Most of our collection needs to be ordered to the Reading Room, often 48 hours in advance, with only limited material available on our open shelves.
Our printed collections (including books and scores) are described on our main catalogue. See the ‘Requesting items’ for more details on catalogue records for music Archives and Manuscripts
Composers’ archives
Extensive collections of prominent composers active in Britain like Elgar, Delius, Vaughan Williams, Musgrave, Holst, Tippett, Britten and Maxwell Davies.
Institutional music archives
Archives of music publishers like Boosey & Hawkes and Novello & Co. Manuscript and performance materials of The Drury Lane Theatre, King’s Theatre and the archive of the Royal Philharmonic Society.
Printed music scores
Examples of sheet music from every European country, from the earliest western examples in the 15th century. This includes rare first editions of music by the major European composers, numerous collections of dance music from the 17th and 18th centuries and a large collection of Victorian popular music with illustrated plates.
Royal Music Library
Printed and manuscript music scores collected by several generations of the royal household, reflecting the musical tastes of their successive members.
Named collections
Antiquarian books, journals and other items from the libraries of eminent collectors including King George III, Thomas Grenville, Joseph Banks, Hans Sloane and George Thomason. Click here to download a description of these collections.
Incunabula
An unrivalled collection of 15th-century books produced with moveable type.
Bookbindings
A wide range of fine and historic bindings on western books. British and Continental bindings are particularly well represented, although there are also examples from the near and Far East and from America.
Theatre material
Extensive collection early editions of printed plays, playbills and theatre programmes. Click here to download a list with details of our Playbills and Programme holdings.
Early printed Bibles
We have one of the richest collections of Bibles printed before the 20th century. Examples are from all corners of the western world and from every decade since Johann Gutenberg first produced his Latin Vulgate Bible in Mainz, Germany, during 1454 and 1455.
Erotica
Numerous examples of erotic printed books from the 17th century to the 20th century, including the Private Case.
Early English newspapers
17th- and 18th- century English newspapers, primarily London titles including the collection of Reverend Charles Burney.
News media from the English civil wars are available on the Thomason Tracts collection.
The original volumes are now in a poor physical state so they can’t be ordered to the Reading Rooms. Microfilm surrogates are available for delivery to the Reading Room.
Auction sales catalogues
Our collection of current and historic Sale Catalogues from auction houses, art and book dealers include the archival set of Sotheby’s auction catalogues from 1739–1970. Click here to download a handlist providing an overview of the main part of the collection