Collection guides

Art History and Artists' Papers: Western Manuscrip...

Papers for the study of art history, and personal and professional papers of artists.

Datasets

Bibliographic datasets relating to our published and archival holdings.

Digitised printed books (16th–19th centuries) with...

British Library printed collection items digitised in partnership with Google Books

Drama and literature recordings

A unique collection of audio-visual recordings of drama, poetry and literature in performance

Evanion Collection

Victorian printed ephemera

How to find and use the British Library's IIIF ena...

This collection guide will enable you to find and use our digitised collection items that are IIIF enabled.

King George III Topographical and Maritime collect...

30–40,000 maps, plans and views, both printed and hand-drawn, of all parts of the world

King’s manuscripts

Medieval and post-medieval manuscripts and topographical material

LGBTQ+ histories: archives and manuscripts, 1600 t...

Archives and manuscripts relating to LGBTQ+ histories from the 17th century to the present day.

Literary archives and manuscripts 1600 to present

Archives of poets, playwrights, novelists and literary organisations

Literary archives and manuscripts 1600 to present

Archives of poets, playwrights, novelists and literary organisations

Major named collections of printed books

Named Collection of printed books

Medieval and early modern British historical manus...

Sources for British history before 1600

Medieval and early modern British literary manuscr...

Sources for British literature before 1600

Modern British historical archives and manuscripts

Archives and manuscript sources useful for the study of British history after 1600