@article{bibcite_7839,
  author = {Tony Kitto},
  title = {The Towneley Family Library},
  abstract = {<p>To most people the name {\textquoteright}Towneley{\textquoteright} conjures up the figure of Charles Towneley, the great collector of the {\textquoteright}Towneley Marbles{\textquoteright}, the classical sculpture that now adorns the British Museum. Charles Towneley (1737-1805) was indeed a great collector, who bought a famous illuminated manuscript that also bears his name, but he was also a member of an ancient family that lived at Towneley Hall, Lancashire, for over 500 years until 1902, remaining, like most of their neighbours, resolutely Catholic after the Reformation. Over the years, successive Towneleys put together a remarkable collection of books, including another manuscript, perhaps even better known, the {\textquoteright}Towneley Mysteries{\textquoteright}, the texts of the miracle plays performed at Wakefield in medieval times. That collection is now largely dispersed, but not beyond retrieval. The books may be scattered all over the world, but Towneley Hall, now a local authority museum, is creating a {\textquoteright}virtual library{\textquoteright}, and my object is to alert libraries that now own the books to what they have, and to encourage them to send details of them to their former home.</p>},
  year = {2010},
  journal = {Book Collector},
  volume = {59},
  pages = {399-414},
  language = {English},
}