The strength of the Library's collection of modern British Irish books lies in the sheer variety of books and periodicals received by the Library by legal deposit and supplemented by donation and purchase. The collection dates from 1915 to the present day and is estimated to number over 3.5M and over 8M periodical issues, as well as a growing number of digital publications. All subjects are collected for what is the largest collection of its kind in the world. Curatorial responsibility is provided by the Modern British Collections section. In addition, the Library purchases copies of many UK items to support inter-library loans and document supply. These are available through the Document Supply service.
The Library also collects publications from the Channel Islands, The Isle of Man, the Republic of Ireland, and British Overseas Territories, such as Gibraltar. Individual items can be located using the British Library catalogues.
Special Collections
The following select list of Modern British collections complements the legal deposit collections:
Lawrence Durrell Collection
Fine Presses, Artists Books, and Book Arts
Ted Hughes Collection
George Orwell Pamphlet Collection
John Osborne Collection
Web Collections
Writers Forum Collection
See also: Named Collections of Printed Materials
