In 1983, two University Professors looked slightly bemused as they scanned the shelves of the South Wales Miners' Library. One said to the other, 'Do miners read Dickens?' We seek to answer that question, and a little more besides. This special fortieth anniversary volume chronicles the origins of the Library out of the remnants of the magnificent Workmen's Institute libraries, once described as 'the brains of the Coalfield', and charts its development over time to becoming a unique research and lifelong learning centre.