Overview
Senate House Library's printed special collections comprise printed books, pamphlets, periodicals and maps within 50 named collections and also within its general special collections sequences.
Printed Special Collections
Austin Dobson Collection
Around 620 volumes written and edited by the poet and critic (Henry) Austin Dobson (1840-1921).
Bromhead Library
About 4000 items on the history of London from the 16th to the early 20th centuries, with some on the settlement of Australia.
Carlton Shorthand Collection
Approximately 18,000 books and periodicals covering the history of shorthand from the 16th to the 20th centuries in nearly 60 languages and dialects.
Chichester Cathedral Library Collection
About 100 17th- and 18th-century volumes on classics, law, philosophy, numismatics and antiquities, purchased from Chichester Cathedral.
Colin Smythe Terry Pratchett Archive
Comprehensive holdings of Terry Pratchett’s published writings, associated publications and merchandising.
Cory Collection
About 60 literary and other works printed from the 17th to the 21st centuries collected by Yvonne Cory (1928-2008) and her daughter Dr Emma Jane Robinson.
Craig Collection
About 500 books on sexual customs and practices and literary erotica from the collection of Alec Craig (1897-1973), mostly from the 20th century.
Crofton Collection
296 English and French little books from the 18th and 19th centuries, covering literature, theology and travel.
De Morgan Library
Approximately 3,800 mathematical and related works printed between 1474 and 1871 from the library of Augustus De Morgan (1806-1871), many with his annotations.
Durning-Lawrence Library
About 5,000 15th-20th century volumes from the library of Sir Edwin Durning-Lawrence (1837-1914), by or in some way relating to Sir Francis Bacon or William Shakespeare.
E.G.R. Taylor Collection of Historic Printed Maps
European maps 1700-1900
Eggar Collection
About 250 20th-century books relating to the attribution of Shakespeare’s plays to Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford.
Eliot-Phelips Collection
About 3,500 Spanish imprints from the early 16th to the early 20th centuries, relating in particular to Madrid.
Elzevier Collection
About 1,150 books printed by members of the Elzevier family and by other 17th-century Dutch presses.
EPCOM collection
About 400 Nazi school textbooks and related material.
Ethel M. Wood Biblical Collection
About 450 devotional works, mostly English and American Bibles, from the 15th to the 21st centuries.
Family Welfare Association Library
About 5,000 late 19th- and early 20th-century publications on poverty, the Poor Law, education, health and the blind.
Foskett Uzanne Collection
116 volumes on fashion, bibliography and literature by or connected with Octave Uzanne (1852-1931).
Francis Bacon Society Library
About 1,300 books and pamphlets pertaining to Sir Francis Bacon, many with Baconian annotations.
George Crabbe
Around 100 books, published between 1783 and 1977, by and about George Crabbe.
Gili Catalan Collection
Approximately 2,500 items of Catalan interest, dating from the mid-nineteenth century to the late-twentieth century. Particular collection strengths are Catalan literature and literary criticism, and social, political and economic history of the region.
Goldsmiths’ Library of Economic Literature
About 70,000 items from the 15th to the 21st centuries covering all aspects of economics, including early English and French socialism, slavery and railway history, temperance and the condition of the people.
Granville-Barker Collection
About 940 editions of plays, supporting studies and works of criticism, mostly 20th-century, with an emphasis on Shakespeare and his period.
Graveley Parish Library
About 1,150 volumes of classics, theology, history, law, medicine, science and literature chiefly from the 17th and 18th centuries.
H.G. Wells Collection
330 volumes comprising editions of works by Wells, and books about him.
Harry Price Library of Magical Literature
About 13,000 items from the 15th to the 21st centuries relating to magic in its widest sense, from legerdemain to psychic phenomena.
Henry Arthur Jones Collection
74 volumes by the playwright Henry Arthur Jones (1851-1929).
Incunabula
134 volumes and parts of volumes printed, or at one time thought to have been printed, in the fifteenth century.
J.B. Priestley Collection
About 125 volumes by and about the writer J.B. Priestley (1894-1984).
John Burns Collection
About 5,000 political, social and economic works from the working library of the labour leader and politician John Elliott Burns (1858-1943), many with his annotations.
Lady Welby Library
About 2,500 19th- and early 20th-century books and pamphlets on theology, philosophy, economics, education, science and philology, acquired and annotated by Victoria, Lady Welby (1827-1912).
Littleton Collection
33 rare landmark volumes of music and musical treatises published between 1480 and about 1728.
Longley Collection
50 volumes of fiction, early children’s books, and books relating to the actress Ellen Lawless Ternan (1839-1914).
M.S. Anderson Collection
About 1,850 Western European writings on Russia printed between 1525 and 1917.
Malcolm Morley Collection
About 4,000 books and periodicals from the 19th and 20th centuries on theatre, including numerous editions of plays.
Manton Marble Collection
Cuttings, pamphlets and scrapbooks dealing with United States politics and economics, 1860-1910 (c.1000 items).
Martin Collection
182 volumes of small English children’s books, ca. 1784-1865.
Pelling Collection
Henry Pelling’s collection of 800 pamphlets from the late 19th and 20th centuries about left-wing politics.
Playne Collection
Comprising some 530 books and pamphlets pertaining to the First World War, 1895-1938.
Porteus Library
Covering primarily theology and current affairs and mostly published between 1750 and 1809, supplemented by volumes of sermons owned by William Howley, Archbishop of Canterbury (1766-1848).
Prize Collection
82 volumes of English children’s fiction printed between 1865 to 1918, primarily with an evangelical bent.
Prothero Collection
1,100 pamphlets relating primarily to the social, economic and political history of England and Europe, 1880-1914.
Quick Memorial Library
About 2,000 textbooks, treatises, pamphlets and other works from the 16th to the 19th century relating to the history of education.
Richardson Collection
Approximately 5,000 20th-century works relating to socialism, Marxism and Trotskyist groups.
Ron Heisler Collection
About 50,000 19th- and 20th-century books, pamphlets and periodicals published by or relating to labour and radical political movements, and to political expression in art, drama and literature.
Sterling Library
About 7,000 first and fine editions of English literature printed from the 15th to the 20th centuries, and British private press books.
Sturge Moore Collection
236 volumes from the library of the writer and designer Thomas Sturge Moore (1870-1944).
Tudor Church Music Collection
Approximately 20,000 photostats and transcripts of music manuscripts collected during the production of the Tudor Church Music series.
Vye Collection
Ca 180 mostly German volumes from the 18th century, focusing on devotional literature.
Walter de la Mare Library
About 700 titles owned by the poet Walter de la Mare (1873-1956), several with his annotations, and some 420 editions of his works and works about him.