The Central Library holds several special collections. Items from these collections are available for reference use and can be accessed via the Information Centre at the Central Library. All items in the collections are included in the Leeds Library and Information Service online catalogue of stock.
The Gott bequest of early English gardening books
The Gott bequest is a collection of around 600 early English gardening books and periodicals including works published in the 16th ,17th and 18th centuries. The books in the collection include herbals, books on garden design and many fine examples of hand coloured botanical illustrations. There is also a long run of Curtis’s Botanical Magazine dating from 1787.
The collection originally belonged to Alderman Beryl Gott, of the local textile manufacturing family, and the books were deposited in the Central Library on her death in 1941.
The Porton collection of Judaica
The Porton Collection of Judaica has its roots in the volumes of Judaica originally housed in the Rabbi Moses Abrahams Memorial Library in Sheepscar, Leeds. The collection was added to over the years and presented to Leeds City Council along with Mr Joseph Porton’s Judaica collection in 1965, by Mr Porton’s son Leslie.
The collection covers all aspects of the religion and culture of the Jewish people and includes works in English, Hebrew and Yiddish, in all some 3,500 items. The collection is strong in theological works and religious texts, Jewish and Anglo-Jewish history and biography and also contains backfiles of the Jewish Yearbook, Jewish Chronicle and Jewish Gazette. Rare books, pamphlets and parts of journals, largely in Hebrew and Yiddish, and published in the nineteenth century, are a feature of the collection.
The Gascoigne collection of militaria
This collection was donated to the Library in 1968 by Sir Alvary Gascoigne, in memory of his father, Colonel F.R.T. Gascoigne, of Lotherton Hall, Leeds. There are over 3,000 items in the collection of books, pamphlets and periodicals, the majority covering the subjects of military and naval history.
The collection includes army and navy lists from the early nineteenth century and histories of regiments and is a rich source for researchers of 19th century military history.