Religions and Theology: Special Collections

The Library’s Special Collections provide a rich resource for the study of Religions and Theology at the University of Manchester.

Our collections cover areas as diverse as ancient Greek papyri and letters of twentieth-century Christian missionaries.

This guide will identify collection strengths and help you access the most relevant material.

The Library's Special Collections in the field of Religions and Theology are of international significance and support most areas of current teaching and research activity. They typically cross many thematic lines, often within the same collection, and for that reason defy easy categorisation. The collections comprise material for the study of Christianity in its broadest context. Individual rare books and manuscripts include the St John Fragment and a complete Gutenberg Bible. There are superb collections of bibles,devotional works including medieval Books of Hours, and hymn books.

The Library also holds significant and detailed records of British Protestant Nonconformity and Evangelicalism. There are also several collections that are non-denominational or ecumenical in nature, such as the twentieth-century archives of the William Temple Foundation and of the Industrial Mission.

Jewish, Near Eastern and Oriental Studies are also very well represented within the Library's holdings.

For more information on 'Religions and Theology in the Middle East', including our Arabic and Persian manuscripts and our Genizah Collectionm see Middle Eastern Studies (Special Collections) LibGuides.

The Library has a superb Bibles collection, covering a vast range of ancient original and modern vernacular languages and translations, as well as bible commenataries. 

The Library holds a significant collection of sixteenth-century Reformation tracts including Martin Luther's Disputatio or Ninety-Five Theses, printed at Wittenberg, 1517, and Henry VIII's inscribed first 1521 edition of his; Assertio Septem Sacramentorum', a blast against Martin Luther, as well as numerous devotional works including lavishly illustrated medieval Books of Hours.

The Library also holds significant and detailed records of British Protestant Nonconformity and Evangelicalism including the Baptists, Congregationalists, Unitarians, Moravians, Quakers, Christian Brethren and Methodists.

The Library's Methodist Archives Research Centre constitutes the largest collection in the world for the study of the eighteenth-century British and North American Evangelical Revival and of Methodism from its origins to the present day, with worldwide coverage.

You can browse many images from our Methodist and Nonconformist collections through the Library's digital Image collections.

The Library has several hymn book and hymnody holdings including the Rylands and Percy Hymn book collections, Methodist and Moravian hymns.

The history and literature of Islam is well represented in our collections, particularly in the substantial collection of Arabic manuscripts which contains Qur'anic manuscripts from the 8th century CE onwards, many commentaries and other theological texts, and a smaller number of documentary sources. Theological texts can also be found in other manuscript groups, particularly the Turkish and Persian manuscripts.

Christianity in the Middle East is also very well represented in our manuscript and papyri collections. The papyri, largely of Egyptian origin, include the earliest known fragments of the New Testament and Greek Old Testament, a substantial number of other important canonical and non-canonical texts. The writings of Christian communities in the Middle East and North Africa can be found in a number of our manuscript collections, particularly Coptic, Syriac, Arabic, Ethiopian and Armenian.

 Also originating in Egypt is our Genizah Collection, containing thousands of fragments relating to Jewish faith, culture and history from the 10th century to the nineteenth century. In addition to this we hold important collections of Samaritan and Hebrew manuscripts and amulets. The Library holds Hebrew incunabula and early Bibles printed in Hebrew, including a copy of the first portion of the Hebrew Bible to be printed in 1477. The Marmorstein and Teltscher collections are rich in classical rabbinic texts and in East European responsa. The Jewish enlightenment is represented in the Haskalah Collection, while the Teltscher Archive deals with Judaism, Jewish history and the practice of Judaism.

Other religions in the region are also represented to a lesser extent, particularly Zoroastrianism in our Persian and Parsi manuscripts.

What are Special Collections?

The University of Manchester Library holds one of the finest collections of rare books, manuscripts, archives and visual collections in the world. These collections are mainly concentrated in the magnificent building on Deansgate, The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, in the centre of Manchester. They are also housed in the Main Library on the University campus and at the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah RACE Centre, in Manchester Central Library. This resource introduces the different types of materials found in Special Collections and explains how they can be used to support your studies. For general tips on accessing digital and physical collections and visiting our reading room please look at our other Medium resources.

You are welcome to make use of Special Collections in your learning and research.

Due to the special nature of the material, we provide access in a controlled environment and there are some restrictions on use and access, particularly for fragile material or modern archives which may contain sensitive data.

Please read our guidance pages on the web for details.

The Library also holds significant and detailed records of British Protestant Nonconformity and Evangelicalism including the Baptists, Congregationalists, Unitarians, Moravians,

 Quakers, Christian Brethren and Methodists.

The Library's Methodist Archives Research Centre constitutes the largest collection in the world for the study of the eighteenth-century British and North American Evangelical Revival and of Methodism from its origins to the present day, with worldwide coverage.