylands' 1939 Shakespeare anthology "Ages of Man" was the basis of John Gielgud's one-man show of the same title. Though Rylands specialised in directing university productions at Cambridge, he also directed Gielgud in professional productions of "The Duchess of Malfi" and "Hamlet" in London in 1945. He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1961 and a Companion of Honour (CH) in 1987. Dadie Rylands George Humphrey