Welcome to Chetham's Library

Reasons to be cheerful:
Chetham's Library's new exhibition is almost upon us.

Chetham's Library was founded in 1653 and is the oldest public library in the English-speaking world.
It is an independent charity and remains open to readers and visitors free of charge.
Please follow the links below to find out more.
If you would like to visit the Library or come to read, please contact us.

Chetham's Library hosted the National Photography Symposium, organised by Redeye over the weekend of 20/21 June 2009. You can see some information about the event and some interviews at this Vimeo page.

Here are links to the Royal Exchange Theatre Costume department photoshoot by Darby Sawchuk and his other photos of the Library, and to photographer Rachel Liggett's recent shoot in the library.

The Library currently has two AHRC-funded postgraduates at work on its collections: Joel Swann of the University of Keele and Matthew Yeo of the University of Manchester.

You can still see the whole of the famous Axon collection of 19th-century ballads online here!
Wondering what happened to the last pictorial exhibit? You can still click here to see our collection of photographs of Manchester's old halls.

Help Chetham's Library: buy one of our facsimile reprints!

Chetham's Library appeal was generously supported by

Last update: 14 January 2010

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