Rare books and maps

Sir John Betjeman (1906 - 1984), poet and architectural historian, was the son of E. E. Betjeman and was educated at Marlborough College before going up to Magdalen College, Oxford in 1925. He married Penelope Valentine Hester (née Chetwode) in 1933, and the couple had one son and a daughter. He began publishing poetry and pieces on topography and architecture, subjects which continued to occupy him throughout his life, in the Twenties and obtained a job at The Architectural Review in 1930. Betjeman succeeded Cecil Day Lewis as Poet Laureate in 1972, and he was to hold the position until his death. He has been described as a 'national monument', the most popular poet Laureate of the twentieth-century. Certainly his poetry, including a verse autobiography Summoned by Bells (1960), reached a wide audience, and he raised the public profile of architectural history, particularly that of English Parish Churches, through his published writings and his popular television broadcasts on this topic.

Betjeman accompanied his family on holidays in Trebetherick, North Cornwall, as a boy and he retained a life-long affection and association with the region which is reflected in his publications, including Victorian and Edwardian Cornwall from Old Photographs, compiled by John Betjeman and A.L. Rowse (1976) and Betjeman's Cornwall (1984).

An immensely well-known and well-loved public figure, Betjeman was friends with a great many poets and writers of his day, including the novelist Kingsley Amis, the writer and critic Cyril Connolly, the cricket commentator John Arlott, and the Sitwell family, as well as many younger writers, including the man who was to succeed him as Poet Laureate, Ted Hughes. Betjeman's working library includes many books gifted and inscribed to Betjeman by these, and other prominent literary and public figures of the twentieth-century. He was knighted in 1969, awarded a CBE in 1960, and a CLitt in 1968.

Extent - More than 4,000 printed books and pamphlets.

Custodial History - The working library of Sir John Betjeman was purchased from the poet's daughter, Candida Lycett Green, in 1997 with the help of Heritage Lottery Fund and a grant from the Esmée Fairburn Charitable Trust, as well as donations from private individuals and the University of Exeter.

Collection Strengths - The collection contains more than 4,000 printed books and pamphlets from the eighteenth to the twentieth century. Subjects inclued English poetry, especially of the nineteenth-century; the English parish church; nineteenth and twentieth-century architecture; and English topography. The collection, which also contains many items with fine bindings, is arranged into the following subject categories: poetry, churches, architecture, topography, art, theology, Victorian bindings, biography, early twentieth-century schoolboy novels, and the English public school.

Many of the books have notes and annotations, including draft poems, and there are a number of autograph letters to Betjeman from well-known figures such as Ted Hughes and Kingsley Amis, and old friends such as John Arlott, the cricket commentator, inserted into the books.

Related resources in Special Collections include The Chris Brooks Collection of Victorian Culture, which complements the Betjeman Library through its exceptional strengths in nineteenth-century fiction, poetry, and architecture, and the Hypatia book collection, which is strong in nineteenth-century fiction and biography.

Chronological emphasis - Chiefly eighteenth to twentieth-century, with strong representation of nineteenth-century poetry and nineteenth and twentieth-century architecture.

Known gaps - A few titles were removed from the Betjeman Library by his daughter prior to sale, otherwise the collection is a complete representation of the Poet Laureate's working library at the time of his death in 1984.

System of Arrangement - The collection has been retained in the arrangement of subject categories formed by the agent who dealt with the sale of the books after Betjeman's death.

Accruals - The collection is closed for reasons of provenance.

Access Conditions - Usual EUL Special Collections arrangements apply.

Reproduction Conditions - Usual EUL Special Collections arrangements apply.

Finding Aids - The collection is available on University Library's online catalogue. Follow this linhttps://www.exeter.ac.uk/departments/library/k to perform a local classmark search for 'Betjeman' and to browse the contents of the Betjeman Library on the catalogue. Manuscript letters inserted in the books are catalogued and listed on the archives catalogue.

Language - Chiefly English.

Physical Characteristics - Some items in this collection are fragile and require careful handling.

Related Publications - There are numerous biographical books and articles about John Betjeman, including: John Betjeman, his life and work by Patrick Taylor-Martin (1983); Young Betjeman by Bevis Hillier (1988); Letters, John Betjeman, Vol. 1 1926-1951, Vol. 2 1951-1984, edited and introduced by Candida Lycett Green (1994-95); A Bibliographical Companion to Betjeman, compiled by Peter Gammon with John Heald, foreword by Candida Lycett Green (1997); Stylistic Cold Wars, Betjeman versus Pevsner by Timothy Mowl (2000).

Subject Keywords  - Architecture -- Nineteenth- to Twentieth-CenturyBetjeman, John Sir, Poet Laureate, 1905-1984English poetry -- Nineteenth-CenturyEnglish TopographyParish Church Architecture and History

The Cartography Collection consists of a selection of the maps and atlases deposited by the Geography Department Map Library into Special Collections in 2005. The selection was made on the basis of age, value and interest, and includes first edition of the Ordnance Survey 1" to the mile maps of Devon, Cornwall and Dorset made in 1809-1811, four of Ogilby's linear road maps of the Westcountry of c 1675, and a collection of "escape maps" printed on silk and given to military personnel (mostly airmen) who were shot down or captured during the Second World War to help them escape back to the United Kingdom. There is also a large collection of the 1" and 25" OS maps of the British Isles, mostly from the earlier part of the 20th century.

Extent - c 2000 items, including 231 historic maps, 21 historic atlases and 25 printed Baedeker guides

Custodial History - Previously formed part of the collections of the Rodney Fry Map Library, Department of Geography, University of Exeter. Transferred to Special Collections, 2005..

Scope and Content:

Collection strengths - The preponderance of early Ordnance Survey maps of the British Isles provides material for the history of landscape and development over the last two centuries. The Second World War "escape maps" are an unusual and very well preserved footnote to the history of the war.

Chronological emphasis - 19th and early 20th century.

System of Arrangement - Arranged in three sections: sheet maps; atlases and gazateers; printed guides.

Access Conditions - Usual EUL Special Collections arrangements apply.

Reproduction Conditions - Usual EUL Special Collections arrangements apply.

Finding Aids  - The collection is fully catalogued. You can browse the titles catalogued by performing a 'local classmark' search for "Cartography Coll ".

Language - Mainly English

Physical Characteristics - Most of the sheet maps are linen-backed, and are in reasonably good condition; many of them are folded. The silk "escape maps" are are in very good condition, and are encased in archival polyester folders. The four Ogilby road maps are mounted and framed.

Related Publications and Collections - See also the Constable and Townsend Map Collections.

Professor Chris Brooks was one of Britain's leading cultural historians of the Victorian period, and was a former Chair of the prestigious Victorian Society. His library of primary and secondary source Victorian material was donated to the University Library in 2002. The collection strengths reflect Brooks's research and teaching interests in art and architecture, literature, topography, and history.

Born in London in 1949, his family moved to Devon when he was young and, after graduating from Manchester University in 1971, Brooks joined the School of English at Exeter as a tutor in 1974. He became a lecturer in 1976, took his doctorate from Lincoln College, Oxford, in 1979, and later became a professor in Victorian studies at Exeter, where he helped lead the establishment of the Bill Douglas Centre Museum, a museum and resource centre now administered through the University Library's Special Collections.

As Chair of the Victorian Society in 1993, he was instrumental in securing the restoration of the Royal Albert Memorial, London, for he took an active role in historic building conservation issues on a local and national level. Chris Brooks died in 2002.

His publications include The Great East Window of Exeter Cathedral (1988), Mortal Remains (1988), and The Albert Memorial (1995), but his 'masterpiece', according to Geoff Branwood, Chair of the Victorian Society, was The Gothic Revival (1999), which 'broke new ground in examining what the concept of the gothic meant at different times and places'.

Custodial History - Chris Brooks bequeathed the collection to the University of Exeter Library.

Scope and Content:

Collection Strengths - The collection supports a wide range of scholarship within the field of Victorian culture, as collection strengths of literature, art, architecture, and topography overlap and complement one another, and are themselves supported by a good working collection of history books. The collection is therefore rich in primary source Victorian works, the significance of which is contextualised by later critical and historical works.

Adult and juvenile fiction of the Victorian and Edwardian period forms a major emphasis of the collection (c. 4,000 items). Supported by related periodical and poetry titles, this material forms a major body of works relevant to the study of Victorian publishing, writing, and reading. As befits Brooks's interest in visual representations, many of the fiction titles are illustrated and many retain their original binding. Collectively they form a valuable resource demonstrating the physical development of the book in the Victorian era.

The Periodical collection contains a complete set of Punch (Vol. 1, 1841 - Vol. 159, 1920). These volumes have been been indexed by Brooks and as such provides an insight into his research topics. Other titles include All the Year Round, The Boy's Own Paper, Cornhill Magazine, Fireside, and Good Words.

Reflecting his interest in conservation and historic buildings, there are also clear collection strengths in art and architecture (especially English church architecture and stained glass), and in topography (especially that of Devon and Cornwall). He was recording medieval stained glass in the South West peninsula for the Corpus Vitrearum Medii Aevi when he died.

The collection complements other resources in Special Collections, including the Bill Douglas Centre collection, the South West writers' papers in the archives, and John Betjeman's working library, itself strong in Victorian poetry and architecture titles.

Chronological emphasis - The collection houses many nineteenth century publications, alongside a number of twentieth century publications that focus upon the Victorian period.

System of Arrangement - The collection is arranged using Dewey Decimal classification.

Accruals - The collection is open and occasional new acquisitions are made, mainly to develop further the fiction and periodical strengths of the collection.

Access Conditions - Usual EUL Special Collections arrangements apply.

Reproduction Conditions - Usual EUL Special Collections arrangements apply.

Finding Aids - The materials in the Brooks collection are available via the Library's online catalogue, and you can browse the titles by performing a 'local classmark' search on the library catalogue for 'Brooks'. Periodical titles are fully catalogued and can be searched using the term Brooks P in the 'local classmark' function.

Language - Chiefly English.

Subject Keywords

Architecture -- Nineteenth to Twentieth CenturyEnglish Fiction -- Nineteenth to Twentieth CenturyEnglish Poetry -- Nineteenth to Twentieth CenturyHistory of Publishing -- Nineteenth to Twentieth CenturyTopography -- Nineteenth to Twentieth Century

Links

Aspects of the Victorian Book (British Library)
17th-19th Century children's literature collection (University of Liverpool Special Collections)
Bodleian Library Opie Collection (University of Oxford)
Victorian Popular Culture Archive (Requires University of Exeter login)

Kenneth Maxwell Constable, MA, was born in 1888 and died in 1937 at the early age of 49. He was educated at Charterhouse and Pembroke College, Oxford, where he read mathematics. He chose engineering as his profession and went to McGill University, Montreal, and then joined Messrs. Cammell Laird at Liverpool. In 1925 he came to Exeter to be the first Warden of Reed Hall; shortly after this he was appointed Warden of Mardon Hall. He also took up the post of Lecturer in Mathematics at the then University College of the South West. Among many interests listed in his obituary was the collecting of old maps: the 94 maps of the Constable Collection are the results of his efforts in this field.

Extent - 94 maps.

Custodial History - The collection is believed to have been donated to the University College of the South West on Mr Constable's death in 1937.

Scope and Content:

Collection strengths

As with most antique map collections, the individual maps originally came from atlases, which were split up, often fairly soon after publication, and the maps sold separately. The complete atlases are comparative rarities: Exeter University Special Collections has as a prized possession Saxton's Atlas of England and Wales, published in 1579 (1st edition).

Most of the Constable maps (77 out of 94) cover the British Isles (general, regional, county). These include eighteen maps of Devon, twenty-nine maps of Wales and its counties, and, perhaps surprisingly, five maps of England's smallest county Rutland.

The famous names in early English cartography include Saxton, Speed, Norden, Ogilby, Morden, Blome, followed by Bowen, Kitchen, Donne and Cary in the 18th century. Maps by all these cartographers are present in either the Constable or the Townsend map collections, including two first edition Saxtons (Devon and South Wales) and one (probable) first edition Speed (Caernarvon). When in 1607 Camden's immensely popular Britannia was republished with county maps, these were based on the maps of Saxton, Norden and Owen. The Constable Collection has twenty-seven of the maps included in Camden's 1607 edition, and also contains one of the earliest maps of a part of Britain by a Briton: Wales, by Humphry Llwyd, which predates Saxton by six years.

On the Continent the two great cartographer/publisher firms in the seventeenth century were Blaeu and Jansson: their maps are also well-represented in the Constable and Townsend map collections.

The earliest map in the Constable Collection is an edition of Ptolemy's Hibernia et Albion, published between 1510 and 1530.

Chronological emphasis - 16th-19th centuries, with a particular strength in 17th century maps.

System of Arrangement - Constable Collection: arranged in four sections: general British Isles( 1-5); English counties (A-Z) (6-48); Wales and Welsh counties (49-77); non-British (78-94). The maps are stored in number order.

Access Conditions - Usual EUL Special Collections arrangements apply.

Reproduction Conditions - It is not possible to photocopy items in this collection.

Finding Aids - The collection is fully catalogued on the University Library's online catalogue and can be browsed by performing a 'local classmark' search.

There is a printed handlist in number order, available in the Special Collections Reading Room. Individual copies can be provided for a small charge to cover costs.

Language - Most of the maps are in English, but several have Latin or other European language inscriptions.

Physical Characteristics - Many of the maps are fragile and very large. They are all encased in transparent archival polyester folders.

Related Publications and Collections

See also the Townsend Map Collection.

The following reference books were most frequently used whilst cataloguing the collection: Thomas Chubb, The printed maps in the atlases of Great Britain and Ireland: a bibliography, 1579-1870 (London: Homeland Association, 1927); K.M. Constable, 'Early printed plans of Exeter, 1587-1724', Transactions of the Devonshire Association, 64 (1932): 455-473; C. Koeman, Atlantes Neerlandici: bibliography of terrestrial, maritime, and celestial atlases and pilot books, published in the Netherlands up to 1880 (Amsterdam: Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, 1967), 4. vols.; Kit Batten and Francis Bennet: The printed maps of Devon: county maps 1575-1837 (Devon Books, 1996) (the maps described in this book are to be found in the Westcountry Studies Library in Exeter); R.A. Skelton, County atlases of the British Isles, 1570-1850: a bibliography, Vol.1: 1579-1703 (London: Carta Press, 1970). For additional information on Devon maps and map-makers see also Devon manuscripts and map-makers: manuscript maps before 1840 by Mary R. Ravenhill and Margery M. Rowe (Exeter: Devon and Cornwall Record Society, 2002).

Subject Keywords

Atlases, BritishBritish Isles -- MapsCartography -- England -- Devon -- History Devon (England) - Maps -- History Great Britain -- Maps

The Crediton Parish Library is the largest of the four parish libraries housed at the University of Exeter Library. The earliest existing catalogue, thought to date to 1700, was produced by Reverend Thomas Ley, who was Vicar of Crediton from 1689 to 1721. He presented his own library to the Church for use by the Vicar and Chaplain of Crediton, and the Chaplain of Sanford. Many items in the collection have Thomas Ley's signature in them. The Library has survived very well over the years; very few items have been lost and many still retain their original binding.

Extent - About 2474 volumes (including 1225 seventeenth and eighteenth century pamphlets).

Custodial History - Founded by the Reverend Thomas Ley, Vicar 1689-1721, the library was housed for many years in the Parvise Chamber over the South Porch of Crediton Church. In 1929, the then University Librarian, Mr H. Tapley Soper, surveyed the collection and advised it be transferred to the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter (then the site of the University Library), believing it 'a pity that these books are segregated at Crediton where they are probably never used'. The church governors disagreed, preferring to preserve the library within the parish. Policy had changed by the 1960s, however, when the library was transferred on permanent loan to the University of Exeter in 1968.

Scope and Content

Collection strengths

As would be expected, the library contains a great number of theological works, but there is also a good cross-section of other subjects, such as history, politics, science, geography and literature. The majority of books are published in England, though there is a selection of titles published on the continent, mainly amongst the older titles.

The collection consists of two distinct parts, books and pamphlets, including 1225 seventeenth- and eighteenth-century pamphlets, many on non-conformist topics. D. Wyn Evans, former deputy librarian at Exeter, writes that 'the pamphlet collection is an unusually good one. Most of the works cover the period 1670-1720 and they form a useful source for the history, politics, religious controversy and literature of those years'.

The two incunabula in the collection are both dated 1495, being Henricus Boort's Fasciculus morum, published at Deventer, and Problemata Aristolelis, published at Cologne.

The collection also contains three manuscript catalogues of the Crediton Library: i) manuscript catalogue compiled by Rev. Thomas Ley [c. 1700] ii) manuscript catalogue and index (1854) iii) catalogue compiled by Symes and Robinson, solicitors, Crediton (1966). (for further information see MS 242)

Chronological emphasis - The collection breaks down as follows (the number given in brackets being the number of items in each section): incunabula (2); sixteenth-century books (49); seventeenth-century books (864); seventeenth-century pamphlets (613); eighteenth-century books (298); eighteenth-century pamphlets (612); nineteenth-century (and later) books (36).

Known gaps  - Few of the books are thought to have been lost (the early library catalogues survive).

Evidence of research value - See D. Wyn Evan's 'Devon Parish Libraries at Exeter University', The Devon Historian, 24, April 1982, to which this collection description is indebted.

System of Arrangement - There are two sequences of books according to size, both arranged in chronological order by date of publication.

Accruals - The collection is closed.

Access Conditions - Usual EUL Special Collections arrangements apply.

Reproduction Conditions - Usual EUL Special Collections arrangements apply.

Finding Aids - The collection is fully catalogued and entries appear on the University Library's online catalogue. You can browse the catalogue by following this link

Language - Chiefly English.

Physical Characteristics - Some items in this collection are fragile and require careful handling.

Subject Keywords

History of Libraries -- Parish Libraries, Devon -- Sixteenth- to Twentieth-Century

The Dodderidge Library was founded by John Dodderidge of Barnstaple, Devon (1610-1666), who donated his book collection to the town of Barnstaple in 1664. John Dodderidge, son of Penecost Dodderidge, was the nephew of Sir John Dodderidge, Lord Chief Justice of England, and it was the library of Sir John Dodderidge that formed the nucleus of the library later donated to the parish of Barnstaple in 1664. The library originally consisted of 112 volumes, chiefly of theology in Latin, and the Parish built a special building, partly in the churchyard and partly outside of it, to house the collection. The Dodderidge collection represents one of the earliest town libraries in the country and has continued in existence since its foundation in the later seventeenth-century.

The first catalogue of the library was made c. 1739, recording 328 volumes, and this was used until a second catalogue was made in 1824. David Wyn Evans, Senior Sub-Librarian at Exeter University Library (1973-1995), records that the second catalogue was made by Rev. Henry Luxmore, and 'by the time the library seems to have suffered some decay and loss, there now being only 271 volumes present'. Some missing titles have since been found and returned to the library. Dodderidge and Shaddick also include a list of books in the Library in their 1909 volume The Dodderidges of Devon : with an account of the Bibliotheca Doddridgiana, and a final manuscript catalogue was compiled by Daphne Drake in 1947.

In 1888 the library was moved from Barnstaple Church to the North Devon Athenaeum, where it remained until transfer on permanent loan to Exeter University Library in 1957.

Extent - 354 items.

Custodial History - See above. Originally founded in 1664, the library, which remains the property of the Corportation of Barnstable, was transferred on permanent loan to Exeter University Library in 1957.

Scope and Content

Collection strengths - The Dodderidge Library consists mainly of pre-1700 books, including a few incunabula. There are many books on theology, British, foreign and classical literatures and on geography, history and the sciences. Amongst the treasures of the collection figure a 1610 edition of John Foxe's Book of Martyrs, with a unusually well-preserved folding plate depicting scenes of protestant martyrdom. A number of early volumes in the collection contain the signature of Sir John Dodderidge. Exeter University Library also holds Daphne Drake's 1947 manuscript catalogue of the collection.

Chronological emphasis - Chiefly sixteenth- and seventeenth-century, with a few pre-1500 books.

Known gaps - A number of items listed in the catalogue of 1739 were found missing when a second catalogue was made in 1824. However, in 1982 D. Wyn Evans, Deputy Librarian at Exeter University Library, recorded that virtually all the titles listed in Dodderidge and Shaddick's 1909 listing, and Daphne Drake's 1949 catalogue, were still present in the collection.

Evidence of research value - The collection was used in the compilation of A Man of Great Knowledge: the life of Sir John Dodderidge, 1555-1628 by Chantal Stebbings (Exeter: Exeter Law Department, 1989); as well as 'Devon Parish Libraries at Exeter University' by D. Wyn Evans in Devon Historian, 24, April 1982.

System of Arrangement - There are two sequences of books, according to size, both shelved in chronological order by date of publication.

Accruals - The collection is closed.

Access Conditions - Usual EUL Special Collections arrangements apply.

Reproduction Conditions - Usual EUL Special Collections arrangements apply.

Finding Aids - The collection is fully catalogued and entries appear on the University Library's online catalogue. You can browse the catalogue for this collection by following this link

Language - Chiefly English and Latin.

Physical Characteristics - Some items in this collection are fragile and require careful handling.

Related Collections - Publications pertaining to the history of the collection include: The Dodderidges of Devon : with an account of the Bibliotheca Doddridgiana by Sidney Dodderidge and H.G. Shaddick (Exeter: Pollard, 1909) and 'Devon Parish Libraries at Exeter University' by D. Wyn Evans in Devon Historian, 24, April 1982.

Subject Keywords

History of Libraries -- Parish Libraries, Devon -- Sixteenth- to Twentieth-CenturyDodderidge, Sir John (1555-1628) -- Lord Chief Justice of England

John David Geyton Edmund (d1993) was a local amateur historian who lived in Exeter. For much of his career he was Chief Electrician and Stage Manager at Exeter Theatre Royal, until its closure in 1962. After that he became a lecturer in electronics at Exeter College. His interest in drama continued, as he played an active role in amateur dramatics. He had an interest in many local organisations, serving on the Library Committee of the Devon and Exeter Institute and also training the first Exeter Redcoat Guides in 1987. He was also particularly interested in railways, trams, papermills, Exeter theatres and the Exeter blitz, about which he wrote for local periodicals, including the Transactions of the Devonshire Association and Devon Life.

Extent - About 4000 items

Custodial History - The collection was bought by Exeter University Library from Edmund's widow, Jane, in February 1995, following his death in May 1993. The initial deposit was followed by a second, much smaller deposit later the same year.

Scope and Content

Collection strengths - The strengths of the Edmund Collection lie in local history. The main emphasis is upon Exeter and East Devon, although there is some material from West Devon (such as Plymouth) and Dorset and Cornwall. There are a few more general books in the collection, covering British history. The majority of the items (which includes books, pamphlets, periodicals and maps) covers various aspects of the west country, notably the history of towns and villages and their residents. Social history is well-represented with material on religion, transport (particularly railways), education and local myths and legends.

Chronological emphasis - Mainly mid 20th century.

System of Arrangement - Dewey Decimal Classification.

Access Conditions - Usual EUL Special Collections arrangements apply.

Reproduction Conditions - Usual EUL Special Collections arrangements apply.

Finding Aids - The collection is fully catalogued and entries appear on the University Library's online catalogue.

Language - English.

Physical Characteristics - Some items in this collection are fragile and require careful handling.

Subject Keywords

History of Devon -- Twentieth CenturyHistory of Exeter -- Twentieth Century

Dr Melissa Hardie, who founded the Hypatia Trust and its documentary collections, was born in America and now lives in Penzance, Cornwall. Melissa Hardie has been collecting books by and about women for over twenty-five years and her book collection 'is the [Hypatia Trust's] documentary base and springboard' providing a record and celebration of women's history. The collection at Exeter is part of a larger collection (other parts can be found in Cornwall and America); the whole comprising of 'books, documents and artefacts that concern women's role in history and contemporary life'. Founded by Melissa Hardie, the Cornish parts of the collection are administered by the Hypatia Trust. The Trust is named after Hypatia, a Greek woman scholar, interested in science and ethics, who was born in Alexandria in 355AD and assassinated in 415AD.

Custodial History - Dr Melissa Hardie, of Newmill near Penzance, has been collecting books by and about women for over twenty-five years. Originally known as the Jamieson Library (many volumes still bear the Jamieson Library bookplate), the books and journals outgrew their home and the books were placed in Exeter University Library in 1996 on long term deposit for a minimum fifty years. The collection at Exeter is part of a larger Hypatia Trust book collection, parts of which remain under the Trust's administration in Cornwall. Other parts of the Hypatia Collection, located in Cornwall and America, can be accessed through the Hypatia Trust.

Scope and Content:

Collection strengths - The Hypatia collection exclusively contains books and journals by or about women. Part of its richness stems from the inclusive collecting habits of its creator, Dr Melissa Hardie, who acquired many ephemeral titles and books on subjects and by writers traditionally excluded from the academic canon in her aim 'to make available published documentation about women in every aspect of their lives'. The collection is strongest on biography, social life, occupations and history, as well as on literature (especially fiction) and the arts. In addition there is also the Cheris Kramerae Gift of books on second-wave feminism and related topics. 

Chronological emphasis - Post-1800. Chiefly mid-to later twentieth-century, with a number of nineteenth-century literary and periodical titles.

Known gaps - The collection at Exeter is part of a larger Hypatia Trust book collection, sections of which remain under the Trust's administration in Cornwall. Other parts of the Hypatia Collection, located in Cornwall and America, can be accessed through the Hypatia Trust.

System of Arrangement - The books are shelved alphabetically within subject sequences: Biographies; Health; Education; Occupations; Science; Crime; Religion; Marriage and the Family; Politics; Archaeology; History; Domestic Science; Art; Humour; Natural World; Poetry; Performing Arts; Diaries; Nursing; Literature; Myths and Legends; Travel; Topography; The Cornish Woman; The American Woman; Women and War; Fiction.

Accruals - Mainly closed to accruals; some limited irregular additions by donor.

Access Conditions - Usual EUL Special Collections arrangements apply.

Reproduction Conditions - Usual EUL Special Collections arrangements apply.

Finding Aids - The collection is fully catalogued and entries appear on the University Library's online catalogue.

Language - Mainly English, but some other European languages are represented.

Subject Keywords

Women's History -- Nineteenth- and Twentieth-CenturyWomen Writers -- English Literature -- Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century

A collection of rare books with fine bindings created by John Lloyd, the University Librarian at Exeter from 1946 to 1972.

Lloyd held a 'high conception of the place of the library in a university', believing a library should 'have showcases full of manuscripts and specimens of fine binding' and that 'paintings, drawings and prints, sculpture and ceramics should greet the visitor' (see The University of Exeter: A History, by Brian William Clapp, published in 1982). Lloyd was responsible for the Library during a period in which it acquired a great many of the rare books now located in the Rare Books Collection, and he also oversaw the arrival of the first groups of literary papers, from R.D. Blackmore and Henry Williamson, which cemented the Library's commitment to collecting the archives of writers associated with the South West of England.

His collection was bequeathed on his death to the University Library by his widow.

Extent - c. 130 titles.

Custodial History - Bequeathed to the University by its former University Librarian, Mr John Lloyd, through the auspices of his widow.

Scope and Content:

Collection strengths - A collection of European fine bindings, illustrated and rare books, including, for example, a first issue of the first edition of Bram Stoker's Dracula (Westminster: Constable, 1897), with its lurid yellow cover, a fine five volume edition, with engraved illustrations, of Bocccaccio's Il Decamerone (London: [n.p.], 1757), and a fine illustrated two volume set of Edmund Spenser's The Fairy Queen (London: for J.R. Tonson, 1788).

Chronological emphasis - Chiefly eighteenth-century and nineteenth-century.

System of Arrangement - The collection is classified and arranged according to Dewey.

Accruals - Closed for reasons of provenance.

Access Conditions - Usual EUL Special Collections arrangements apply.

Reproduction Conditions - Usual EUL Special Collections arrangements apply.

Finding Aids - The collection is fully catalogued and entries appear on the University Library's online catalogue.

Language - Mainly English; some French and Italian titles.

Physical Characteristics - Some items in this collection are fragile and require careful handling. Restrictions on photocopying may apply.

Subject Keywords

Fine bindingsBookbinding -- History Bookbinding -- Europe

The Ottery St Mary parish library is the smallest of the four such libraries held at the University of Exeter Library. According to D. Wyn Evans, the history of the library is a 'little obscure'. There is known to have been a library at Ottery for some centuries, but the present collection in the University's care were 'nearly all at one time in Exeter Cathedral Library' but in the early part of the twentieth century, they were transferred to Ottery. In Ottery they were kept in a room in one of the Church turrets and survived fairly well.

Extent - 112 volumes.

Custodial History - A selection of the rarer and older books were transferred on permanent loan to the University of Exeter Library by the Ottery Church Corporation in 1978, and a further selection made in 1980. There is known to have been a library at Ottery for centuries, but nearly all the volumes in the present collection were once part of Exeter Cathedral Library and are believed to have transferred from there to Ottery in the early part of the twentieth century.

Scope and Content:

Collection strengths - The books are mainly on theological topics, and include five incunabula, being three legal works by Bartolus de Saxoferrata, published in Lyons, circa 1495, Repertorium, Lyons, c. 1498, by Antonius de Prato, and one volume of a Biblia Latina, Basle, 1498. One of the volumes is a manuscript, Third part of a rule of perfection by Francis Bennet of Camfield, Essex (now classed as EUL MS 70).

Chronological emphasis - The volumes are as follows (the number given in brackets being the sum of items in each category): incunabula (5); sixteenth-century books (19); seventeenth-century books (42); eighteenth-century books (29); nineteenth-century books (17).

Known gaps - Few (if any) of the original Ottery St Mary library books survive; the collection mainly contains books transferred to Ottery from the Cathedral Library in the early part of the twentieth century.

Evidence of Research Value - See D. Wyn Evans, 'Devon Parish Libraries at Exeter University Library', in The Devon Historian, 24, April 1982, 18-21, to which this collection description is heavily indebted.

System of Arrangement - Chronological, in two sequences according to size.

Accruals - The collection is closed.

Access Conditions - Usual EUL Special Collections arrangements apply.

Reproduction Conditions - Usual EUL Special Collections arrangements apply.

Finding Aids - The collection is fully catalogued and entries appear on the University Library's online catalogue. You can browse the catalogue for items in this collection by following this link

Language - Chiefly English.

Physical Characteristics - Some items in this collection are fragile and require careful handling. Restrictions on photocopying may apply.

Subject Keywords

History of Libraries -- Parish Libraries, Devon -- Sixteenth- to Nineteenth-Century.

The Rare Books Collection is the main run of pre-1700 books which are owned by the Library and which have been collected over time. The collection covers a range of subject areas, from theology to architecture, from antiquities to history of science. A related collection is the Reserve Collection, which continues where the Rare Book sequence stops, with titles published post-1700.

Extent - c. 1000 books.

Custodial History - The books are mainly gifts to the Library. The provenance of each book is usually recorded in the book itself or on its catalogue record.

Scope and Content:

Collection strengths - The collection covers a range of subject areas, and many books are rare copies. It contains a handful of books printed before 1500, including De Civitate Dei by Saint Augustine (Venice, N. Jenson, 1475), and a single leaf of the folio from Caxton's 1478 printing of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (the collection also includes a rare 1561 printing of Chaucer's The Woorkes). Other notable volumes include a copy of Tycho Brahe's Astronomiae instauratae mechanica (Nuremberg, 1602), which was previously owned by the pioneering English astronomer Sir Norman Lockyer, and a first issue of Thomas Hobbe's Leviathan (A. Crooke, 1651).

The greatest treasure of the collection is undoubtedly the hand-coloured Elizabethan atlas by Christopher Saxton, An Atlas of England and Wales [1579]. The Library's copy is missing the frontispiece, which features Elizabeth I, but it does contain the list of maps, coat-of-arms, and thirty-five double-page maps of the counties. Originally published as a collection in 1579, the atlas is a landmark in British cartography and printing. Christopher Saxton was responsible for producing the maps and his work provided a new standard of cartographic representation in Britain.

Chronological emphasis - Pre-1700. Contains a few incunabula (books published before 1500).

Known gaps - Not applicable. The collection does not claim to be comprehensive.

System of Arrangement - The collection is arranged by publication date, in three sequences according to size.

Accruals - The collection is open and new titles are occasionally added through gift.

Access Conditions - Usual EUL Special Collections arrangements apply.

Reproduction Conditions - Usual EUL Special Collections arrangements apply.

Finding Aids - The collection is fully catalogued and entries appear on the University Library's online catalogue. You can browse the catalogue for items in this collection by following this link

Language - Includes a range of European languages; mainly Latin and English.

Physical Characteristics - Some items in this collection are fragile and require careful handling. Restrictions on photocopying may apply.

Related Publications - Full bibliographical information and, in some cases, full-text digital surrogates of the English books held in the Rare Books collection can be found online via the Early English Books Online (EEBO) database. EEBO will eventually contain over 125,000 titles as listed in Pollard and Redgrave's Short-Title Catalologue (1475-1640, Wing's Short-Title Catalogue (1641-1700), the Thomason Tracts (1640-1661), and the Early English Tract Supplement. Members of the University of Exeter can access EEBO through the Library's Gateway to Databases.

Subject Keywords

Not applicable. No single subject strength.

The Reserve Collection is the Library's main sequence of books which have been transferred into Special Collections due to their age, notable physical characteristics or provenance. The collection covers books in all subject areas, most of which have been transferred from the Library's open shelves.

Extent - Over 20,000 books.

Custodial History - The books in the Reserve Collection include individual volumes transferred from the Library's main sequence of loan books, as well as gifts and purchases. The Library's records of book provenance are incomplete, but it would be possible to trace the individual provenance of some significant books in the collection.

Scope and Content:

Collection strengths - The historical aspect of all academic subjects taught at the University are represented, from art history to literature, from the history of science to the history of law.

The collection contains many volumes of special historical significance in their subject areas, including John Curtis's sixteen volume work on British Entomology (1824-39), a full set of the thirty-nine volumes which comprise the second edition of Encyclopedie by Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert (1778), and Isaac Newton's The Mathematical Principles (1729). Travel literature is especially well represented.

Chronological emphasis - Post-1700 to the present day. The Library's collection of pre-1700 books are contained in the Rare Books collection. The Reserve Collection also includes modern titles where these are collectable first editions.

Known gaps - Not applicable. The collection does not claim to be comprehensive in any single subject area.

System of Arrangement - The collection is arranged using the Dewey Decimal system.

Accruals - The collection is open and material continues to be added, chiefly by way of transfer when items become to vulnerable to be retained as loan copies on the Library's open shelves.

Access Conditions - Usual EUL Special Collections arrangements apply.

Reproduction Conditions - Usual EUL Special Collections arrangements apply.

Finding Aids - The collection is fully catalogued and entries appear on the University Library's online catalogue.

Language - Includes books across the range of languages studied at the University.

Physical Characteristics - Some items in this collection are fragile and require careful handling. Restrictions on photocopying may apply.

Subject Keywords

Not applicable. No single subject strength; all subjects represented.

The Syon Abbey library collection is the library of the Bridgettine nuns of Syon Abbey, last based at South Brent, Devon, whose community was unusual in being able to trace an unbroken tradition reaching back to the Abbey's foundation in 1415. The Order of the Most Holy Saviour (commonly known as the Bridgettine Order) was founded in the second half of the fourteenth century by a Swedish noblewoman who was canonised in 1391 and known as St Bridget of Sweden. This contemplative order was to accommodate both men and women. The community founded at Syon Abbey in 1415 became a major focal point of religious activity in the sixteenth century and was well-known for its publication of religious literature. A surviving set of rules for Syon Abbey explicitly emphasises the importance of books and instructs the sisters in their proper care. Both the nuns and the monks had their own libraries but, whilst there is an extant catalogue of the brothers' medieval library, no catalogue of the nuns' medieval library has survived. Little can be known with certainty about what physically happened to either of the libraries following the Abbey's dissolution in 1539.

At the dissolution, the community went into exile and lived first in the Low Countries, then France, and later in Portugal. From 1594 to 1861, the sisters lived as an English community at Lisbon. Marion Glasscoe, who co-ordinated the transfer of the Syon library to Exeter University Library, has recorded that the sisters took a small core of surviving books with them when they first went into exile, and she argues that the nuns continued to build up their library while abroad and that they brought all those volumes which survived a convent fire (Lisbon 1651) back to England on their return in 1861, where they initially resided in Spetisbury, Dorset. Following a further relocation to Chudleigh, Devon, in 1887, the community finally settled in South Brent, Devon, in 1925. On account of dwindling numbers and the age of the remaining nuns, the decision was made to close Syon Abbey in 2011.

Some volumes in the Syon Abbey library collection predate the monastery's dissolution, but many of these early sixteenth-century titles will have been purchased at a later date and added to the collection. Recent scholarship by Professor Vincent Gillespie does suggest, however, that at least one title, Reductori moralis libri quatuordecim by Pierre Bercheur (1521), has survived intact in the nuns' library since before the dissolution. Syon Abbey’s medieval manuscripts, which would originally have made up a significant part of the nuns' library, are catalogued as a separate collection (see EUL MS 262 in the archive catalogue).

Extent - 1214 items.

Custodial History - The collection was deposited in the University Library in September 1990, through the intercession of Dr Marion Glasscoe, then of the School of English. The collection remains the property of the remaining Bridgettine nuns of Syon Abbey.

Scope and Content:

Collection strengths - The collection contains many sixteenth-century, seventeenth-century and eighteenth-century Catholic hagiographical, devotional, polemical, and historical works, and is a remarkable testimony to the role of print in post-Reformation Catholic religious communities. As well as containing numerous individual titles of interest, the Syon Abbey collection as a whole is a rich source of study for ecclesiastical history; for the history of libraries and reading habits; and for its significance to researchers interested in the history of women's learning and reading, because of the original stress placed on encouraging informed spirituality amongst the sisters. Numerous books in the collection bear manuscript annotations by the nuns, some with several pages of manuscript prayers and notes bound in with the text. Other books contain letters about their provenance. The collection also includes several manuscript volumes on the history of Syon Abbey created by Canon John Rory Fletcher, whose transcriptions of a number of medieval manuscripts once belonging to Syon are also present. For more information on John Fletcher's manuscripts see the description of MS 95 on the Special Collections website.

Chronological emphasis - The collection contains books dating from the sixteenth to the twentieth century; as well as the early twentieth-century manuscripts of Canon John Fletcher.

Known gaps - The collection contains all pre-1850 titles from the library of Syon Abbey. Further information about the contents of the original medieval libraries at Syon Abbey can be found in Christopher De Hamel's Syon Abbey (1991) and Syon Abbey with the libraries of the Carthusians edited by Vincent Gillespie and Ian Doyle (2001).

Evidence of research value - Numerous articles and books on Syon Abbey have been published, some are mentioned below (see related publications).

System of Arrangement - The books are arranged in chronological order in two sequences according to size.

Accruals - The collection is closed for reasons of provenance.

Access Conditions - Usual EUL Special Collections arrangements apply.

Reproduction Conditions - Usual EUL Special Collections arrangements apply.

Finding Aids - The collection is fully catalogued and entries appear on the University Library's online catalogue. Follow this link to perform a local classmark search for 'Syon' and to browse the contents of the Syon Abbey library on the online catalogue.

Language - Includes texts in English, Latin, Portuguese, French, Spanish, German, Dutch, Swedish, Italian.

Physical Characteristics - Some items in this collection are fragile and require careful handling. Restrictions on photocopying may apply.

Related Publications - Publications on the history of Syon Abbey, and its library, include: G.J. Aungier, The History and Antiquities of Syon Monastery, the Parish of Isleworth, and the Chapelry of Hounslow (London, 1840); Fletcher, John Rory, The Story of the English Bridgettines of Syon Abbey (South Brent, 1933); Hamel, Christopher de, Syon Abbey: The Library of the Bridgettine Nuns and Their Peregrinations After the Reformation, an essay by Christopher De Hamel, with the manuscript of Arundel Castle (Printed for the Roxburghe Club, 1991); Rhodes, J.T., 'Syon Abbey and its Religious Publications in the Sixteenth Century', in Journal of Ecclesiastical History, Vol.44, No. 1, January 1993, pp. 11-15; E.A. Jones, 'England's Last Medieval Monastery: Syon Abbey 1415-2015' (Leominster: Gracewing, 2015); E.A. Jones and Alexandra Walsham (eds.), Syon Abbey and its Books: Reading, Writing and Religion, c.1400-1700, (Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer, 2010). The following essay explores the provenance of one volume, containing two texts by Wynken de Worde bound together, which was originally part of the library: '"For No Text Is an Island, Divided from the Main": Incunable Sammelbande' by Lucy Lewis, in Light on the Book Trade: Essays and Papers in Honour of Peter Isaac, ed. Barry McKay, Maureen Bell, and John Hinks (Newcastle: Oak Knoll Press, 2002).

Subject Keywords

Ecclesiastical History -- Fifteenth Century to Twentieth CenturyHistory of Libraries and Reading -- Fifteenth to Twentieth CenturyWomen's HistoryBridgettine Order, History of - Fifteenth to Twentieth Century

The Totnes Library dates back to the early years of the seventeenth century. David Wyn Evans, Senior Sub-Librarian at Exeter University Library (1973-1995), records that a 'gift of £35 by Gabriel Barker to the town of Totnes took place in 1619, and of this sum £10 was to be used to form a library. A number of other gifts were received through bequests made during the years that followed, and references to the library are to be found regularly in the town accounts'.

Prior to 1967, when the majority of the books were transferred to Exeter University Library, the Totnes Library was housed in Totnes Parish Church where the conditions were damp and where bookworms gradually attacked the collection. By 1967, some of the books had decayed beyond the point of restoration, but many have since been repaired to a reasonable condition. A few titles have been retained by Totnes Museum and in 1983 a few works still remained at Totnes Parish Church.

A manuscript catalogue of the collection was compiled in 1821, of which the University Library has a photocopy (the whereabouts of the original being unknown). Charles Worthy also included a catalogue and account of the library in Ashburton and its neighborhood (Ashburton: 1875), but a comparative study of holdings in Totnes Museum, Exeter University Library, and Totnes Parish Church in 1983 revealed titles in the University Library collection that were not listed by Worthy, as well as a number of missing works.

Extent - 304 volumes.

Custodial History - Founded in 1619, the parish library of Totnes came to the University Library on permanent loan in 1967. A letter addressed to then University Librarian Mr John Lloyd, 22 April 1967, suggests that the medievalist N. R. Ker was responsible for prompting the move of the Totnes, and other Devon parish libraries, to the University. A number of titles then remained in the local museum at Totnes, some of which were transferred to Exeter University Library in 1980.

Scope and Content

Collection strengths - The collection is strongest in its representation of seventeenth-century titles on divinity.

Chronological emphasis - Chiefly sixteenth- and seventeenth-century titles.

Known gaps - Some items were too badly damaged to be restored by the time they were transferred to Exeter University Library in 1967. It is believed that some titles remain in the local museum of Totnes.

Evidence of research value - D. Wyn Evans 'Devon Parish Libraries at Exeter University', in Devon Historian, 24, April 1982.

System of Arrangement - There are two sequences of books according to size, both arranged chronologically by date of publication.

Accurals - The collection is closed.

Access Conditions - Usual EUL Special Collections arrangements apply.

Reproduction Conditions - Usual EUL Special Collections arrangements apply.

Finding Aids - The collection is fully catalogued and entries appear on the University Library's online catalogue. Follow this link to perform a local classmark search for 'Totnes' and to browse the contents of this parish library on the online catalogue.

Language - Chiefly Latin and English.

Physical Characteristics - Some items in this collection are fragile and require careful handling; some vellum board books are particularly stiff and hard to open.

Related Publications - See D. Wyn Evans, 'Devon Parish Libraries at Exeter University', Devon Historian, 24, April 1982; also an account and catalogue of the library in Charles Worthy's Ashburton and its neighborhood (Ashburton: 1875).

Subject Keywords

History of Libraries -- Totnes Parish Library, Devon -- Sixteenth- to Twentieth-Century

R.W.Townsend was a member of an old Exeter family who had been publishers and booksellers in the city for many years. He had an interest in the development of Exeter and formed a small collection of old maps to illustrate this.

Extent - 19 maps.

Custodial History - The collection was given to the University of Exeter in 1972.

Scope and Content:

Collection strengths - As with most antique map collections, the individual maps originally came from atlases, which were split up, often fairly soon after publication, and the maps sold separately. The complete atlases are comparative rarities: Exeter University Special Collections has as a prized possession Saxton's Atlas of England and Wales, published in 1579 (1st edition).

All of the Townsend maps cover the British Isles (general, regional, county). The strength of the Townsend Collection is the nine maps of Exeter tracing the development of the city from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries.

The famous names in early English cartography include Saxton, Speed, Norden, Ogilby, Morden, Blome, followed by Bowen, Kitchen, Donne and Cary in the eighteenth century. Maps by all these cartographers are present in either the Townsend or the Constable map collections, including two first edition Saxtons (Devon and South Wales) and one (probable) first edition Speed (Caernarvon).

On the Continent the two great cartographer/publisher firms in the 17th Century were Blaeu and Jansson: their maps are well-represented in the Townsend and Constable collections.

The earliest map in either collection is, in Constable, an edition of Ptolemy's Hibernia et Albion, published between 1510 and 1530, and the most recent, in Townsend, is Exeter, by Wilkes and Rankin, produced between 1851-54.

Chronological emphasis - 16th-19th centuries, with a particular strength in 17th century maps.

System of Arrangement - Townsend Collection: arranged in two sections: maps of Devon (1-10), maps of Exeter (11-19). The maps are stored in number order.

Access Conditions - Usual EUL Special Collections arrangements apply.

Reproduction Conditions - Usual EUL Special Collections arrangements apply. It is not possible to photocopy items in this collection.

Finding Aids - The collection is fully catalogued and entries appear on the University Library's online catalogue. You can browse the catalogue for items in this collection by following this link. There is a printed handlist in number order, available in the Special Collections Reading Room. Individual copies can be provided for a small charge to cover costs.

Language - Most of the maps are in English, but several have Latin or other European language inscriptions.

Physical Characteristics - Many of the maps are fragile and very large. They are all encased in transparent archival polyester folders.

Related Publications and Collections - See also the Constable Map Collection. The following reference books were most frequently used whilst cataloguing the collection: Thomas Chubb, The printed maps in the atlases of Great Britain and Ireland: a bibliography, 1579-1870 (London: Homeland Association, 1927); K.M. Constable, 'Early printed plans of Exeter, 1587-1724', Transactions of the Devonshire Association, 64 (1932): 455-473; C. Koeman, Atlantes Neerlandici: bibliography of terrestrial, maritime, and celestial atlases and pilot books, published in the Netherlands up to 1880 (Amsterdam: Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, 1967), 4. vols.; Kit Batten and Francis Bennet: The printed maps of Devon: county maps 1575-1837 (Devon Books, 1996) (the maps described in this book are to be found in the Westcountry Studies Library in Exeter); R.A. Skelton, County atlases of the British Isles, 1570-1850: a bibliography, Vol.1: 1579-1703 (London: Carta Press, 1970). For additional information on Devon maps and map-makers see also Devon manuscripts and map-makers: manuscript maps before 1840 by Mary R. Ravenhill and Margery M. Rowe (Exeter: Devon and Cornwall Record Society, 2002).

Subject Keywords

Atlases, BritishBritish Isles -- MapsCartography -- England -- Devon -- History Devon (England) -- Maps -- History Exeter, Devon (England) -- Maps -- HistoryGreat Britain -- Maps

The University of Exeter traces its origins to schools and colleges established in the middle of the nineteenth century. For instance, the Great Exhibition of 1851 prompted the establishment of an Exeter School of Art (1855) and School of Science (1863), which in 1868 were housed in the Royal Albert Memorial Museum. In 1893 these became the Exeter Technical and University Extension College, with the support of the University of Cambridge. In 1900 its official title was changed to the Royal Albert Memorial College, which in trun became the University College of the South West in 1922. Finally, in 1955, the College received its Charter as the University of Exeter, and the University gradually transferred from its city centre site to the Streatham estate over a period of fifty years.

St Luke's College Exeter (formerly the Exeter Diocesan Training College, founded 1840), merged with the University in 1978, and in 1993 Camborne School of Mines (formerly Camborne Mining School, founded 1888) also merged with the University. More recently, the University founded the Penninsula Medical School in partnership with the University of Plymouth and the NHS, and a new Cornish campus has been established at Tremough to facilitate the activities of the new University of Exeter in Cornwall.

The University of Exeter Collection, created by the University Library, contains print publications that chart the history of the University from the late nineteenth century to the present day.

Extent - Over 22 shelves of various titles and periodical runs.

Custodial History - Created and maintained by the University Library.

Scope and Content:

Collection strengths - The collection charts the history of the University of Exeter, through official publications, like the University Calendar, and more ephemeral student publications, like rag magazines and the student newspapers. Amongst the earliest items in the collection is the first volume of The Students' Magazine, The Social Organ of the Exeter Technical and University Extension College (September 1888), which was reborn in 1906 as The Students' Magazine of the Royal Albert Memorial College. The collection also holds long runs of the student newspaper, The South Westerner, which is an excellent source of social and educational history in Exeter from 1938 to 1979.

Chronological emphasis - From the nineteenth to the twenty-first centuries.

Known gaps - The collection does not hold a full set of all past and present University publications. There are missing items in the newspaper and periodical runs and, in particular, the collection contains only a few sample issues of University prospectuses.

System of Arrangement - Arranged by title in date order.

Accruals - The collection is actively open, with regular new additions as key University publications emerge. The collection is also open to donations of historic print publications to help fill gaps in the collection.

Access Conditions - Usual EUL Special Collections arrangements apply. See also related publications below.

Reproduction Conditions - Usual EUL Special Collections arrangements apply.

Finding Aids - The collection is partially catalogued and entries are gradually being added to the University Library's online catalogue. Entries can be found by following this link.

Language - English.

Physical Characteristics - Some items in this collection are fragile and require careful handling. Restrictions on photocopying may apply.

Related Publications - See B.W. Clapp's The University of Exeter: A History (1982), copies of which are available in the Library's loan collections and in the Special Collections Reading Room. There are also a few small archival collections relating to the history of the University held in Special Collections and there is a photographic archive of the University managed within the Fine Arts Collection. The main sequence of the historic archive records of the University are held on deposit at the Devon Record Office. Enquiries should be referred to Special Collections in the first instance.

Subject Keywords

University of Exeter -- HistoryEducation -- Great Britain -- History