George Powell Collection

A collection of books, manuscripts and objets d'art donated and bequeathed by George Powell of Nanteos between 1879 and 1882. The collection includes approximately 2500 printed books with French and English literature, Icelandic, music and fine art being particularly fully covered; and around 300 volumes of nineteenth century printed music with particular emphasis on Romantic music and Wagner.
This was the first major collection received by the Library. Powell had intended to leave his books to the public Library but circumstances brought about a change of mind in favour of the University. Originally the collection numbered some 3000 volumes which at that time must have represented about half the Library stock.
Included in the collection is an eight volume set of Warburton’s edition of Shakespeare published in 1747. It was used by Samuel Johnson in the preparation of his dictionary and the pages are accordingly heavily marked and underlined. After belonging to a number of owners the set was bought by Powell in 1862 for £15.15.0. A microfilm copy of this work is available for anyone wishing to work on these volumes.
As well as printed books, the Powell Collection also includes a great deal of non-printed material which is housed in the University’s archives. This includes manuscripts, letters and artefacts. For more information, please visit the Archives Hub site