Some links and further reading about the British Library,

its history and its collections

For help and advice

Rare Books & Music Reference Service:
https://www.bl.uk/help/reference-enquiry-team; OR music-collections@bl.uk

Chris Scobie (Curator, Music Manuscripts): chris.scobie@bl.uk

History of the institution(s)

British Museum: Created by an Act of Parliament in 1753. The library formed from the collections
of Sir Robert Cotton, Robert Harley and Sir Hans Sloane (the ‘foundation’ collections).
https://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/TourCollFound.asp

British Library: The British Library was created by an Act of Parliament in 1973. It remained based
at the British Museum until the St Pancras building opened in November 1997.
https://www.bl.uk/about-us/our-story/history-of-the-british-library

About Legal Deposit: https://www.bl.uk/legal-deposit/about-legal-deposit

For more early history of the institution(s), see:

Philip Harris, A history of the British Museum Library, 1753-1973. British Library, 1998.

On the history of the music collections specifically, see:

Alec Hyatt King, Printed music in the British Museum. An account of the collections, the catalogues,
and their formation, up to 1920. (London, Clive Bingley, 1979).

Alec Hyatt King, A wealth of music in the collections of the British Library (Reference Division) and the
British Museum. (London, Clive Bingley, 1983).

Some significant collections within Music Collections

Royal Music Library: https://www.bl.uk/collection-guides/royal-music-library
Hirsch Collection: https://www.bl.uk/collection-guides/hirsch-collection
Stefan Zweig Collection: https://www.bl.uk/collection-guides/zweig-manuscripts
Royal Philharmonic Society Archive: https://www.bl.uk/collection-guides/royal-philharmonic-
society-archive
Other (non-music) collections of interest
Burney Collection of 17th and 18th century newspapers
https://www.bl.uk/collection-guides/burney-collection

Sales catalogues
https://www.bl.uk/collection-guides/sale-catalogues

Online catalogues
Main catalogue: https://explore.bl.uk
Manuscripts catalogue: https://searcharchives.bl.uk

Some printed catalogues for music

Catalogue of Printed Music to 1980

Catalogue of additions to the manuscripts in the British Museum

Augustus Hughes-Hughes, Catalogue of Manuscript Music in the British Museum (3 vols), 1906

W. Barclay Squire, Catalogue of the King’s Music Library (3 vols), 1927-1929

Digitised music manuscripts

Where a manuscript is digitised, there should be a link to view it from the catalogue description (the
same is true for printed material from the printed catalogue).

A blog post that provides a listing of everything digitised as of 2021 can be found here:
https://blogs.bl.uk/music/2021/09/digitised-music-manuscripts-update.html

Collection Care
Notes on handling: https://www.bl.uk/help/how-to-handle-books (in particular:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7dkZqlW1yk)

Foliation at the British Library

This will always appear in the top right corner of the recto in pencil. Any existing pagination will be
lightly crossed through in pencil. Note that any extra pasted on bits of paper will have received
separated folio number. Beware in reversible volumes!
RISM
(Répertoire International des Sources Musicales)

An international collaborative programme which aims to document all pre-1850 musical sources
surviving in libraries and archives worldwide. These sources include printed and manuscript music,
writings on music and libretti.

More information: http://www.rism.org.uk/

Online catalogue: https://opac.rism.info/

Other reading
Alec Hyatt King, Some British Collectors of Music c.1600-1960 (Cambridge University Press, 1963)
(a useful introduction to many of the music collectors of this era, with an especially valuable list of
catalogues associated with many of the historic collections)

John Carter, ABC for book collectors (Oak Knoll Press, 1995)
(a useful beginners guide to bibliographic terminology)