Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society Printed Books

Description

The book collection ranges widely over all the disciplines, especially scientific subjects, and does not confine itself to British research: there are, for example, many American and Canadian publications. A handful of works date from the 17th century, and some hundred from the 18th, the rest being spread fairly evenly over the decades between 1800 and 2000. A feature of the collection is its many long runs of journals and series. It is a useful resource for students of the history of science. The Zoology section includes a remarkable number of handbooks and catalogues of species. This sizeable collection complements the Library's holdings of LPLS manuscripts (the Society's minute-books, etc which date from its origins in the early 19th century).

Biography or history

The Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society was founded in 1819 and played an important role in further education, in both the sciences and the humanities, in Leeds throughout most of the 19th century. The changing patterns of higher education (the Yorkshire college was founded in 1874 and became the University of Leeds in 1904) and other circumstances were causing the Society to reconsider the scope of its activities by the time of the First World War; after the War the Society transferred its museum to the City of Leeds and its library to the University, and concentrated its efforts on publishing the results of research, launching in 1925 two series of Proceedings (Literary and historical and Scientific).


These regular publications are now discontinued, but the Society still sponsors occasional publications, and maintains the traditions of publishing annual reports on its activities. There is a full set of these reports in the University’s Special Collections, where the Society’s archive is now deposited so that it is publicly accessible.


The Society organises a programme of public lectures each year, across the full range of its interests in the sciences, arts and humanities, and awards grants to groups, societies, and individuals, focusing on those whose projects have a particular connection with Leeds.


A history of the Society, based on a study of its minute books, was written by Edwin Kitson Clark and published in 1924 under the title The History of 100 years of life of the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society.

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Access to this material is unrestricted.

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Collection guide: Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society Collections

A guide to the collections deposited by the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society in Special Collections.

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