Collections at British Library

Archival Sound Recordings

The aim of the Project is to increase access to the British Library Sound Archive's extensive collections of recordings and supporting materials. This innovative project will: - Make 4000 hours of ...

Beowulf

The British Library began the Electronic Beowulf project in 1993: selected images from the project were among the first pictures of medieval manuscripts to be mounted on the internet. A digital camera ...

British Library Direct

The British Library has a vision to make the world's intellectual, scientific and cultural heritage accessible, and to bring our collections to everyone - at work, school, college or home. British ...

The Burney Collection of Newspapers

The 700 or so bound volumes of newspapers and news pamphlets gathered by the Revd Charles Burney (1757-1817) represent the largest single collection of 17th and 18th century English news media ...

Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts

This site provides access to descriptions and images of a selection of the decorated manuscripts in the British Library, which has arguably the most comprehensive, and certainly one of the richest ...

Caxton's Chaucer

This project has made available William Caxton's two editions of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, probably printed in 1476 and 1483. The originals are both in the British Library. The digitisation was ...

Codex Sinaiticus

The Codex Sinaiticus, produced in the middle of the fourth century, is one of the two earliest Christian Bibles. It includes the earliest surviving copy of the complete New Testament and the earliest ...

Collect Britain: Putting History in its Place

Collect Britain is the British Library's largest digitisation project to date. The site goes live on May 21st 2003. By summer 2004 you can view and hear a staggering 100,000 images and sounds from our ...

Database of Bookbindings

This database is a finding aid to the British Library's bookbinding collections. It includes information and images for selected items from the Library's rich collection of fine bindings of books ...

Evanion Catalogue

This is a collection of some 5,000 items of Victorian ephemera and occasional printing, formed by Henry Evans (c.1832-1905), a conjuror and ventriloquist, who performed under the stage name Evanion. ...

Gutenberg Bible

Johann Gutenberg's Bible was the first real book to be printed using the technique of printing, which Gutenberg invented in the 1450s. The British Library has two complete copies, one printed on paper ...

Images Online

British Library Images Online: a unique resource for commercial picture buyers, enabling you to license thousands of images from the British Library's unparalleled collections.

The International Dunhuang Project (IDP)

An international collaboration to present more than 100,000 pre-11th century manuscripts, paintings, and artifacts from Dunhuang and other Silk Road sites. Items are include bibliographies, maps, ...

Mackenzie Collection

The earliest recorded excavations of a Buddhist monument in India happened at Amaravati between 1798 and 1817. The drawings that documented these excavations were collected by Colonel Colin Mackenzie ...

Newspapers Digitisation Project: British Newspapers 1800-1900

The aim is to select and to digitise complete runs of UK newspaper titles that are published between 1800 and 1900. It is proposed to select a mixture of UK national, regional and local newspaper ...

Renaissance Festival Books

Renaissance festival books describe and illustrate the magnificent festivals and ceremonies that took place in Europe between 1475 and 1700 - marriages and funerals of royalty and nobility, ...

Shakespeare in Quarto

Contains the full text of the British Library's 93 copies of the 21 plays by Shakespeare printed in quarto before the theatres were closed in 1642. These pamphlet editions are thought to be working ...