Library | History and Holdings

Currently, the holdings comprise over 60,000 titles, a number which continues to increase through frequent acquisitions.

The acquisitions ensure that the breadth of the Library collection is maintained in the areas of new publications and historical source material. There are books on the organ (its history, construction, and repertoire), acoustics, architecture, technical textbooks, studies of composers, books on music history, and related subjects. There is an enviably comprehensive collection of music for organ solo, multiple organs, and organ(s) with other instruments (together with selected performance material) in historic original editions, facsimiles, and contemporary publications, besides a large collection of vocal music both sacred and secular from Dufay to the present day. The recordings range from vintage 78s to CDs,* and the holdings on microfilm include access to some of the College's most valuable manuscripts presently on loan to the British Library. The College Library is also a repository for a number of significant collections, including the Parratt Papers, the Sowerbutts Collection, the Dalton Bequest, the Cruden Collection, and the Aprahamian Collection. The College is now the custodian of the Susi Jeans Archive (formerly at the University of Reading ) and the Organ Club Library. In 1994 the Library, its history and development, was the subject of a study by the then Librarian, Robin Langley, in the Royal College of Organists Journal, a copy of which may be downloaded >here .

* At this time it will not be possible to listen to sound recordings onsite (CDs may be borrowed however).