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.
- Leonardo da Vinci - studies of mechanics Arundel MS 263, folios 67v-66
- Leonardo da Vinci - notes on arithmetic Arundel MS 263, folio 153v
- Leonardo da Vinci - notes on architecture Arundel MS 263, folios 157v - 158
- Galileo Galilei's first scientific publication, Sidereus Nuncius, 1610 C.112.c.3
- The Dunhuang Star Chart (602 - 670) OR. 8210
- Diary of Robert Hooke, 1688, containing notes from Royal Society meetings. Sloane 4024 ff. 3v - 4
- Herbal in Latin. 15th century, from Lombardy Sloane 4016, ff. 29v - 30
- A manuscript volume detailing the habits, breeding patterns and importance of insects. 1590 Sloane 741 & 4104 ff. 11v - 12
- Chinese botanical paintings, circa 1700 Add. MS 5292, ff. 422 - 424
- Manuscript volume containing the naturalist John Ray's sketches of fish. 1680s Add. MS 5308C ff. 5v - 6
- The Florilegium novum by Theodor de Bry - a flower book published in 1612 442.g.11
- Hans Sloane A Voyage to the Islands - contains perhaps the first account of 'drinking chocolate' 443 I 8-9
- Anton van Leeuwenhoek's (1632 - 1723) letters concerning the use of microscopes Sloane 4064 f. 240
- Chinese compilation giving the pharmaceutical uses for 1000 plants and 1000 animals. 1603 15251.e.2
- Joannes de Ketham - first illustrated medical book. Published in Venice in 1500 IB 21148