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.
- Herbal in Latin. 15th century, from Lombardy
Sloane 4016, ff. 29v - 30 - A 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 an 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 volume 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