Previously, the Library housed a printing room, with working presses, which operated as a small publisher under the imprint 'Eagle Press'. The Eagle Press Collection contains facsimile reprints of printing manuals dating from the 18th and 19th centuries, together with the press' publications.

The Fletcher Collection of books bequeathed by Professor G.B.A. Fletcher (1903-1995) of the Department of Classics, contains antiquarian editions of classical texts, written in Latin, Ancient Greek and in English translations.

Recognised authors, such as Livy, Cicero, Terence, Virgil, Aeschylus, Tacitus and Sophocles are all represented. Some of the books were produced by the early printing houses, the Aldine and Elzevier presses.

The Friends Collection has been built-up through purchases with funds from the Friends of the Library. It contains such rare books as Robert Boyle's Tracts: containing I. Suspicions about some hidden qualities of the air … (1674), J. Dryden's Albion and Albanius (1691), Some considerations on the consequences of the French settling colonies on the Mississippi: with respect to the trade and safety of the English plantations in America and the West-Indies (1720), various pamphlets by Thomas Paine and Edmund Burke, Newcastle songsters and other local material such as Report of the Orphan-House Sunday-School, Newcastle upon Tyne (1815-16). English literature is a particular strength of the collection.

Although George Gibson (1800-1850) was a farm steward to Sir M.W. Ridley, Blagdon, Northumberland, the Gibson Papers are really a literary archive, with some material which may be considered pertinent to the history of education in Gibson's ciphering book (1804) - mathematical problems, solutions and rules; a poem; information about weights, measures and the value of money as well as his many doodles. There are many short poems, such as An address to a mouse that I turned up with the plough on 2nd January 1819, Reflections on hearing the clock strike five and Farewell address to my ink bottle as well as a long poem about the difficult slaughter of a sow which was too heavy to lift, some ecclesiastical poetry, a long, anti-Catholic poem on education in Ireland and some correspondence.

The collection features 37 early 20th century first editions of short stories and novels by writer and activist Eleanor Luisa Haverfield: most are signed first editions and bear presentation inscriptions, very often addressed either to the author’s sister Dorothy or to other women.

The Library of Heversham Grammar School in Westmorland. The Library was intended for the use of neighbouring clergy as well as for the masters and pupils of the School, and books were also given by local gentry and former pupils. Two MSS. Catalogues, compiled abound 1800, show that the Library then consisted of 600 volumes, of which about 450 survive. The collection consists mainly of editions of classical or theological authors, with approximately half of the volumes having been printed before 1700 and a few before 1600.