Mary Eccles, Viscountess Eccles

Mary Morley Eccles, Viscountess Eccles (8 July 1912 – 26 August 2003) was a book collector and author. She was renowned for establishing one of the largest private collections of 18th century literature with her first husband, Donald Hyde (1909-1966). This includes works from Samuel Johnson and James Boswell. She also created an Oscar Wilde Collection which was bequeathed to the British Library in 2003. Her second marriage (in 1984) was to the British peer, David Eccles, 1st Viscount Eccles, with whom she co-founded the Eccles Centre for American Studies at the British Library in 1992. rdf:langString