Special collections

Surprise and delight yourself. Discover, explore and study a wealth of rarities we've built up over the years.

Rare books

Gaze in wonder at the age, uniqueness or pure physical beauty of our books.

Rare and archival material from Southeast Asia and East Asia form a leading research resource.

Music has come a long way since "Do, re, mi". Find out how far.

Here lies buried treasure. Unearth rare maps, charts, atlases, gazetteers and books.

We are digitising our Special Collections for your digital world.

Study a wide range of items we've built up over the years.