Mary, Viscountess Eccles

Mary Morley Crapo Hyde Eccles, Viscountess Eccles (8 July 1912 – 26 August 2003) was a book collector and author. She was renowned for establishing one of the biggest 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.

Eccles was born Mary Morley Crapo in Detroit, Michigan, United States in 1912. She attended Vassar College in New York State where she became friends with novelist Mary McCarthy. She later attended Columbia University where she undertook her PhD in English literature. The dissertation from her doctorate was later developed into a book, entitled Playwriting for Elizabethans.

In 1939 she married Donald Hyde, a New York City lawyer. The couple bought Samuel Johnson's silver teapot in 1941 and threw a tea party in its honour. Over the next 25 years, they became avid collectors of Johnson's belongings, including hundreds of his letters, several of his diaries and a collection of his poems.

Mary Hyde — as she was then known—bought Four Oaks Farm in Somerville, New Jersey in 1943. Here they bought up surrounding land and added a library to the property, filling the house with their Samuel Johnson collection. Hyde also published The Thrales of Streatham Park in honour of Mrs Thrale who had previously collected many of Johnson's belongings. During the following years, Hyde became well acquainted with many influential figures, including business tycoons, politicians and English . Among them was businessman Robert Borthwick Adam, from whom she purchased a portion of her collection.

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