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UCL’s Special Collections is one of the largest Special Collections in the South of England, comprising over 150,000 rare books and over 600 archive and manuscript collections.
Our collections include fine examples of medieval manuscripts, early printed books, significant holdings of 18th Century works and highly important 19th and 20th Century collections of personal papers, archival material, and literature. These items relate to a vast number of subject areas.
Explore the Collection
- Archives and Manuscripts
The archives contain documents and records (both digital and physical) that originate from an individual, group, society or institution. The manuscript collection comprises of books and loose-leaf hand written documents of pre-print culture. Visit the Archives and Manuscripts page.
- Rare Books and Printed Material
The rare books and printed materials collections include incunabula, pamphlets, small press magazines and a wide range of publications up to the present day. Visit the Rare Books and Printed Material page.
- Records
UCL Records are UCL’s institutional archive, books and other printed material connected with UCL’s history. UCL Records also manage the Records Management programme for UCL staff. Visit the Records page.
- Digital Collections
Visit the Digital Collections page to access digitised collection items and born-digital items, and learn about our digitisation work.
- Podcasts
Discover some of the most intriguing aspects of our collection by podcast. View the podcast collection.
- Subject Guides
Explore relevant collections in selected subject areas. Our subject guides are intended as a starting point to help you find resources for your studies or research.
- Citing items from our collections
For guidance on how to reference items from UCL Special Collections, please see our citation guidelines.
- Other rare collections
UCL Library Services has rare collections located at several of our specialist libraries, related to the department, school, research institute or associated hospital. Details on how to access these collections can be found on the other rare collections page.
Card Catalogue
The UCL Online Card Catalogue is no longer available. Please use UCL Library Explore to search for library resources. If you need further help or assistance email library@ucl.ac.uk.
