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| Name of Library: |
Roderic Bowen Library |
| Address: |
Library Services, University of Wales, Lampeter - College Street, Lampeter, |
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Founders' Library and
Archives |
| Purpose and main user community of the library |
| Academic - University of Wales, Lampeter: students, first degree and postgraduate; academic |
| Bona fide researchers external to the university are admitted with the permission of the curator; At present admission is by appointment only, please email or telephone in advance to arrange times and give details of items required. |
| Mon-Fri, 9.30 – 4.30, appointments arranged in advance please. |
| The Roderic Bowen Library is adjacent to the main library, there is a lift available from the main library to the Roderic Bowen Library |
| Exhibitions only, for which special loan conditions apply. |
| Periodicals - Back Issues |
| Manuscripts: 115 volumes, including some manuscript items bound in with printed material |
| Texts inscribed on palm leaves: 1 |
| Maps and nautical charts: 20 boxes |
| Archives: approx. 10 cubic metres |
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The main stock of religious studies is held in the Main University Library, though there are items relating to Islam and the Jewish faith, as well as the religions, language, culture and history of India, Burma, China, the Middle East (especially Persia), the Far East, and the Americas (especially Mexico), from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The theological stock includes printed books and manuscripts from c. 1250 relating to biblical studies (texts, languages, dictionaries, commentaries and monographs), philosophical theology and the philosophy of religion, ethics, moral and pastoral theology, systematic theology and polemics, homiletics and sermons, ecclesiastical history, liturgy, church music and architecture, drama and poetry. |
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Tract Collection: 11,500 individual pamphlets, including 9,000 collected by the Bowdler family between 1630 and 1789 and acquired after the death of Dr. Thomas Bowdler (1754-1825) author of the Family Shakespeare, c. 1827, in 850 vols. Foundation Collection: formed by Thomas Burgess (1756-1837), Founder of St David's College (1822), and Bishop of St David's (1803-25) and Salisbury (1825-37), including his personal library of c.8,000 vols. Phillips Collection (originally of 22,500 vols.) presented by Thomas Phillips (1760-1851) of Brunswick Square London, between 1834 and 1851. Isaac Williams Collection: 215 vols. Dated between 1633 and 1865, from the library of the poet and Tractarian theologian, Isaac Williams (1802-65), presented by members of his family in 1957 and 1970. Harford Collection: 190 vols. Including 17th to early 19th centruy theology and church history from the library of the Harford family of Blaise Castle, near Bristol, presented by Sir George Arthur Harford, Visitor of the College, in 1951 and 1962.Cenarth Collection: approx. 450 cols. Formed by David Henry Davies (1828-1910), vicar of Cenarth, and acquired in 1904, consisting of Welsh religious literature, history and antiquities,
Bibles, Prayer Books, hymns, ballads, sermons, catechisms, pamphlets and translations of
religious classics.
Ystrad Meurig Collection: about 600 items from the former parochial and school library of St John's
College (1757-1974) founded by Edward Richard (1714-77) (of whose library about 320 books
survive), covering a wide range of subjects in the humanities and theology predominantly in
Latin and English from the 17th to 19th centuries.
Ellis Collection: about 4,000 mainly 19th century theological and philosphical books, formed by
Griffith Ellis (1844-1913), a Calvinisitc Methodist Minister from Corris, presented to the
Theological College, Aberystwyth, in 1914, to which were added books from the Theological
Colleges of the Presbyterian Church of Wales, at Bala and Trefeca. Transferred to Lampeter
on the closure of the United Theological College, Aberystwyth, in 2002 and mostly held in the University Library. About 40 pre-1800 vols. are on deposit in the National Library of Wales, and a similar number are in the University Research Centre..
Archives: in addition to the University archives from 1827 and earlier papers relating to its
foundation by Thomas Burgess, the Archives hold the deposited papers of Alfred Edwin Morris
(1894-1971), Archbishop of Wales; Thomas Wood (1919-87), Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology;
Illtud Evans, OP (1913-72); and the Alister Hardy Archive of Religious Experience (1924-ongoing). |
| 8 medieval manuscripts from the mid-15th century to the early 16th century described in N.R. |
| Ker, Medieval Manuscripts in British Libraries, III (Oxford, 1983). |
| 43 volumes of the Bowdler pamphlet collection containing mainly early-18th centruy material |
| bound in with printed pamphlets. |
| Historical theology and ecclesiastical history: - |
| The revival of biblical and patristic scholarship in the Renaissance and reformation period; |
| 17th and 18th century theological and polemical pamphlets, particularly relating to affairs of |
| Church and State (1688-1714) and including over 530 tracts relating the the Nonjurors; |
| Sermons, domestic piety, spiritual writing and religious education from the 17th to the early |
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19th century, donated
by Thomas Burgess and local clergy in South West Wales. |
| Welsh religious writing from the 17th to the 19th Century. |
| Pamphlet material (often annotated0 on the theological controversies of the late 18th and early |
| 19th century relating to Unitarianism and Catholic emancipation, mainly from the library of |
| Bishop Thomas Burgess (1756-1837), an active participant in both. |
| Computer; Card: Ellis Collection |
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No
photocopying of bund volumes or fragile items permitted. Digital images of material can be taken by staff (please enquire about prices) |
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