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This catalogue describes the 2500 Khotanese manuscripts in the British Library's Aurel Stein and other Central Asian collections, including Buddhist and secular texts that enhance our understanding of northern Mahayana (as well as Vajrayana at Dunhuang) and the history of the southern Silk Road in the 5th-10th centuries. It includes a comprehensive introduction to the collections and the historical background of the manuscripts.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• List of Illustrations List of Figures Abbreviations Acknowledgements
• Chapter 1 'The Manifold uses of Things': The Early Medieval Book as Artefact
• Chapter 2 The Wonders of the East and the Learned Tradition of Marvels Introduction A Brief Overview of the Learned Tradition The Wonders of the East and the Letter of Pharasmenes to Hadrian
• Chapter 3 The Wonders in a Manuscript of Unknown Origin: London, British Library, Cotton Vitellius A. XV Introduction Illustration Homodubii Cynocephali and Donestre Other similarities Conclusion Palaeography Anglo-Saxon Square Minuscule: Scribe 2 Style-I English Vernacular Minuscule: Scribe 1 The Significance of Distinct Scripts in Vitellius A. xv Codicology The Consensus Quires The Contested Quires The Wonders in Vitellius A. xv: 'Speaking Beyond the Light'
• Chapter 4 The Wonders and the Computus Manuscript: London, British Library, Cotton Tiberius B. V Introduction The Origin and Audience of Tiberius B. v Reading Books and the Monastic Library The Materiality of Tiberius B. v Page Design in Tiberius B. v The Wonders of the East The Calendar Tiberius B. v: the Semiotics of the Computus Manuscript The Wonders of the East as Semiotic The Land of Vineyards and the Ivory Couch The Mountain of Adamant and the Griffin The Phoenix and its Nest of Cinnamon The Unnamed Fiery Mountain and its Black Inhabitants Jamnes and Mambres Conclusion
• Chapter 5 The Wonders and the Schools: Oxford, Bodleian Library, Bodley 614 Introduction The Problem of Dating Bodley 614 Codicological Considerations Art-Historical Considerations Palaeographical Considerations Textual Considerations Summary The Origin and Sources of Bodley 614 A Palaeographical Comparandum? The Calendar The Additions from William of Conches's De philosophia mundi De miraculis beati Thomae apostoli St Urri and the Folklore of Megalithic Monuments Evidence Concerning Opusculum de ratione spere Summary The Social Relations of the 'Twelfth-Century Renaissance' Bodley 614 and the Practice of the Schools Selection and Compilation Self-Aware Commentary An Illustrative Tradition The Mythographic Mode The Fighting Brothers The Dancing Women Conclusion
• Chapter 6 The Materiality of Marvels Appendix Bibliography.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

Marvel and Artefact examines the three surviving manuscripts of Wonders of the East (London, BL, Cotton Vitellius A. xv; London, BL, Cotton Tiberius B. v; and Oxford, Bodleian Library, Bodley 614). After outlining the learned tradition of writing on monsters and marvels and the family of texts of which the Wonders of the East is part, A. J. Ford offers a forensic reading of each manuscript in which codex, text and image are studied together as a single artefact. By focussing on the materiality of manuscripts whose origin can only be hypothesized, this innovative and challenging work opens new vistas for the study and interpretation of medieval manuscripts and the cultures that produced them.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

Although there are catalogues of individual maps in The British Library, up to now there has been no thorough listing of the maps in the Library's large collection of atlases. This considerable study describes the map contents of over 3300 pre-1800 atlases, including general works of geography, history, and travel which contain nine or more maps. English material predominates, but the Library's holdings of Dutch, French and German atlases are substantial; there are also many atlases from other European countries, as well as those of Arabic, Persian and Oriental origin. Over 100 atlases are composite in nature, often preserving rare material not found elsewhere. Details of atlas publication, provenance, colour and binding are provided, together with itemization of each map, cross references and scholarly source material.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

The British Library's map collection is the national cartographic collection of Britain and numbers around four million maps dating from 15 CE to 2017 CE. These include road maps drawn for 13th century pilgrims and sea charts for 17th-century pirates. They include the first printed map to show the Americas and the last to show English-controlled Calais. They include the world's biggest and smallest atlases. They include maps for kings and queens, popes, ministers, schoolchildren, soldiers, tourists. There are maps which changed the world. As well as comprehensively showcasing the varied and surprising treasures of the British Library's "banquet of maps" for the first time, this book will examine the evolution of humanity's perceptions of the world through maps. By looking at how this map collection was assembled principally over two and a half centuries but in reality over a millennium, the book comprises a cartographic history of the world, as well as vivid celebration of the world's best map collection's best maps.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

As well as holding some of the world's most prized cultural treasures, the British Library is the repository of the nation's collective memory. Owing its origin to the generosity and far-sightedness of a handful of eighteenth-century scholars and booklovers, and built up over 250 years, the Library's very extensive collections - of books, manuscripts, maps, music, newspapers, photographs, sound recordings, stamps, and digital media - offer keys to the understanding of human achievement in literature, art, music, politics, journalism, exploration and much else, from ancient times to the present day. In this highly illustrated book Michael Leapman tells the Library's story, highlighting the most significant and beautiful items in its care, as well as exploring some of the lesser known, more surprising artifacts housed in its iconic building in the heart of London.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• The catalogue and how to use it-- glossary of bibliographical and literary terms (Japanese and English) used in the catalogue-- periods of Japanese history. The catalogue: Chinese works-- Buddhist works-- Japanese works. Indexes and appendices: index of Japanese titles-- index of Chinese and Sanskrit titles-- index of Japanese names-- index of Chinese, Indian and European names. Appendices: lists of libraries quoted in the catalogue-- list of books in the catalogue belonging to named editions.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

This catalogue contains detailed descriptions of 635 books printed and published in Japan from the origins of printing in the eighth century up to the year 1700. It comprises The British Library's entire collection of Japanese antiquarian books, built up over the last 250 years and reckoned to be the most extensive outside Japan. Most of the books desscribed were printed from engraved wood blocks, but 72 are early moveable-type editions printed from wooden or bronze type between circa 1590 and 1640. Catalogue entries are arranged within three broad subject categories: Japanese editions of Chinese classical works (89 entries); Buddhist literature by both Chinese and Japanese authors (127 entries); and native Japanese works printed for Japanese readers in their own language (419 entries). With indexes, supporting reference material, a comprehensive bibliography and over 300 illustrations in coulour and black-and-white, this "Descriptive Catalogue" contributes to the study of early printing in Japan and should be a useful resource for anyone working in the field of Japanese bibliography, history or culture before 1700.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

This catalogue identifies and describes the Armenian manuscripts in the British Library's collections acquired since 1913, as well as 13 other un-catalogued collections in libraries and museums in the UK such as the Bodleian and John Rylands. The introduction provides a short history of each of the collections described and a separate section outlining the sources of Armenian iconography. There is an entry for each manuscript which gives full details, a description of the physical object and its present condition, the binding, provenance, contents, and details of any illustrations contained.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• The dawn of mapmaking (to 1594)
• Early published maps (1598-1760)
• Commercial cartography and education (1760-1850)
• The Victorian era and growth of the mass market (1850)
• Cartobibliographical details.

This text describes the British Library's "Initiatives for Access" programme which has explored the application of digital and networking technologies for the storage, retrieval, display and transmission of information. The programme has created demonstrator projects, a number of which are now live services, including "Inside" (a current awareness and document delivery system), the "Patent Express Jukebox" "Electronic Beowulf" and the British Library Online Information Service. It has also contributed to the development of several award-winning multimedia CD-ROMs based on the Library's collections. This book provides a detailed account of the projects through individual case studies, with introductory and linking text which draws together technical standards and service issues. It also looks at the likely needs of a future information environment.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

Dispersed along the shelves of the British Library today are many volumes that once stood side by side in private libraries. The contributors to "Libraries within the Library" present a collection of essays that explore some of the most important printed collections which were brought together to form the British Museum Library in 1753, casting new light on the individuals whose personal interests and taste they reflect. This book is divided into Introduction, The Foundation Collections, The Early Decades, The King's Library, Later Collections of Books within the British Museum library, Appendices.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)