Help

About Explore Archives and Manuscripts

With Explore Archives and Manuscripts you can search for information about our rich and unique archive and manuscript co...

Access manuscripts and archives

Accessing manuscripts and archives and obtaining a Letter of introduction or recommendation

Find and request Lord Chamberlain's Plays

How to locate items in our largest single manuscript collection

Find Arabic manuscripts

Details of Arabic manuscripts are to be found in a number of catalogues

Find charters, rolls, and seals

How to access medieval and early modern European documentary collections

Find Hebrew manuscripts

Guide to finding Hebrew manuscripts in our online catalogues

Find papyri

How to identify papyri and request them

Find Persian manuscripts

Details of Persian manuscripts are to be found in a number of catalogues

Guide to Explore Archives and Manuscripts

A guide to help you use the catalogue, covering: login, search, how to manage your results, how to browse the collection...

How to find material in Burmese and other language...

Details of items in the Myanmar (Burma) Collection can be found in numerous catalogues

How to handle archives

Watch our guide and help us keep our archive material in good condition

How to handle folded items

Find out how you should hand items like large maps and book inserts.

How to order images

Instructions on how to order images of the British Library's collections from our Imaging Services

How to reuse images of unpublished manuscripts

Guide to the copyright of unpublished documents

Provenance Research for books in the British Libra...

Where do the British Library’s old printed books ‘come from'? Who owned or read them in centuries past? Why does it matt...