Collection guides

Asian government publications

Our collections are particularly strong for the Indian subcontinent

Chinese collection

Includes over 100,000 printed books and 2,500 periodical titles in Chinese

Chinese oracle bones

Among the oldest items in the British Library

Chinese propaganda posters

89 posters dating from 1950 to 1982

Chinese stamps

19th and 20th-century stamps from China

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.

India Office prints, drawings and paintings

We have one of the world’s richest archives of prints and drawings from South Asia

India Office Records and Private Papers

Archives of the East India Company and the pre-1947 government of India

India Office Records: Central Asia Resources

Central Asian resources in the archives of the East India Company and the pre-1947 government of India

Japanese collection

Material from the 8th century to the present

Japanese design books

Design books from the 17th to early 20th centuries

Japanese manuscripts and early printed books

Works created before the Meiji Restoration of 1868

Korean collection

Historical texts and contemporary publications

Manchu collection

Manuscripts, woodblock prints and works relating to the Qing dynasty

Mongolian collection

Thousands of items from the Mongolian Republic, China and Russia