A special celebration was held to commemorate the official transfer of the Talbot Collection to the Sheppard-Worlock Library.
Bishop of Lancaster the Right Reverend Michael Campbell OSA unveiled a plaque to recognise the permanent loan of the collection of 50,000 books.
The Talbot Collection was transferred to the Sheppard-Worlock Library in 2013, following the closure of the Talbot Library in Preston.
As well as a selection of very early printed books, the collection contains a complete set of Cardinal John Henry Newman’s works.
The Talbot Library was named after William Talbot, a wealthy Lancashire cotton manufacturer, who in 1849 provided the money with which the Jesuits built the first Catholic school and chapel in the Maudland area of Preston.
In 1988, the school was closed and Bishop John Brewer, then Bishop of Lancaster, established a Catholic library in the former school premises. Donations of books and journals came in from presbyteries and convents in the diocese, and the library was officially opened in 1992.
With the help of many significant donations, the Library grew in size to approximately 50,000 books, and became a major reference library of Catholic history, theology, and spirituality.