Strange Texts · Libraries & Collections

Lansdowne Collection

A collection rich in British historical and political material, reflecting the interests of earlier antiquaries and statesmen.

British Library · Historical papers and manuscripts

A folio from a Carthusian customary, Lansdowne MS 1201
Lansdowne MS 1201, British Library. Image source: Wikimedia Commons ↗

Associated with William Petty, Marquess of Lansdowne, this collection holds manuscripts relevant to government, history, biography, and scholarship. Letters, papers, and historical compilations offer a different kind of encounter with the past than a lavish illuminated codex: fragments of practical recordkeeping whose later significance was often unforeseen.

A point of interest

Why seemingly ordinary documents become indispensable historical evidence.

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