The Archive

A Repository of Rare Manuscripts,
Historical Artifacts & Curated Collections

♦ • ♦

REGISTERED COLLECTION

REF. NO. YLG-ARC-2026 · CLASSIFICATION: GENERAL · ACCESS: PUBLIC

Descend into the Collection

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About the Collection

Provenance & Institutional History

Founded in the year 1753, The Archive stands as one of the foremost repositories of human knowledge and artistic achievement in the Western world. Our collection encompasses over fourteen thousand catalogued items spanning six millennia of recorded civilization, from Sumerian clay tablets to illuminated medieval manuscripts and early printed incunabula.

The institution traces its origins to the private library of Sir Edmund Hale-Worthington, whose bequest of some three hundred rare volumes and curiosities formed the nucleus of what would become a comprehensive scholarly archive. Successive generations of benefactors, expeditionary scholars, and institutional partnerships have expanded the holdings into a collection of international significance.

“To preserve is to honour; to catalogue is to comprehend; to make accessible is to illuminate.”

— Sir Edmund Hale-Worthington, Founding Charter, 1753

Today, The Archive serves as both a custodial institution and a centre of active scholarship. Our reading rooms welcome researchers by appointment, and our ongoing digitisation programme ensures that the treasures held within these walls may be studied and appreciated by an ever-widening audience of scholars, students, and the intellectually curious.

Collection Summary

TOTAL HOLDINGS 14,237

MANUSCRIPTS 3,891

PRINTED WORKS 6,412

ARTIFACTS 2,156

CARTOGRAPHIC 1,778

Key Dates

1753 Foundation by charter of George II

1801 Acquisition of the Montague Papers

1847 Opening of the East Reading Room

1923 Bequest of the Ravenswood Collection

1961 Conservation laboratory established

2003 Digital cataloguing programme commenced

Access Information

Reading rooms open Tuesday–Saturday, 10:00–17:00. Researchers require a valid reader’s pass, obtainable by application with two forms of identification and a letter of introduction.

CLOSED: SUNDAYS, MONDAYS & PUBLIC HOLIDAYS

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Catalog Browse

Selected Holdings · Arranged by Classification

All Items Manuscripts Incunabula Cartography Artifacts Correspondence

Manuscript

MS.1247

❦

Illuminated Folio

The Hale Psalter

English psalter on vellum, circa 1290. Thirty-two folios with gilt illuminated initials and marginal grotesques. Bound in blind-stamped calf over oak boards.

c. 1290 · ENGLAND VIEW RECORD →

Incunabulum

INC.0089

❖

Printed Volume

Nuremberg Chronicle

Liber Chronicarum. Hartmann Schedel, printed by Anton Koberger, 1493. Complete copy with 1,809 woodcut illustrations. Hand-coloured exemplar.

1493 · NUREMBERG VIEW RECORD →

Cartographic

MAP.0412

☉

Engraved Chart

Portolan Chart of the Mediterranean

Manuscript portolan chart on vellum, attributed to the Catalan school. Rhumb lines in red, green, and brown ink. Compass roses in gold leaf.

c. 1375 · MAJORCA VIEW RECORD →

Artifact

ART.0753

✠

Bronze Artifact

Ceremonial Astrolabe

Brass astrolabe with silver inlay, Isfahan, Safavid period. Inscribed with Arabic star names and planetary tables. Complete with rete and six tympans.

c. 1650 · ISFAHAN VIEW RECORD →

Correspondence

COR.1822

✉

Sealed Letter

Letters of Lady Ashworth

Collection of forty-seven letters, 1798–1812. Epistolary record of the Napoleonic era, describing continental travels and diplomatic encounters in vivid detail.

1798–1812 · VARIOUS VIEW RECORD →

Manuscript

MS.3056

❁

Botanical Study

Herbal of Pseudo-Apuleius

Ninth-century herbal with 131 painted illustrations of medicinal plants. Anglo-Saxon provenance, with Old English glosses added in a later hand.

c. 900 · ENGLAND VIEW RECORD →

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DISPLAYING 6 OF 14,237 CATALOGUED ITEMS · BROWSE FULL CATALOG FOR COMPLETE HOLDINGS

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Featured Acquisition

Recent Addition to the Permanent Collection

❧

Manuscript Folio

High-Resolution Facsimile

FIG. 1 — Folio 12r, detail PHOTO: ARCHIVE IMAGING DEPT.

Catalog Record

ACCESSION NO. 2026.037

NEW

TITLE

The Ashworth Book of Hours

DATE

c. 1410–1420

ORIGIN

Bruges, Flanders

MEDIUM

Vellum, tempera, gold leaf

DIMENSIONS

185 × 130 mm (leaf)

FOLIOS

246 leaves

The Ashworth Book of Hours represents one of the finest examples of early fifteenth-century Flemish manuscript illumination to emerge in private hands in recent decades. Produced in the workshop of an artist closely associated with the circle of the Limbourg Brothers, the manuscript contains a full liturgical calendar, the Hours of the Virgin, the Penitential Psalms, and an extensive litany of saints.

Of particular scholarly interest are the twenty-four full-page miniatures, executed with remarkable precision and luminosity. The calendar pages feature labour-of-the-months scenes of extraordinary detail, while the major divisions of the text are introduced by paintings of the life of the Virgin that display a sophisticated command of spatial recession and atmospheric perspective.

The manuscript was acquired through the generous bequest of the Ashworth family, in whose possession it had remained since at least the seventeenth century. Conservation work has stabilised the binding and addressed minor areas of pigment loss, and a full scholarly catalogue entry is currently in preparation.

A

Acquired 2026

ASHWORTH FAMILY BEQUEST

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Reading Room & Resources

Scholarly Access & Research Services

✍

Manuscript Room

The principal reading room for the consultation of original manuscripts, letters, and archival materials. Equipped with adjustable book cradles, conservation-grade lighting, and magnification apparatus.

CAPACITY: 24 READERS · BY APPOINTMENT

⌨

Digital Archive

Over 4,200 items have been digitised at high resolution and are available for consultation through our online catalogue. Researchers may request digitisation of additional materials.

4,200+ ITEMS ONLINE · OPEN ACCESS

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Conservation Lab

Our conservation department undertakes the stabilisation, repair, and preventive care of the collections. Visitors may observe conservation work in progress through the gallery viewing window.

EST. 1961 · VIEWING BY ARRANGEMENT

Research Services & Programmes

Fellowships & Grants

The Archive offers three annual research fellowships for scholars engaged in work relating to the collections. Fellows receive a stipend, workspace in the reading room, and access to the full holdings for a period of three to twelve months.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: 1 MARCH ANNUALLY

Lectures & Seminars

A programme of public lectures, colloquia, and exhibition-related events is maintained throughout the academic year. The annual Hale-Worthington Lecture, delivered by an invited scholar of international distinction, is the centrepiece of our public programme.

SEE EVENTS CALENDAR FOR SCHEDULE

Recent Publications

THE
ARCHIVE
JOURNAL

The Archive Journal, Vol. XLVII (2026)

Annual journal of scholarly articles relating to the collections. This volume features studies on the Ashworth Book of Hours, newly discovered marginalia in the Montague Papers, and a census of surviving copies of the Koberger Bible.

ISSN 0042-7713 · 320 PP.

OCCASIONAL
PAPERS
No. 19

Occasional Papers, No. 19: Flemish Illumination

A detailed technical and art-historical examination of the workshop practices evident in the Ashworth Book of Hours, with comparative analysis of related manuscripts in European collections.

ISBN 978-0-901234-56-7 · 96 PP.

EXHIBITION
CATALOG
2026

Mapping the Known World: Exhibition Catalogue

Companion volume to the 2026 exhibition of cartographic treasures from the collection, featuring full-colour reproductions and essays by leading historians of cartography.

ISBN 978-0-901234-78-9 · 248 PP.