The John Rylands and Chetham's Libraries, Manchester, were both founded
by charitable local magnates and in the course of time have become well
known in many parts of the world. Housed in their striking original
premises, they both contain major collections of manuscripts which in
each case include important texts in Middle English prose. In
particular, the Rylands collection, which is the larger, has fifteen
copies of the Wycliffite Bible, six of the prose 'Brut', three of
Nicholas Love's 'Mirror of the Blessed Life of Jesu Christ