Enquiries & opening times
Map showing the location of the Guildhall
Library
Online library catalogue
Guildhall Library guides
Download the Prints and Maps
newsletter (288kb)
Events taking place at Guildhall Library
100 years of the Olympics in London
The original Library at Guildhall
was founded in the 1420s under the terms of the will of
Richard Whittington. Today, it is a major public reference
library which specialises in the history of London, especially
the City, as well as having other significant collections.
The collections held at Guildhall Library are designated as a
collection of national and international importance.
The Library is divided into three sections:
Printed books
Manuscripts
Prints, maps and drawings
You are welcome to use the collections in person or you can
contact us by post, fax, email or telephone. There are no
formalities or registration requirements although we suggest you
bring some form of identification (eg driving licence, passport,
library or record office card) in case you wish to view some of our
rarer items. Staff are pleased to assist in supplying information
and in identifying and interpreting printed, manuscript, pictorial
and cartographic sources. This help is available without charge
although for more extensive research we recommend that you use our
fee-based service,
search@guildhall library or employ the services of a
professional researcher.
Guildhall Library bookshop
Our own publications and merchandise are available for sale in
our bookshop. Tel 020 7332 1858 or email the bookshop at
bookshop@cityoflondon.gov.uk for
more information, including details of trade discount, or
click here to order a
publication online.
New acquisitions in Printed Books (68kb)
Guided tours of Guildhall Library for family historians
This will take place on 8 January, 11 March and 13 May.
Each visit will start at 1.00pm and will last for one hour. You
will be shown resources for tracing family history in the Printed
Books section and then view a selection of original documents in
the Manuscripts section.
Electronic resources in Guildhall Library
Would you like to know more about our electronic resources and
receive help in using them? Each visit will start at 1.00pm
and will last for one hour. The next sessions will be on 2
January, 5 March and 7 May.
Guided tours of Guildhall Library
These will take place on 6 February, 2 April and 4 June. Each
visit will start at 1.00pm and will last for one hour. You will
hear about the history of the Library, see the collections and
visit behind the scenes.
If you would like to book any of these events, please
telephone 020 7332 1868 / 1870 or email us at
printedbooks.guildhall@cityoflondon.gov.uk.
Printed books
London
history
The Printed Books section specialises in the history of the City
of London (the Square Mile), but also collects material on the rest
of Greater London. From breweries to football clubs, Mayfair madams
to Jack the Ripper, we may have a book, pamphlet or periodical
article on any aspect of London life that interests you.
Local
history
Our collections are not restricted to London but cover the whole
of the British Isles. In addition to complete sets of the Victoria
County History of England volumes and Nikolaus Pevsner's Buildings
of England, we have an excellent collection of county, town and
village histories. We also take the journals and other publications
of many local history and archaeological societies.
Family
history
If your interest is in family history, we may be able to help in
tracing your ancestors. Although our primary sources, such as the
parish registers held in the Manuscripts section, relate mainly to
the 'square mile' of the City, we hold a wide range of useful
secondary sources. These include family history society journals
and other publications, printed parish register transcripts,
Burke's and Debrett's peerage and landed gentry publications,
directories of professions (eg Army List, Navy List, Air Force
List, Crockford's Clerical Directory, Law List, Medical Directory),
printed registers of public schools and universities and the London
Gazette. We also have an extensive collection of trade and
telephone directories for the whole of the British Isles, the
International Genealogical Index for the British Isles on both
microfiche and CD-ROM and the 1881 census surname index. Useful
CD-ROMS include Palmer's Index to the Times, 1790-1905 and the
Official Index to the Times, 1906-1980.
Click on the list below to download leaflets
Apprenticeship records (563k)
Boyds Marriage Index (35kb)
Census material (53kb)
Occupational listings (54kb)
Old Bailey sessions papers (82kb)
Biographical and genealogical research
(51kb)
Trade directories and telephone
books (47kb)
For more about family history visit
London Metropolitan Archives.
English law
Our files of English law reports are the most comprehensive
likely to be found outside a specialist library. We also hold
Halsbury's Laws of England, Halsbury's Statutes of England,
Halsbury's Statutory Instruments, Sweet and Maxwell's Current Law
and the Digest. Please note that we are not a law library and do
not stock up-to-date legal textbooks.
Law Reports (134kb)
Law collections (60kb)
Current law reports (45kb)
Parliamentary
Our extensive collections include debates and journals of the
House of Commons and House of Lords, House of Commons papers from
1801 onwards, public and local statutes and statutory instruments.
We have a complete set of parliamentary debates (Hansard) from
1803. Some parliamentary material is also available on CD-ROM.
Following a bill through parliament
(65kb)
Parliamentary resources (86kb)
Wine and
food
The following collections are held by Guildhall Library: The
André Simon collection, the library of the International Wine and
Food Society, the Elizabeth David Collection and the
Institute of Masters of
Wine Library. In addition to these specialist gastronomic
collections, we hold many related works covering the history of
cookery, brewing, agriculture and domestic science.
Wine and food collections (70kb)
Clocks and
clockmakers
Guildhall Library houses the libraries of the Clockmakers'
Company and the Antiquarian Horological Society. These provide both
technical details of clocks and watches and biographical
information on their makers. The records of the Clockmakers'
Company are held by the Manuscripts section. The
Clock Museum, also within the Guildhall Library building,
houses a unique exhibition tracing the development of clocks and
watches through the centuries.
Clock and watchmakers (78kb)
Business
history
The City's position as a financial centre is reflected in our
business history collection. Printed material deposited here by the
Stock Exchange includes loan and company prospectuses from 1824 to
1964 and annual reports of quoted companies from 1880-1965. (Please
note that the latter are housed in an outstore and require a
minimum of 48 hours notice to obtain.) Historical files of
commercial periodicals and statistical series are also available.
Current commercial information is available at the
City Business Library.
Brewery history (46kb)
Business history (66kb)
Exchange rates (58kb)
Share price indexes (59kb)
Marine
history
A major collection of marine material has been deposited with us
by Lloyd's of London, and this is especially useful for tracing
information on merchant vessels and shipping casualties. The only
biographical material is contained in the Lloyd's Captains'
Registers, 1869-1948, which include both Merchant Navy masters and
mates. These are available for consultation in the
Manuscripts
Section's website.
We do not hold any information on ordinary merchant seamen - for
this you should contact either the Registry of Shipping and Seamen
at Cardiff or the Public Record Office at Kew. The latter also
holds records of the Royal Navy and its personnel. There are no
photographs or other illustrations in the Lloyd's marine collection
- for these you should contact the National Maritime Museum.
However, we do purchase many related works on merchant fleets and
shipping companies, shipbuilders, disasters at sea (including, of
course, the Titanic), and all things maritime. Click on the list
below to download leaflets.
Casualty returns (49kb)
Immigration records in Australia and New
Zealand (61kb)
Immigration records in North America
(48kb)
Lloyds List Indexes (42kb)
Marine Sources (101kb)
Passenger and Crew Lists (83kb)
RMS Titanic (44kb)
Shipping loss information (57kb)
Shipping records of ownership and salvage
(35kb)
Voyage Record Cards (55kb)
Useful addresses for maritime
research (72kb)
Other
specialist collections
The Gardeners' Company collection (historic books on gardening),
The Fletchers' Company collection (books on archery), the Gresham
College collection (17th and 18th century music and early travel
and exploration), the Cock Collection (material on Sir Thomas
More), the Charles Lamb Society collection, the Chapman Bequest
(19th century plays), the Hamilton Bequest (18th and 19th century
plays), the Pepys Collection (Samuel Pepys) and a collection of
18th, 19th and 20th century books on shorthand.
Manuscripts
The Manuscripts Section of Guildhall Library is the local record
office for the City of London (the "Square Mile"), although it does
not hold
the archives of the City of London itself which are separately
administered.
Its holdings date from the 11th century and include the archives
of:
- the Diocese of London,
- St Paul's Cathedral,
- the City wards and parishes, and
- around 80 of the City livery companies.
It also holds family and estate records and the records of
several foundations which originated in the City of London, for
example Christ's Hospital school and the Corporation of Trinity
House. In keeping with its location, it also holds considerable
business and commercial archives, including those of the London
Stock Exchange, the London Chamber of Commerce, Lloyd's of London
and numerous merchant banks, insurance companies, stockbrokers,
merchants and trading companies.
For more information follow the links below:
Visit the
Manuscripts Section's website
Download the
Manuscripts Newsletter (168kb)
Print Room
The Print Room is a prime source of historic pictures and maps
of Greater London. It is widely used by picture researchers,
architectural historians, family historians and art historians.
Collections include:
- Prints and drawings of London life and architecture from the
15th century to the present
- Photographs of London streets and buildings from the 1850s to
the present
- Panoramas
- Portraits
- Satirical prints
- London maps from the 16th century to the present (including
historic and modern Ordnance Survey large scale plans)
- Noble Collection of cuttings and ephemera (80,000 items)
- Norman Collection on London taverns and coffee houses
- Fillinham Collection on London pleasure gardens
- City of London banquet menus and invitations
- St Paul's Cathedral Print Collection (including many of Wren's
original drawings for the cathedral)
- London trade cards and bill-heads
- London theatre bills and programmes
- Chadwyck-Healey Collection of watercolours (late 19th
century)
- Wakefield Collection of prints and drawings
- E W Cooke drawings of Old London Bridge
- Penton Collection of drawings of City churches (early 20th
century)
- Mathews Collection of watercolours of war damage in the
City
- Society for Photographing Relics of Old London (photos, late
19th century)
- Goad Fire Insurance maps
There are also collections which do not relate specifically to
London, eg:
- Willshire Collection of Old Master Prints
- Worshipful Company of Makers of Playing Cards collection of
historic playing cards
- Knaster Collection of booksellers' labels
- Bookplate collection
- Old Ordnance Survey maps of the Home Counties (6 inch
scale)
- Geological maps of Britain
- County maps (17th to 19th century)
Copying facilities
Some material can be photocopied (eg facsimile maps and the
Noble Collection), but most items are very fragile and may only be
reproduced by photography. A professional photographer visits the
Print Room each week. Readers can also use their own photographic
equipment. It is possible to obtain photographs, digital images and
black and white photocopies direct from the
COLLAGE image database.
Catalogues
Most of the Print Room's collections are included on the
library's text-only computer catalogue. Staff can advise about the
availability of uncatalogued material and are happy to assist with
every enquiry. About 26,000 prints, maps and drawings are now
included on the library's image database,
COLLAGE, which enables the public to search the
collections by artist, subject, date and medium and to view items
instantly at high resolution on screen.