Our vast collection of printed heritage encompasses materials from Britain, Europe and the wider world produced predominantly from the mid-15th century through to the 21st century. The collections cover a range of formats, including books, pamphlets, periodicals, early newspapers, handbills and advertisements.

Collection guides

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Desks and Readers in the Rare Books and Music Reading Room at the British Library

Rare Books and Music

  • Find information on the shelves
  • Access online databases and electronic books and journals
  • Order collection items to the Reading Room via our catalogues

If you need help, please ask our Reference Specialists at the enquiry desk, or contact the Rare Books Reference Team or Music Reference Team.

We offer a range of free Reader sessions and 1-2-1 consultations to help you make the best use of the Library's collections.

You’ll need a Reader Pass

Mon 10.00 – 20.00
Tue – Thu 09.30 – 20.00
Fri – Sat 09.30 – 17.00
Sun & English Public Holidays closed

Opening hours for all Reading Rooms

Blog posts

World Bee Day

Saturday, May 20, 2023

The 20th of May is World Bee Day – an in...

The ‘Titanic Omar’ preserved for all time (virtually)?

Tuesday, May 16, 2023

The story of the ‘Titanic Omar’ bookbinding can hardly be described as ‘untold’ but perhaps it is time to add another chapter. Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam bound by Stanley Bray of Sangorski & Sutcliffe following the patterns of the original...

Detecting Catalogue Entries in Printed Catalogue Data

Tuesday, May 2, 2023

This is a guest blog post by Isaac Dunford, MEng Computer Science student at the University of Southampton. Isaac reports on his Digital Humanities internship project supervised by Dr James Baker. Introduction The purpose of this project has been to...

Animals: Art, Science and Sound

Monday, April 24, 2023

Animals amaze, fascinate and delight us! In the British Library's new exhibition Animals: Art, Science and Sound (21 April - 29 August 2023) you can see how documenting the animals world has resulted in some of humankind's most awe-inspiring art,...

More blog posts

Selected collection items from the British Library

Page from Aesop’s Fables printed by William Caxton, with printed text and a woodcut illustration of a fox looking up at a raven which is perched in a tree

Aesop’s Fables printed by William Caxton, 1484

Full page illustation of Jesus Christ holding a cross, from early printed extracts of Margery Kempe's 'Book'

Early printed extracts of Margery Kempe's Book

1521

Ovid’s Metamorphoses

Ovid’s Metamorphoses

late 15th century

A page from the Sutra of Filial Piety

Sutra of Filial Piety

16th century

The Mariner's Mirrour, 1588

The Mariner's Mirrour, 1588

Desiderius Erasmus' Institutio Principis Christiani, or The Education of A Christian Prince 1516

Desiderius Erasmus' Institutio Principis Christiani, or The Education of A Christian Prince, 1516

Micrographia by Robert Hooke, 1665

Micrographia by Robert Hooke, 1665

Frontispiece of the Diamond Sutra showing a woodblock print of the Buddha

Printed copy of the Diamond Sutra

11 May 868

Eden's Decades of the New World, 1555

Eden's Decades of the New World, 1555

Jewish book of customs

Jewish book of customs

Abolitionist poetry book for children [page: 2-3]

Abolitionist poetry book for children

Marlowe's Doctor Faustus, 1631

Marlowe's Doctor Faustus, 1631

Playbill advertising Ira Aldridge's appearance as Othello in Northampton, 1831

Playbill advertising Ira Aldridge's appearance as Othello in Northampton, 1831

Eden's Decades of the New World, 1555

Eden's Decades of the New World, 1555

First editon of John Donne's Poems, 1633

First edition of John Donne's Poems, 1633

Aesop’s Fables printed by William Caxton, 1484

First edition of Ben Jonson's Volpone, 1607

Title page of the Gutenberg Bible

Gutenberg Bible

Broadside Ballad 'The True Lovers Knot Untied'

Broadside Ballad 'The True Lovers Knot Untied'

Page containing the Prologue, from Caxton's Canterbury Tales

William Caxton's illustrated second edition of The Canterbury Tales

John Dee's General and Rare Memorials bound with a signed manuscript

John Dee's General and Rare Memorials bound with a signed manuscript

Leo Africanus's Geographical History of Africa

Leo Africanus's Geographical History of Africa

Machiavelli’s The Prince

Machiavelli’s The Prince

Montaigne's Essays translated by Florio

Montaigne's Essays translated by Florio

Strachey's 'A true reportory of the wreck' in Bermuda

Strachey's 'A true reportory of the wreck' in Bermuda

The Bellman of London by Thomas Dekker, 1608

The Bellman of London by Thomas Dekker, 1608

The Discovery of Witchcraft by Reginald Scot, 1584

The Discovery of Witchcraft by Reginald Scot, 1584

The Geneva Bible, 1570

The Geneva Bible, 1570

Great Bible

The Great Bible, probably Henry VIII's own copy

The Prettiest Book for Children [page: frontispiece and title page]

The Prettiest Book for Children

Engravings of European slaves in Pierre Dan's History of Barbary and its Pirates, 1684

Engravings of enslaved Europeans in Pierre Dan's History of Barbary and its Pirates, 1684

Coat of arms and engraved portrait of John Milton, printed in a copy of Paradise Lost

John Milton's Paradise Lost

Projects

"wHan that Apprill with his shouris sote And the droughte of marche hath p[er]cid ye rote ..." printed page containing the first lines from what is generally accepted as the first substantial book to be printed in Britain, Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, printed in London by William Caxton in 1476 / 1477. Shelfmark 167.c.26

English Short Title Catalogue

A comprehensive, international union catalogue listing early books, serials, newspapers and selected ephemera printed before 1801.

Hand coloured, engraved page in 'Hortus floridus in quo rariorum ... florum icones ... exhibentur' by Crispin de Passe the Elder, printed in 1614. The top margin is annotated with a notice "Bibliothecae Sloanianae Min 271." indicating that it was once part of Sir Hans Sloane's Library.

Sloane Printed Books Catalogue

A project to identify the dispersed printed books from Sir Hans Sloane's Library

Uytbeelding vant verschil der bequaamheden, van d'Oude en Nieuwe Brand Spuiten

King’s Topographical Collection Cataloguing and Digitisation

This project catalogued and digitised George III’s collection of around 40,000 maps and views.

All projects

Library experts

A man retrieving a book from the King's Library

Adrian Edwards

Head, Printed Heritage Collections

Alison Bailey

Alison Bailey

Lead Curator, Printed Heritage Collections 1901-2000

Karen Limper Herz picture

Dr Karen Limper-Herz

Lead Curator, Incunabula and Sixteenth Century Printed Books

Tanya Kirk

Tanya Kirk

Lead Curator, Printed Heritage Collections 1601-1900

More staff members

Case studies

More Case studies
Alice Wickenden British Library
…I am incredibly lucky to be working within an institution that encourages self-reflection.…

Researching Hans Sloane’s books, one of the foundation collections of the British Library.

Dr Bob Nicholson - Victorian Meme Machine
…I wanted to find Victorian jokes and bring them back to life…

Dr Bob Nicholson used digitised 19th-century books and newspapers to bring Victorian jokes back to life.

Izzy Gibbin British Library
…The British Library is home to countless experts whose passion makes navigating its enormous collections a pleasure.…

Izzy's PhD research placement was an exploration of the life of Karl Marx.

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Beautiful Bookbindings Philippa Marks

Beautiful Bookbindings

This book by Philippa Marks celebrates over 100 of the most beautiful bookbindings of the last 1000 years.

£30.00

Book cover of "A History of the Book in 100 Books" by Roderick Cave and Sara Ayad

A History of the Book in 100 Books (hardback)

From inscriptions on tombs to the first writings on papyrus; from scrolls to the first bound codex books in Roman times.

£20

Bookscape by James Raven

Bookscape

James Raven reconstructs the communities of printers in London before 1800 using a range of new illustrative and topographical evidence.