Browse all art and objects
A medieval tally stick
Tally stick, in Latin, manuscript on wood [England, probably Westminster, 13 th century]
Dunois Master
Lancelot dining with a knight and his sweetheart, miniature cut from the Livre du Lancelot del Lac , in French, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Paris, c.1440]
Lombard illuminator
St Benedict, historiated initial ‘V’ on a leaf from a Gradual, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Lombardy, final quarter 15 th century]
The Spanish Forger
The arrival of a Saint, illuminated miniature on vellum [Paris, c.1900]
Peter Lombard (c.1096-1160)
Sentences , in Latin, manuscript on vellum [England, late 13th century]
A Noted Breviary from Langres
Noted Breviary, summer part, use of Langres, illuminated manuscript on vellum [North-Eastern France, last third 13 th century and 14 th century]
One of the oldest Sephardi Torah scrolls
A fragment of a Sephardi Torah Scroll containing Gen 28:7-47:3, in Hebrew, manuscript scroll on vellum [probably Spain, perhaps Toledo, late 13th/early 14th century]
Jacobus de Voragine (c.1230-1298)
Sermones quadragesimales , in Latin, manuscript on vellum [Germany, c.1300]
A portable Magna Carta
Magna Carta and Statutes of the Realm, in Latin and Anglo-Norman French, manuscript on vellum [England, 14th century]
Maestro degli Statuti padovani
The Gladstone Missal, use of Rome, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum, Padua, 1420
A Celestine Psalter
Psalter, for Celestine use, in Latin, decorated manuscript on vellum [Central Italy], 1442
Talbot Master
Book of Hours, use of Rouen, in Latin and French, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Rouen c.1445-50]
St Augustine (354-430)
Enchiridion , with the Letters of Lentulus and Pilate and patristic extracts, in Latin and Italian, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Florence, mid-15 th century]
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BCE)
Cicero, Epistolae ad Familiares , in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Italy, probably Genoa, mid-15th century]
Raymond Llull (c.1232-1316), Arnold of Villanova (c.1230-1311) and others
Anthology of Alchemy, in Latin and Italian, illustrated manuscript on paper [north-eastern Italy, final third 15th century]
Juvenal (c.55-128) and Persius (34-62)
Satyrae , in Latin, decorated manuscript on vellum [Spain or Italy, second half 15th century]
A medieval scientific encyclopedia
Il Libro di Sidracho , in Italian, decorated manuscript on paper [Verona, 2nd half 15 th century]
Master of the Prince of Piedmont
Book of Hours, use of Lyon, in Latin and French, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Lyon or perhaps Savoy, 1460s]
Anonymous French illuminator
Book of Hours, use of Rome, in Latin and French, illuminated manuscript on vellum [southwestern France, final third 15th century]
Master of Dobrée 33
Book of Hours, use of Rome, in Latin and French, illuminated manuscript on vellum [?Hainault, c.1480s]
Follower or workshop of Maître François
Book of Hours, use of Paris, in Latin and French, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Paris, c.1480-90]
Hours of Jean Boutin
Book of Hours, use of Rome, in Latin and French, illuminated manuscript on vellum [northern France, c.1480-1500]
Giovanni Facio Patarino dell'Amendolara (fl.1450)
Trattato di mascalcia , in Italian, manuscript on paper [southern Italy, probably Naples, final quarter 15th century]
An alchemical miscellany
Alchemical miscellany, in Italian and Latin, illustrated manuscript on paper [northern Italy, late 15th-16th century]
A Franciscan noted Hymnal
Noted Hymnal with liturgical texts, Franciscan use, in Latin and Dutch, decorated manuscript on paper and vellum with illuminated manuscript cuttings on vellum and three prints pasted in [Southern Netherlands, 16th to 17th centuries; illumination late 13th to 15th centuries]
Agostino Cesareo (fl. second half 16th century)
L'arte del navigare , in Italian, autograph illustrated dedication copy for Annibale de Grassi, manuscript on paper [Italy], 1577.
Jean Béguin (1550-1620); Andreas Libavius (c.1550-1616); Jacques Besson (c.1530-1572)
Alchimiae Praxis , in Latin, illustrated manuscript on paper, Paris, 1663
An album of illustrated cuttings
An album of cuttings from illuminated manuscripts and printed books [Central Europe, 15 th to 19 th centuries]
[Roberto Canonici (1568-1631)]
Extract from the will of Roberto Canonici, in Italian, manuscript on paper [Ferrara, c.1627-31]
Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson (1758-1805)
Autograph letter signed ('Nelson & Bronte') to Captain Thomas Foley, HMS Victory , 18 October 1805
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Autograph letter signed (with initial 'B') to Joseph Blahetka, [Vienna, ?1817 / 18]
Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
Autograph music manuscript, compositional draft for the conclusion of the concert overture Polonia (WWV 39), [Berlin, c. May-July 1836]
Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)
Autograph music manuscript of the aria 'è la vita un mar d'affanni', Rome, 5 November 1844
Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924)
Autograph manuscript, amendment to the conclusion of Act 3 of Edgar , [early 1892]
George Eliot (pen name of Mary Ann Evans, 1819-1890)
Autograph manuscript, 'Historical Sketch of Philosophy among the Jews', reading notes on Jewish philosophy and the theoretical Kabbalah, [c.1872]
Arthur Edward Harbord (1883-1961)
'The voyage of the "Nimrod" to the Antarctic, and return. British Antarctic Expedition 1907': five typed transcripts of Harbord's journals and four photograph albums, 1907-1909
Ernst von Dohnányi (1877-1960)
Autograph manuscript, vocal score of the comic opera Der Tenor , op.34, Budapest, 2 August 1920
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
Typed letter signed (‘Freud’) to Paul Federn, Vienna, 10 November 1924
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
Portrait photograph signed (‘Sigm. Freud’), 1936
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
Typed letter signed ('A. Einstein') to Dr Ludwig [i.e. Ludwik] Silberstein, Haberlandstrasse 5, Berlin, 23 April 1932
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
Autograph letter signed ('Papa') to his son, Eduard ['Tetel'], Cromer [Norfolk], England, [c. 23 September 1933]
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
Portrait photograph signed ('A. Einstein') and inscribed to 'Herrn Dr Martin Meyer', n.p., 1950
John Lennon (1940-1980)
Autograph letter signed ('John') to Cynthia Powell (later Lennon), Star Club, Hamburg, n.d. [19-24 April 1962]
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892-1973)
Typed letter signed (‘J.R.R. Tolkien’) to Miss Julie Cape, Oxford, 17 February 1963
Quentin Blake (b. 1932)
Man climbing a wooden tower
PLINIUS SECUNDUS, Gaius (Pliny the Elder, 23-79)
Historia naturalis . Venice: Johannes de Spira, [before 18 September] 1469.
TURRECREMATA, Johannes de (1388-1468)
Expositio super toto psalterio . [Augsburg]: Johann Schüssler, [not after 1471].
DIOGENES LAERTIUS (fl. 200 A.D.)
Vitae et sententiae philosophorum . Translated by Ambrosius Traversarius. Edited by Aelius Franciscus Marchisius. [Rome: Georgius Lauer, between Feb. and 15 May 1472?].
BURLAEUS, Gualtherus (pseudo?, c.1275-1344)
De vita et moribus philosophorum . [Nuremberg: Anton Koberger, not after 1473.]
VALERIUS MAXIMUS, Gaius (1st century A.D.)
Facta et dicta memorabilia . Venice: Johannes de Colonia and Johannes Manthen, 1474.