Published by Primary Source Microfilm

"The British Library houses the world's greatest collection of English literary manuscripts. Despite the work done by scholars in the past generations, it is evident that these sources'especially those of the 16th and 17th centuries have never been fully exploited; moreover, that a systematic bibliographical and textual study of them is still largely in its infancy."
-- Dr. Peter Beal, Compiler of Volumes 1 (1450-1625) and 11 (1625-1700) of the Index of English Literary Manuscripts (London, 1980)

Series One: The English Renaissance--Literature from the Tudor Period to the Restoration, c.1500-c.1700

The English Renaissance makes available the British Library Collection of literary manuscripts for the main periods of the 16th and 17th centuries; Tudor, Elizabethan, Jacobean, Caroline, Civil War and Restoration.

Part One: Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century Manuscripts from the Sloane and Additional Manuscripts, Section A
18 reels

Part Two: Sloane/Section B
18 reels

Part Three: Sloane/Section C
17 reels

Part Four: Manuscripts from the Sloane and Additional, Arundel, Burney, Cotton, Egerton, Hargrave and Lansdowne Collections
20 reels

Part Five: Manuscripts from the Royal, Kings' and Stowe Collections
13 reels

Part Six: Manuscripts from the Harleian Collection
23 reels

Series Two: The Eighteenth Century, c.1700-c.1800

This second series of material from the British Library covers all aspects of 18th century literary activity. Biography, travel writing, poetry, drama and the novel are all well represented.

Part One: Manuscripts from the Sloane and Additional Manuscripts 25 reels

Part Two: Manuscripts from the Sloane and Additional, Burney, Egerton, Harleian, Kings', Lansdowne, and Stowe Collections 18 reels

Part Three: Edward Gibbon Manuscripts 7 reels

Series Three: The Medieval Age, c.1150-c.1500

This collection constitutes one of the most important medieval literature collections in the world with works by all the best-known writers, alongside a wealth of fascinating lesser-known works which offer new research opportunities.

Part One: Manuscripts from the Sloane and Additional Manuscripts, Section A
21 reels

Part Two: Section B
21 reels