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
L. Gordon Rylands L. Gordon Rylands Louis Gordon Rylands (July 10, 1862 - December 20, 1942), best known as L. Gordon Rylands was a British criminologist and writer. Rylands was born in Warrington, Lancashire. His father was the politician Peter Rylands. He was educated at Charterhouse and University College London (B.A., B.Sc). After completing his studies, he was secretary of the family business, Rylands Brothers wire manufacturers from 1884 to 1887, then from 1897 to 1898 was science master at the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle upon Tyne. He worked as a private tutor from 1898 to 1924. At the time of his death