Collection items

Alexander Pope's translation of The Iliad, written...

Manuscript, Letter

Alexander Pope’s version of The Iliad – Homer’s Greek epic poem – was drafted on scraps of paper, often using the back...

An exact view of the inside of the Court of the Pr...

Etching, Engraving, View

It was common practice in early modern printmaking to repurpose existing engravings. This print of the inner courtyard o...

An illustration of Ganesh

Image, Manuscript, Illustration

This is one of 12 miniatures from a manuscript of Hindu rituals and devotional tracts. The manuscript is written in the...

Etruscan alphabet from inscriptions

Manuscript

Greek colonists took the alphabet to Italy, where the Etruscans changed it to suit their needs. These 16th-century notes...

Figure of Mercury found at Colchester

Pen and ink

This ink drawing in the King’s Topographical Collection depicts a small statue of the Roman god Mercury found in Colches...

Jewish marriage-ring

Object

This elaborate Jewish marriage-ring has a delicate pattern of twisted gold threads and bright enamel flowers. The ring f...

Letters from Daniel Defoe to Robert Harley, 1703‒1...

Manuscript, Letter

This remarkable collection of letters comprises the correspondence between Daniel Defoe and Robert Harley, first Earl o...

Letters from John Gay to Jonathan Swift about The ...

Manuscript, Letter

These letters record the friendship between two of the most celebrated authors of the 18th century – John Gay and Jonath...

Parasvanath from Seventy Tales of the Parrot

Manuscript

This image comes from a hymn to the Jinas bound together in an 18th-century manuscript, in old Gujarati, of the 'Sukasat...

Reproduction of bust of Sir Robert Cotton

Object

Sir Robert Cotton (1570-1631) deserves attention as the former owner of two of the four surviving copies of the 1215 Mag...

Scold's bridle

Object

This instrument is a scold’s bridle or ‘branks’ used to hurt and humiliate women whose speech or behaviour was thought t...

The Spectator, 4 June 1711, no. 82

Newspaper, Subscription Message

The Spectator was a periodical published daily by the politicians Joseph Addison and Sir Richard Steele. It was one of t...

The World Described by Herman Moll, 1708‒20

Map

This set of maps entitled The World Described was the most important folio atlas of its day. It was produced by the Germ...