[Printed book.] Rules and Catalogue of Books of the North Eastern Railway (Northern Division) Literary Institute [Newcastle-upon-Tyne].

Author: 
[North Eastern Railway (Northern Division) Literary Institute, Newcastle-upon-Tyne; Thomas Elliot Harrison (1808-1888), civil engineer, designer of the Jarrow and Hartlepool Docks; lending libraries]
Rules and Catalogue of Books of the North Eastern Railway
Publication details: 
Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Printed by Michael Benson, No. 57, Side. 1870.
£350.00
SKU: 10800

12mo, 10 + 67 pp. In original purple morroco binding, with 'PRESENTED TO | T. E. HARRISON, ESQ., | VICE-PRESIDENT.' stamped on the front cover in gilt. A tight copy, in fair condition, on aged paper, with front endpapers sprung, and in a worn binding. Vignette woodcut on title-page, showing man working beside track as locomotive goes past. The names of the Institute's officers (including Harrison as one of the eight Vice-Presidents) are on p.3, p.4 carries a notice, and pp.5-10 the thirty-four 'Rules, &c.' Rule 2 reads: 'The object of the Institute is to promote the diffusion of scientific, useful, and general knowledge, amongst the officers, clerks, and other servants of the Company, by means of a library, reading room (which shall be supplied with newspapers and periodicals), lectures, and classes.' The catalogue is paginated 1-67, and lists around 3800 titles in alphabetical order, from 'Abbotsford and Newstead' by Irving, to 'Zoe's Brand, 3 vols.' Harrison, who had a home at Whitburn, worked with Robert Stephenson on the High Level Bridge at Newcastle, and when Stephenson retired as railway engineer, took over as engineer-in-chief of the York-Newcastle-Berwick line. Excessively scarce: no copy in the British Library or on WorldCat, and the only copy on COPAC at York Minster.