John Rylands Library 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 (i.e. incunabula). Mrs Rylands paid £210,000 for Spencer's collection which included the Aldine Collection and an incunabula collection of 3,000 items. Owens College Library received Richard Copley Christie's library of over 8,000 volumes including many rare books from 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
Rylands v Fletcher tort, but instead a sub-tort of nuisance. In 1860, Rylands paid contractors to build a reservoir on his land, intending that it should supply the Ainsworth Mill with water. Rylands played no active role in the construction, instead contracting out to a competent engineer. While building it, the contractors discovered a series of old coal shafts and passages under the land filled loosely with soil and debris, which joined up with Thomas Fletcher's adjoining mine. Rather than blocking these shafts up, the contractors left them. On 11 December 1860, shortly after being filled for the first time, Rylands' reservoir burst