Welsh rare books collection secured for future generations
7 January 2011
One of the books in the collection
A major collection of 14,000 rare books, dating from the 15th century, was transferred to Special Collections and Archives (SCOLAR) in May 2010.
The collection comprises one of the largest sets in Wales of Europe's earliest printed books, Incunabula from the 15th century; it includes one of the best collections in Britain of Restoration Drama works from the 17th and 18th century; and it contains a massive collection of private press books from the 19th and 20th century, one of the largest anywhere in the world.
The books were assembled by Cardiff Public Library during the 19th and early 20th century, from donations, purchases, and bequests in its golden age by the city's great benefactors. Cardiff University worked in partnership with the Welsh Assembly Government, Cardiff Council, and the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) to secure the collection's future following fears that the books may be sold through public auction in London.
Such is the academic and historical significance of the collection that, following conservation work, the collection will become available to members of the public, and, in time, digitised versions of some of the most interesting works will also be accessible online. Cardiff now compares with the top UK university libraries for the research and teaching potential afforded by access to such a major resource.
The University Library Service is currently processing and prioritising works for conservation, online cataloguing, and selective digitisation in a three year programme, which has already won an external grant of nearly £100,000 to begin the work.
Processing the collection is a time-consuming process due to the fragile nature of the works, and involves inserting paper slips with a brief title and date into each book. This will help to protect the collection from damage through excessive handling, and will also help to locate the items in the future as the spines of books of this age and condition very rarely feature their titles.
A special reception, hosted by Heritage Minister, Alun Ffred Jones, to mark the transfer of the collection was also held at Cardiff's National Assembly Senedd Building on Wednesday 10th November. The event was attended by Assembly members, Cardiff University staff including the Vice-Chancellor, and representatives from Cardiff Council including the Lord Mayor.
The reception was also an opportunity to display some of the rarest books from the University, using new software which allows users to view the pages of digitised books.
Find out more...
Special Collections and Archives