Collection guides

Arabic collections

Printed books, periodicals and newspapers, manuscripts and a range of other materials

Arabic manuscripts

Our Arabic manuscripts date from the early eighth to the nineteenth century AD

Asian government publications

Our collections are particularly strong for the Indian subcontinent

Chakrabongse Collection of Thai Royal Letters

More than 250 Thai royal letters dating from 1896 to 1915

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

Maritime Southeast Asia

Manuscripts, books and periodicals from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, the Philippines and East Timor

Myanmar (Burma)

Manuscripts, early printed books, newspapers and periodicals, and modern research-level publications

Sanskrit, Prakrit, and Pali Language Collections

Manuscripts and Printed Books

Southeast Asia collections

We have materials relating to Southeast Asia in a wide range of languages and formats

Thailand, Laos and Cambodia

Material in Thai, Lao, Khmer and minority languages

The East India Company

The archives of the East India Company, 1599-1784, form part of the India Office Records and Private Papers Collections...

The Raffles Collection

Important collections relating to the natural history and cultures of the Malay world

The Vietnam War

Newspapers and periodicals published in Vietnam during the 1960s and 70s

Travel and exploration: archives and manuscripts,...

Archives and manuscript collections relating to travel and exploration, from 1600 to the present day