Items listed on this page are normally on display in the Sir John Ritblat Gallery: Treasures of the British Library at St Pancras, London.
You can find out more about selected items online. You can also check opening times and get an overview of what the gallery contains.
- Byzantine 14th/15th century map, with zodiacal signs and wind-heads
Add. MS 19391 ff. 17v - 18 - Portolan chart showing the Mediterranean & European coasts. 1339
Add. MS 25691 - 1546 map of the British Isles. George Lily, England
Maps *1080.(50) - European printed travel map to aid pilgrims by Erhard Etzlaub (c.1460 - 1532)
Maps C.2.a.7.(2) - Printed star chart produced by Albrecht Durer in Nuremberg, 1515.
Maps*20 (75) - Map of London before and after the Great Fire of 1666. Wenceslaus Hollar.
Maps K.Top 21.36.a - Thomas Smith of Derby (c.1720 - 67) etching showing the River Dove
Maps K.Top.11.19.b - Aquatint showing the ruins of Ludlow castle by Paul Sandby (1731 - 1809)
K.Top.36.15.e - Watercolour - Lewes, Sussex by Samuel Hieronymous Grimm, 1785
Add. MS 5672.f. 7 - Drawing for the first edition Ordnance Survey map of Exeter. 1801
Maps OSD 40.(3)
Michaelangelo & Durer
- Michaelangelo drawing
Add.21907 f.1 - Durer manuscript
Add.5228 ff.123v-124 - Durer printed book
C.119.h.7
Leonard da Vinci
- Leonardo drawing
Arundel 263 ff.270v-263 - Leonardo drawing
Arundel 263 f.33 - Leonardo drawing
Arundel 263 ff269v, 264v
Historical Documents
- Album of Maud Arncliffe Sennet; bills for hammers.
C.121.g.1, vol 15, p.74 - T.E.Lawrence letter 1917
Add.MS 45915 f.59 - Letter from Keith Murdoch to Lord Northcliffe
Add.MS 62179 ff. 189 & 193 - Winston Churchill to Lord Robert Cecil 1944
Add.MS 51073 ff. 186-187 - Diary of James Chuter-Ede 1945
Add. MS 59701 ff.24-25 - George III's speech to parliament 1761
Add.MS 32684 f.121 - Drawing of Joseph Banks by Tuapaia 1770
Add.MS 15508 - Letter from Napoleon to his brother Joseph 1798
Add.MS 23003 ff.2v-3 - Darwin to Collingwood 1861
Add.37725 ff.6-9 - Oliver Cromwell letter. The Wexford Massacre
Egerton 2620 f.7 - Designs by John Evelyn for the arms of the Royal Society
Add.MS 78344 f.114 - Death warrant for the Earl of Essex 1601
Loan 34 - Newton letter 1693. Newton's nervous breakdown.
Add.MS 70951 f.294 - Prince Henry letter 1506
Add.MS 21404 f.9 - Edward VI translation from French 1548
Add.MS 9000 f.1 - Princess Mary letter to Lord Admiral Seymour
Landsdown MS 1236 f.26 - Princess Elizabeth letter to Edward VI
Harley 6986 f.26 - Prayer book of Princess Elizabeth 1545
Royal 7.D.x. - Lady Jane Grey's Prayer Book. London, 1539
Harley 2342 ff.74v-75 - Peasants' Revolt 15th century
Royal 18 E.I f.175 - Fall of Richard II. Cretons History of Richard II c.1400
Harley 1319 ff.53v - 54 - Early English Charter AD 679
Cotton Augustus II.2 - Anglo Saxon Chronicle 9th century
Cotton Tiberius B I ff.127v - 128 - New Minster Charter AD 964
Cotton Vespasian A.viii ff.2v - 3 - New Minster Liber Vitae 11th century
Stowe 944 ff.28v - 29 - Henry II charter c.1155
Stowe Charter 44 - Matthew Paris 13th century
Royal 14.C.vii ff.138v - 139
Magna Carta
- Articles of the Barons. 1215
Add. MS 4838 - Burnt Magna Carta. 1215
Cotton Charter XIII.31a - Magna Carta.1215
Cotton MS Augustus II.106 - Papal Bull of Pope Innocent III. 1215
Cotton Cleopatra E.I ff 155-156 - Revised Magna Carta. 1225
Add MS 46144