Our visual arts collections include paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, sculpture and historical furniture.

Collection guides

View all related guides

Help

Reading Room Paul Grundy

St Pancras Reading Rooms

At St Pancras we have 11 Reading Rooms, each specialising in a different subject area or type of material and with different opening hours. In our Reading Rooms you can:

  • Consult books, journals and other items from our collections
  • Access a wide range of electronic resources and electronic journals
  • Consult subject guides, bibliographies and other research aids

If you need help, please ask our Reference Specialists at the enquiry desks or contact the Reference Service.

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

Opening hours for all Reading Rooms

Blog posts

Animals: Art, Science and Sound

Wednesday, May 24, 2023

Animals: Art, Science and Sound is the first major exhibition to explore the many different ways in which animals have been written about, visualised and recorded over time. Focusing on the British Library’s extensive natural history collections, the exhibition brings...

Robert Clive: From Hero to Villain

Tuesday, May 23, 2023

During Robert Clive’s lifetime, the East India Company commissioned two portraits showing him as a hero. The first of these, a marble statue of Clive in Roman military costume, was installed in 1764 inside East India House, their headquarters in...

World Bee Day

Saturday, May 20, 2023

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

Animals in William Marsden’s The History of Sumatra

Monday, May 15, 2023

When first published in 1783, The History of Sumatra by William Marsden represented the first systematic account of the island of Sumatra published in English or any other European language. The History (henceforth) was highly praised by contemporary scholars and...

More blog posts

Over 500 collection items from the British Library and institutions across Europe

View in the Elysian Fields from the Spring of Helicon

Perspective Views of the Buildings and Gardens at Stowe

George Scharf, Ponte Vecchio, Florence, 24 November 1839. British Library Add. MS 36488 B, f.64

Ponte Vecchio, Florence

24 November 1839

Photographs of Old London [page: 18]

Photographs of Old London

Carlisle Cathedral

South east view of the Cathedral Church of Carlisle

Photograph showing the construction of the London Underground's Central Line

Photographs showing the construction of the London Underground's Central Line

Library experts

Malini Roy

Dr Malini Roy

Head of Visual Arts

Felicity Myrone

Felicity Myrone

Lead Curator, Western Prints and Drawings

External links

The British Library is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

The National Archives

Features a wide range of records relating to the East India Company

Shop

Points of View book

Points of View: Capturing the 19th Century in Photographs (paperback)

Points of View brings together, for the first time, a selection of images from the British Library's unique collections.

£15.95

Michael Katakis: Photographs and Words

Photographs and Words (hardback)

Michael Katakis’s photographs are now held in the British Library’s collections.

£25

The Book of the British Library

The Book of the British Library

As well as holding some of the world's most prized cultural treasures, the British Library is the repository of the nation's collective memory.

£25