Canadian collection

Among the highlights of the Canadian collections at the Library are some of the earliest works published in Canada, as well as: 

• Rare early documents of European exploration and colonisation of Canada
• A substantial collection of printed books, photographs, and ephemera received through colonial legal deposit between 1895–1923
• Excellent holdings of both early and contemporary literature, in English and French
• Works in the languages of Canada’s First Nations.

Early Canadiana

• The Library’s rich collection of named papers and correspondence relevant to colonial Canada includes those of Frederick Haldimand, Henry Herbert Carnarvon, William Wyndham Grenville (the ‘Dropmore Papers’) and Frederick Mackenzie. 
• Significant early maps include the ‘Red-lined Map’ or ‘King George Map’ (K.Top.118.49.b) depicting Britain’s vision of its North American territories as it negotiated the Treaty of Paris in 1783, and two ‘Murray Maps’ – enormous hand-drawn maps of the St Lawrence Valley created by Britain after capturing Montreal from the French in 1760
• Among more than 500 Canadian newspapers are the bilingual Québec and Montréal Gazettes of the mid-18th century and the Ottawa Daily Citizen from 1800 
• Early Canadian books and periodicals are augmented by over 57,000 items in the Pre-1900 Canadiana microfiche set (Mic.f.232.) which includes some of the key documents in early Canadian history relating to: 
  • The search for a Northwest Passage
  • The affairs of the Hudson’s Bay Company
  • The formative development of the Canadian Constitution leading to the Constitutional Act of 1791
  • The passage of the British North America Act in 1867 which divided Canadian authority into Federal and Provincial powers.

Canadian colonial copyright collections

An 1895 amendment to the Canadian Copyright Act means that our collection of Canadian books, periodicals, maps, sheet music, city and area directories, photographs, insurance plans and ephemera is particularly extensive between 1895–1923. Subsequent fires at Canada’s Library of Parliament in Ottawa means that our collections are among the strongest for this period and offer a vital window into Canadian life and culture during the early-20th century.

20th century and beyond

Since 1924, our Canadian collection has been built through the regular selective purchase of currently published books and periodicals, the legal deposit of materials published in Canada and distributed in the UK, and retrospective purchasing from second-hand booksellers to fill earlier gaps in the collection. 

• Holdings are particularly strong in history, literature, and cultural studies
• Titles published in Francophone Canada are collected in parallel with English-language material
• Contemporary fine and small-press printing is well represented, with material from fine press publishers like Barbarian Press and Heavenly Monkey, as well as independant literary houses including Broken Jaw Press and Porcupine’s Quill
• Especially noteworthy are rare and limited editions of works by Margaret Atwood, including Double Persephone, published by Hawkshead Press – a small, private press – in 1961. Atwood was a student at this time and to keep the printing costs down, she handset the book herself, designed its cover using linoblocks, and only made 220 copies. The copies were sold for 50 cents apiece. She entered the work into the University of Toronto’s poetry competition and won the E. J. Pratt Medal, her first literary award.

Official publications

Since the 1880s Canadian Government publications have been received by international exchange and the British Library is a full depository for Federal publications.

Sound Archive

The British Library Sound Archive holds a fascinating array of literary and historical treasures, including rare recordings of prominent Canadians such as Marshall McLuhan, Pierre-Elliott Trudeau, Leonard Cohen and Margaret Atwood reading from their works.

Philatelic collections

The Library holds a comprehensive collection of Canadian postage and revenue stamps as well as air mail postal history from the mid-19th to the 20th century. It also includes some early paper money. 

First Nations language materials

In addition to contemporary writing by First Nations authors, we hold many historic works in Native North American languages including Cree, Lenape, Ojibwe and Mohawk. Finding these works can be challenging, however: the catalogue records are often brief, use only the form of language name given in the book itself, and may contain no subject indexing. For this reason, it may be appropriate to search the Library's catalogues against other bibliographic resources in your field of study.

Resources for your research

Electronic resources

The Library has hundreds of electronic resources and subscription databases to support your research. You can explore them in our Reading Rooms and access some of them on your own device, wherever you are.

There are also many free e-resources – including websites, full text databases, abstracting and indexing databases and other reference sources – that may be of help.

British Library Research Repository

The Eccles Institute's collection guides, along with other information relating to the work of the Institute, may be found on the British Library Research Repository.