Holdings
- Books
There are specialist book collections on the following subjects:
- London and its history
- Local history
- Family history
- English law
- Parliamentary material
- Wine and food
- Clocks and clockmakers (incorporating also the libraries of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers and of the Antiquarian Horological Society)
- Business history
- Marine history
- Several smaller collections
The local history 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, the library holds a collection of county, town and village histories, and also holds journals and other publications of many local history and archaeological societies.
- Manuscripts
The manuscripts include the archives of:
- The Diocese of London
- St Paul's Cathedral
- the City wards and parishes
- around 80 of the City livery companies
However the archives of the City of London itself are administered separately by the Corporation of London Records Office.
- Other materials
The print room is a prime source of historical pictures and maps of Greater London, with very diverse collections of prints, drawings, photographs, press cuttings, maps, theatre bills, and ephemera. A large amount of material has been placed online.
Read more about this topic: Guildhall Library
Famous quotes containing the word holdings:
“Polarized light showed the secret architecture of bodies; and when the second-sight of the mind is opened, now one color or form or gesture, and now another, has a pungency, as if a more interior ray had been emitted, disclosing its deep holdings in the frame of things.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)