Special Collections & Archives: Joseph Mayer Collections

Joseph Mayer collections

Part of the collections acquired by Joseph Mayer (1803-1886), and given to the City of Liverpool in 1867 (now held at the Walker Art Gallery, part of National Museums Liverpool) and the civic library founded by Mayer in Bebington.

Joseph Mayer Medieval Manuscripts

All but one of the medieval manuscripts in the Walker Art Gallery were part of the Mayer gift. The Mayer manuscripts were deposited with the University of Liverpool in 1947-1948, but those listed below have been subsequently returned to the Walker Art Gallery. Amongst the Mayer manuscripts which are held in Special Collections & Archives are MS 8951, the textually important early thirteenth century Parzival fragments, formerly used as paste-downs in the binding of M12004.
The complete list of Western Medieval Mayer MSS on deposit at the University Library is:
M12000, M12008, M12012, M12016, M12026-12027, M12032-12039, M12046-12048, M12050, M12055, M12068-12071, M12107.
Full descriptions of these are in Ker, Medieval Manuscripts in British Libraries.

Medieval and Renaissance Mayer MSS housed at National Museums Liverpool: 
M12001; M12004; M12006; M12009; M12010; M12017; M12020; M12022; M12023; M12024; M12025; M12028; M12108.

Joseph Mayer Free Library books

More than 400 volumes, formerly part of the Free Library established by Joseph Mayer at Bebington, were temporarily housed in Special Collections; these have been returned to Bebington Central Library as part of a project to restore and secure Mayer's legacy to the town.

Later Joseph Mayer material

• post-medieval Western MSS and deeds: M007, M12011, M12041, M12043, M12045, M12054, M12094; (in accession date order: M31.70.1-2, M04.11.79.1, M19.5.81.1, M26.5.81.1, M20.9.83.37, M25.7.89.6, M04.7.89.1-7, M24.3.06.1; printed volumes: M12012(3), M12015, and M12040; pictorial: M12003, M03.10.81.1-6.
• 18c. Irish MSS: M12029, M12051-52, M12065, M12075-12076, M12079, M12095.
• Ethiopic MSS: M24.9.68.1, M19.11.68.1, M13.3.69.1, M25.10.88.1, M20.10.70.1
• Arabic MSS: M12021, M12086-87, M12091, M12096, M12101, M15.10.09.57; printed: M12089; pictorial: M20.9.83.36
• Burmese: M12056-57, M12059, M12061, M12062, M12105, M0.0.47.53, M11.9.73.1
• Chinese: M12080
• Greek: M12053
• Hebrew: M12018, M12044, M12067, M12074
• Hindi: M11.8.76.6, M11.8.76.9, M05.1.82.2; pictorial: M22.6.72.1
• Persian: M12066, M12073, M12078, M12082-85, M12088, M12090, M12092, M12093, M12097-12100, M12102, M05.1.82.2; printed: M12072
• Russian: printed: M28.1.76.2
• Samaritan: M12005, M12007
• Sinhalese: M12060, M31.12.69.1
• Slavonic: M28.1.76.1
• Tamil: M31.12.69.2
• Urdu: M 12081, M11.8.76

Finding and using

• N.R. Ker, Medieval Manuscripts in British Libraries vol. III Lampeter-Oxford (Oxford, 1983).
• Medieval and Early Renaissance Treasures in the North-West (Exhibition catalogue, 1976).
• Medieval Manuscripts on Merseyside (Exhibition catalogue, 1993).
• The full range of the Joseph Mayer collections is described in: Joseph Mayer of Liverpool, 1803-1886, edited by Margaret Gibson and Susan M. Wright (London, 1988).