Directory of Rare Book and Special Collections in the UK and Republic of Ireland

In an increasingly electronic age, the rare, the special and the unique in our libraries becomes all the more important and distinctive. The Directory has become established as a one-stop compendium of information on such material and a comprehensive update of Barry Bloomfield’s much respected 1997 edition is very welcome.

Consulting the invaluable Directory of Rare Book and Special Collections in the UK and Republic of Ireland is often a critical first stage in developing a worthwhile research project in the humanities. Its thoroughness and comprehensiveness serve both the scholar and librarian well.

Together, institutions in the UK and Ireland hold unrivalled special collections. From our great National Libraries, through university collections to the smaller collections of specialist societies, cathedrals, historic homes, and museums we have a centuries-old tradition of collecting, preserving and giving access. Scholars from around the world and across disciplinary differences rely on the treasures held by libraries listed in the Directory to pursue their research and help us make sense of the world in which we live.

The new edition of the Directory of Rare Book and Special Collections is a long-awaited reference work which will help researchers identify the UK and Republic of Ireland’s great collections of research materials. It provides detailed and authoritative information and is a must for all serious researchers.

To dedicated bibliographers, the present edition will make excellent bedtime reading;there are plenty of out-of-the-way collections to discover … congratulations are in order to the Group, the publisher, and, above all, to the editor for a well accomplished job.

The new Directory lists 873 libraries, summarising their holdings of pre-1900 imprints with references to key sources of further information. Historical researchers of all kinds can quarry this to find out where large and small libraries are located and how relevant they may be; where collections with particular strengths in folklore, or Napoleon, or playbills, or anything else, can be found (the index of subjects runs to fourteen pages); and what is, and is not, discoverable online.

…reveals the treasures to be found in the rare books and special collections in the UK and the Republic of Ireland…Attar’s organizational achievement is phenomenal…Internet links are ephemeral and dependent on those who host them; this printed book gives us some guarantee of permanence.

The endless work of the ‘harmless drudge,’ the editor, and that of her team cannot be underestimated;producing a reference work of this nature is a labour of love and inevitably the resulting information will vary depending on information supplied and available. Researchers will be glad of this work and it will indeed help those needing to know where to find their research material.

Karen Attar is the Rare Books Librarian at Senate House Library and a Research Fellow of the Institute of English Studies, both of the University of London. She has published widely on library history and aspects of special collections, is the reviews editor for Library & Information History, and in 2012 edited the treasures volume Senate House Library, University of London.

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