A team from Collection Management has recently completed restoring and cataloguing The Guardian Archive Printed Collection. The majority of the collection, which accompanies the Guardian Archive, was gifted to the Library in 1971, with further books added. Many items originated from the Manchester Guardian Library in the offices of the Guardian newspaper (formerly the Manchester Guardian until 24 August 1959) which was based in Deansgate, Manchester.
The collection comprises of mainly 20th-century books with a handful of 19th-century items. It includes yearly publications, such as The Bedside Guardian; Guardian yearbook; Style book, and other publications by and/or about the Guardian, alongside fiction and non-fiction monographs by writers associated with the Guardian, such as Neville Cardus, Allan Monkhouse, C.E. Montague, Harold Brighouse, H. W. Nevison and Arthur Ransome. These items reflect the interests of the journalists and compliment our Railway Collections and the Brockbank Cricket Collection.
Many of the items contain interesting provenance information, such as book labels, bookplates, perforated stamps, ink stamps, inscriptions, and location labels on the front covers. Whereas some provenance information relates to the Manchester Guardian Library, others relate to former individual and institutional owners: several of the books have been withdrawn from public libraries around the country.
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