Special Collections holds more than 50,000 books across several rare book collections. You can identify books in our collections by searching the University of Exeter Library catalogue using key words, names or subjects.
The Chris Brooks Collection, John Betjeman's Library, the Baring-Gould Library and the Hypatia Collection are particularly strong in 19th and early 20th century books and periodicals.
The books held at by Special Collections are available for everyone - students, staff and members of the public - to access in our reading room.
Click the next tab in this box or a list of book collections and information on how to search the library catalogue
Baring-Gould Library A collection of approximately 3,000 books, the majority of which were collected by Sabine Baring-Gould (1834-1924), and include many of his own works. The Library includes books written in a variety of languages and on many different subjects, including literature, history, theology folklore, fairy tales, religion, music, art, architecture, geography and natural history. The earliest book dates to 1534 and the most recent to 1975, but the majority of books in the collection were printed in the 19th and early 20th century.
John Betjeman's Library The working library of the poet and architectural historian Sir John Betjeman (1906-1984) contains more than 4,000 printed books and pamphlets from the eighteenth to the twentieth century. The collection 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.
Blackmore Collection A set of 21 printed pamphlets of editions and transcriptions of R D (Richard Dodderidge) Blackmore's works, donated to the University of Exeter Library by R D Blackmore's relative, David Blackmore in 2018.
Chris Brooks Collection A collection formed by Professor Chris Brooks (1949-2002), one of Britain's leading cultural historians of the Victorian period. His library was donated to the University Library in 2002. The collection supports a wide range within the field of Victorian culture and adult and juvenile fiction of the Victorian and Edwardian period forms a major emphasis in the collection. The Periodical collection contains a complete set of Punch, 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.
Lois Deacon Collection A collection of 224 books and pamphlets collected by Lois Deacon, author and writer on Thomas Hardy. The strengths of the Lois Deacon collection lie in her lifelong interest in Thomas Hardy and his home county of Dorset. The collection is rich in archival content with a number of books having been heavily annotated by Deacon and it includes correspondence with publishers and fellow Hardy critics. Of particular research value is a collection of Pocket editions of Hardy’s works which were published by Macmillan in the 1920s. These have been heavily annotated by Deacon and contain a number of letters, postcards and memos.
Edmund Collection of Local 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.
Exeter Law Society Collection The collection formed part of the Exeter Law Library, founded 1833, and was deposited in the University Library by the Exeter Law Library Society in 1990. The collection comprises 122 books dating from 1588 to 1906.The collection is strongest in its support of study into the history of English law. It contains books, statutes, and law reports, including Ashby and White’s The Great Question (1705), Sir Matthew Hale’s The History of Common Law (1779), 4th Ed., and F. Const’s The Laws Relating to the Poor (1800, 1807).
Hypatia Collection The Hypatia collection exclusively consists of approximately 10,000 books and journals by or about women. The books and journals date chiefly from the late 19th to late 20th century. 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.
You can also search the collection by subject. The books in the Hypatia Collection are shelved alphabetically within the following subject sequences and classmarks (click on the links to search the collection according to the subject sequences):
Nursing Ethics Heritage Collection The collection comprises almost 500 books, periodicals and articles, including works dating from 1888 to editions of ‘Nursing Ethics: An International Journal for Health Care Professionals’ published as recently as 2017. Many of the books contain the names of former owners inscribed within, as well as annotations and underlined words in the text, highlighting their importance in shaping the study and work of nurses. Though predominantly consisting of English-language works, the collection also includes texts in Italian, Dutch, Hungarian, Russian and Japanese.
Manuscripts and Book Collections relating to members of the Powys family The core of the Collection is based around the works of John Cowper Powys (1872-1963), Theodore Francis Powys (1875-1953) and Llewelyn Powys (1884-1939) and their immediate circle of family and friends.
Reserve Collection of post-1700 rare books 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 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.
Society of Friends Collection The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) have been active in Exeter since the late 1650s, with a Meeting House first constructed in 1691. The collection comprises 129 items and represents what is believed to be part of a monthly meeting library and was transferred from the Quaker Meeting House in Exeter. The collection is focused upon Quaker history, and contains a number of biographies, memoirs, journals alongside a small number of Christian commentaries and books relating to personal religion. Included within the collection is the Friends Library. These 14 volumes were published in Philadelphia between 1837-50 and contain articles on Quaker life, memoirs and scholarly thought.
University Collection This collection charts the history of the University of Exeter through official publications, such as the University Calendar, and more ephemeral student publications, such as student magazines and 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). 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.
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