Access to the British Newspaper Archive

We have added an important new resource to our electronic collection - The British Newspaper Archive.

The British Newspaper Archive is the result of a project to produce high quality digital images of millions of pages from historical newspapers, both national and regional.  The site allows you to search not only news articles, but also letter, obituaries, family notices and advertisements.

Access to the BNA is through the link on our eLibrary page.  In addition to being signed in on the Library’s homepage you will need to register separately on the BNA website in order to view your search results.

Registration is a very simple process and need only be done once.

• Follow the link on the eLibrary page to the British Newspaper Archive
• click on the Register button on the menu bar at the top of the screen
• fill in your name and email address
• choose a password

You will receive an email to confirm that the registration process is complete.  On subsequent visits you will need to use the email address and password you chose to sign in to view your search results.  If you chose the option Remember me at sign in, your browser will retain your details and should sign you in automatically.

Please note that the London Library will not be able to reset your password for this site should you forget it.  However, you will be able to reset your password by clicking on Forgotten password? In the BNA sign in box and following the instructions.

The London Library Special Collections

Antiquarian Books

While the books on the Library's open shelves date from 1700 onwards, the whole collection actually dates back as far as 1500. Ca. 12,000 antiquarian books are housed in safe storage because of their age and rarity. This collection of books printed between 1500 and 1800 covers as broad a range as our open-access holdings – from politics, history and philosophy, to linguistics, travel and exploration, poetry, botany, occultism, astronomy and psychology. The collection includes many beautiful volumes produced by famous European printers.

Atlas collection

A collection of nearly 200 atlases dating from the 16th century to the present day offering a unique perspective on the changing ways we have mapped our world. The collection is particularly strong in 19th-century maps of the British railways but also includes many foreign maps and examples of atlases in various formats and sizes printed for a variety of purposes: from navigational aids to statistical analysis and documentary evidence for use in legal disputes.

Baddeley Collection

A collection over 20,000 prints collected by Mrs Emma Baddeley over her lifetime (ca. 1830-1911) and donated to the Library in 1922 by her son John Frederick Baddeley, the St. Petersburg correspondent for the Standard. Bound into 61 volumes, most of the prints are British and date mainly from the 18th and 19th centuries. With ca. 13,000 portraits both British and foreign, and 7,000 topographical prints (mainly of London) as well as volumes devoted to aeronautics, battles, and caricatures, this collection reveals Mrs Baddeley's interests and offers a sweeping and intimate picture of the miscellanea of life over this fascinating period.

Charles Reade Collection

The largest extant collection of Readiana, it is made up of 80 notebooks belonging to the Victorian novelist and playwright Charles Reade (1814-1884). One of the most popular, successful and controversial writers of his time, Reade strove in his work to expose social ills in a way that has led to comparisons with Dickens. These scrapbooks, annotated by Reade himself, have come to be recognized as fundamental to an understanding of Reade and his art.

Heron-Allen Collection

The personal collection of lawyer, palmist, violin-restorer, marine biologist, eccentric and litterateur Edward Heron-Allen (1861–1943), relating to the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. These ca. 400 editions of the Rubáiyát in numerous Eastern and Western languages, together with critical works on Khayyám and 10 portfolios of pamphlets, ephemera, and cuttings relating to him, provide a unique perspective on the reception of Edward FitzGerald's translation of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám in Britain at the height of its popularity.

Higginson Collection

The personal collection of the American-born Master of Foxhounds, Alexander "Hig" Higginson (1876-1958) who devoted his life and library to fox-hunting. Comprising ca. 2,000 volumes, including 35 of Higginson's own works and his hunting diaries, this unique collection of books is fully catalogued online and documents the remarkable social phenomenon of fox-hunting and other rural pursuits in Britain like no other.

Montefiore Pamphlets

A unique collection of 664 volumes containing ca. 5,000 pamphlets, this is the entire working reference library of Sir Claude Joseph Goldsmid-Montefiore, the founding father of Liberal Judaism in Britain. Essential for an understanding of Montefiore's work and thought, and the development of a movement still powerfully relevant today. The collection is fully catalogued online, made possible through the support of the Blavatnik Family Foundation.

Manuscript Collection

Manuscripts can provide unique insights into the working methods and ways of thinking of writers, artists, political figures or other thinkers. The Library owns around 200 manuscript items (handwritten and typescript) and a few heavily-annotated printed books, a collection that dates back to 1660 and includes diaries, letters, artists' papers, scrapbooks and the manuscripts of books written by highly influential figures from James Mill and John Addington Symonds, to journalist and playwright Charles W. S. Brooks and Lieut. (later General) William Harrison Askwith (1811-1897).

Modern Books

While most 'modern' books can usually be found on the Library's open shelves, just over 5,300 books published from 1800 onwards are kept in the safes because of their rarity, vulnerability, or unique provenance. The range of subjects and languages reflects that of the rest of the Library's collections, but the collection includes many first editions, often autographed, as well as limited editions produced by famous private presses in the 19th and 20th centuries. Many books on natural history containing beautiful colour plates, and titles on sexology as well as examples of erotica have historically been considered too vulnerable to be stored on open access and have also been added to this collection.

Morgan Collection

The oeuvre of Charles Langbridge Morgan in over 140 volumes. A 20th century novelist and playwright whose work, in his own words, explores the relationships between "Art, Love, and Death", Morgan was popular in his own time, but is only now starting to be given the lasting recognition he deserves. The Library's collection of his work, mostly donated by his widow and fellow author Hilda Campbell Vaughan, is rare in its completeness, although some of Morgan's works are now being republished. The collection is fully catalogued online, and includes editions of his novels translated into all major European languages as well as Hebrew and Japanese, illustrating Morgan's international appeal.

Nozze Collection

A collection of 144 volumes containing around 2,500 booklets, the Nozze Collection of Italian votive publications illustrates the production of 'nuptialia' and other gift books. Particularly popular from the late 15th to the early 20th century, 'nuptialia' or epithalamia are writings published as wedding gifts in accordance with Italian custom. The collection also includes a number of publications celebrating different kinds of occasions such as the taking of vows, promotions, investiture in high office and anniversaries of all kinds. A fascinating form of social commentary as well as a compelling example of literature with a direct social function, the Library's collection, ranging from 1579 to the 20th century, is the largest of its kind in the UK.

Pamphlet Collection

A collection of ca. 40,000 pamphlets dating from the late 17th century onwards and covering a broad and rather miscellaneous range of subjects. Like the Library's main holdings, the appeal of the pamphlets can often lie in the idiosyncrasies and curiosities to be found the collection. The majority of the earlier titles discuss contemporary events and many cover topics such as social welfare, the slave trade, education, art, law, commerce and literature, but there are also pamphlets on many different branches of science. Later pamphlets are mostly literary and historical.

Rare Periodicals and Journals

Some 250 gazetteers, journals, miscellanies, intelligencers and newspapers printed between 1673 and 2001 in Europe, America, Africa and Asia. The collection is particularly strong in periodicals on literature, history and the arts, but also includes titles aimed at women such as The Suffragette (1912-14) and satirical publications such as The Scourge, or, Monthly Expositor of Imposture and Folly (1811-13). Alongside these there are examples of rare newspapers documenting events such as the Italian revolutions of 1848, the 1917 Russian revolution and the Second World War.

Spanish Plays

One of the largest collections of individually printed plays or 'sueltas' held outside Spain, The London Library's Spanish Plays Collection comprises nearly 1,500 editions dating from 1616 to 1849. It includes works by all the key playwrights of the period, as well as some very rare pieces. The collection is an invaluable tool for the study of both Spanish Golden Age theatre and the history of Spanish-language printing.

Small books

A collection of ca. 350 small books printed between the 16th and the 20th centuries, and measuring up to 5 inches tall. The collection includes seven miniature books all under 3 inches tall, printed mostly in the 19th century, the golden age of miniature printing. Among these is the smallest version of Dante's Divina Commedia in the world, the legendary 'fly's eye Dante' of 1878, and the smallest Authorized Version of the Bible, printed by David Bryce of Glasgow in 1896. Among the children's books in this collection a miniature edition of Kate Greenaway's Alphabet from the 1880s stands out.

Theology Collection

With ca. 2,000 titles spanning from the 16th to the 20th century, the Library's Theology Collection is a particularly fascinating resource for the study of early biblical translation and Reformation controversy. The collection also contains some of the Library's oldest, rarest and arguably most interesting volumes: highlights include the first edition of Martin Luther's 1522 translation of the New Testament into German as well as the Library's first folio 'He' version of the King James Bible of 1611. Other theological treasures include a copy of Henry VIII's Assertio septem sacramentorum aduersus Martin. Lutheru[m] (1521), the work which earned him the title 'Defender of the Faith'; and the Library's earliest book: a collection of sonnets on divine love and beauty written by Girolamo Benivieni and published in Florence in 1500.

Online periodicals and databases

As well as print copies, the Library subscribes to over 300 online versions of its journals, augmented with access to thousands more through online periodicals archive services such as JSTOR. For further details of the extensive range of periodicals and databases that can be accessed on-line see our eJournals pages. Much of the content of our eJournals is directly searchable through the Library’s online catalogue service CATALYST.

The majority of the Library’s electronic resources are provided through annual subscription rather than purchase and the continuation of each subscription depends on the volume of use and available funding. Wherever possible, licences are secured which permit use by members remotely (via the Library’s website) in addition to use on the Library’s premises. While some licences permit unlimited use, others are restricted to one or more simultaneous users; the use patterns of restricted licences are regularly reviewed and simultaneous use allowances expanded where demand requires and resources permit.

Academic resources

Through JSTOR you can access a huge digital library of academic journals, books, primary sources and periodicals. London Library membership provides free access to most of JSTOR's content, which subscribed to separately normally costs around £200 per annum.

Members also have access to a vast collection of historic research material through hundreds of publications including The Bibliography of British and Irish History, British History Online, the Proceedings of the Old Bailey 1674-1913, the Survey of London and The British Newspaper Archive, plus much more.

Newspaper archives and historic publications

As a London Library member you’ll be able to use the full digital archives of The Times, The Sunday Times, The Guardian, and The Observer, plus the extensive British Newspaper Archive,  the 17th-18th Century Burney Newspapers Collection and more!

This enormous range of archival material is perfect for researching from home - whether you’re working on an academic research project, writing a novel or working on your family history.

Our subscriptions to historic publications - such as the Illustrated London News and the Country Life archive - provide a wealth of information, much of it beautifully illustrated, that is ideal for both work and pleasure.

Literary resources

An extensive collection of literary journals and collections is available if you’re looking to stay in touch with the literary world. London Library membership gives access to titles such as the complete archive of The London Review of Books, New York Review of Books, English Poetry, The Complete Prose of T S Eliot archive, Early English Books Online and many more.

Art

Our online art resources offer a wealth of material for art researchers and art historians. As well as access to all of the art journals available  through JSTOR we also provide use of the International Bibliography of Art, Oxford Art Online and more.

Languages

The London Library’s language collection is extensive. Membership gives access to European language newspapers and publications such as Die Zeit/Literatur book reviews and Gallica: The digital library of the national library of France. We also offer Russian literature, language, history and art publications. 

Oxford English Dictionary

For access to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) eResources, please first sign in to Catalyst via The London Library website and scroll down to the OED link. Please contact the Library team should you need help.

eBooks

We have now made our first foray into the expanding world of eBooks through OverDrive who offer a wide selection of fiction and non-fiction eBooks, and a range of audiobooks.

Browse The London Library on Overdrive 

Read Overdrive guidance

eBooks play an important role in the publishing world and a huge range of titles are available, whether as downloads onto existing computers/tablets or onto dedicated platforms such as Kindles. The Coronavirus lockdown restrictions have really reinforced their importance as an easy way of accessing content remotely.

We have identified a number of titles that are in high demand in the Library and have purchased additional copies as eBooks. We have also purchased some fiction that we see circulating quite highly in the Library, such as books which have won awards of various kinds. Additionally, we have included a set of classics that are being made freely available by Duke Classics during the pandemic.
 
Members can access our eBook selection either through the OverDrive website, or through an app called Libby. Members are welcome to make recommendations regarding new e-books for the Library to acquire from the entire OverDrive catalogue, similar to our book suggestions scheme. This can only be done via the OverDrive website, and not in the Libby app. Add the green text in both places.

Online Catalogue

Not all of the Library’s collections are included in our online catalogue but we have added all acquisitions since 1950 and a substantial and growing number of titles from our earlier catalogues as part of our Retrospective Cataloguing Project. 

Digital Materials

As the range of humanities information sources available in digital format has expanded, the Library’s collecting remit has also expanded to encompass digital materials where these are relevant to the subjects covered by the printed collections. 

In developing our electronic resources, we give priority to acquisition areas where digital format:

• adds value to content by improving information retrieval, eg through full-text indexing (eJournals, newspapers) or by providing the capacity to search across a range of materials (subject bibliographies, periodical and newspaper compilations, compilations of reference works and/or texts with unified search engines)
• offers longer-term possibilities for space saving (eJournals, bibliographies, reference works
• has a reliable preservation and support infrastructure
• provides access to materials not generally available or affordable to individual subscribers

It is our policy to defer exposure to digital (and other non-book) formats where:

• content is merely reproduced in another medium (eBooks, audio)
• access requires a particular brand of reading device (Kindle, iPad)
• the purchase or subscription model is unfavourable in comparison with printed books