What We Collect

Alston Collection

The Alston Collection was bought from the noted English linguistics scholar, Dr Robin Alston, in 1974. The collection was built up over 14 years by Dr Alston, sometime Senior Lecturer in Philology at the University of Leeds, founder of the Scolar Press and editor of English linguistics 1500-1800. He is the author of many publications including A Bibliography of the English language from the invention of printing to the year 1800.

Housed within the Library's Rare Books Collection, the Alston Collection comprises c.1,450 pre-1850 titles, and 700 later works (located in the General Collection); 60,000 catalogue entries relating to the subject made by Alston from enquiries on visits to European libraries and from correspondence with libraries in the rest of the world; complete xerox copies of linguistic works in European libraries which Alston had been unable to acquire for his collection during the fourteen years he had been collecting material; and a large collection of correspondence with libraries throughout the world on the subject of his collection. There are early encyclopaedias, dictionaries of various languages and subjects, elocution books, grammars and spelling books. Also included are some works by classical authors such as Cicero, Aristotle, Longinus and Quintilian.

The collection is related to the Library's Nichol Smith and Onions Collections.

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