Significant Bequests

All items in the following collections are added to Primo - the Library Catalogue.

John Challinor Collection

John Challinor, formerly a senior lecturer in the Department of Geology, donated a large number of books to the Library over the years and finally, in 1988, gave his personal collection of books on geology, topography and natural history to the Library. Many of the books are of antiquarian interest or are classics in their subjects. The books are not shelved together but all have a Challinor bookplate.

Swinburne Collection

This was formally inaugurated in 1970, when a number of early editions of A. C. Swinburne’s works, including some volumes which Swinburne gave to George Powell, were placed in the Rare Books Room. Since then the collection has been expanded to include both early and more recently finely-printed editions of Swinburne's works and now numbers about 100 volumes.

Ken Robertson Collection

Dr Ken Robertson, formerly the Director of Studies at the University of Reading's Graduate School of European and International Studies, donated a substantial collection of books and periodicals in the fields of intelligence and terrorism studies. The books are not shelved together but all have a K. G. Robertson bookplate.

J. B. Willans Collection

Willans was a member of the University Court and Council and donated books to the Library over a period of fifty years. His major gift was a donation of over 300 volumes from the library of Francis Nicholson, an eminent ornithologist.

Raymond Durgnat Collection

An eminent film critic has bequeathed books and periodicals from his personal collection  to the Theatre, Film & Television Studies Department. These items are not shelved together but all have a Raymond Durgnat bookplate.

Duff Pamphlet Collection

Approximately 1000 pamphlets published in the nineteenth and early twentieth century on Greek and Latin authors collected and presented to the library by Arnold Duff, a senior lecturer in the Department of Classics until his retirement in 1968.

The John Camden Hotten Collection

Approximately 150 volumes published by Hotten between 1856 and his death in 1873 when the business was acquired by Chatto & Windus. Both the Powell and Swinburne collections include some of Hotten's publications and since 1971 the Library has been able to add regularly to the collection which now numbers approximately 150 volumes.

Richard Brinkley Collection

For many years a scholar librarian in the Humanities in the  Aberystwyth University Library, avid bibliophile and a lay preacher, Richard Brinkley’s bequest consists of a range of material in ecclesiastical history and religion.