The Royal Society

You currently have JavaScript disabled in your web browser, please enable JavaScript to view our website as intended.Here are the instructions of how to enable JavaScript in your browser.

Collections

We have extensive collections open to researchers and members of the public. Access is free of charge.

Visit the library

Blog: the Repository

The gift of 1843

22 May 2018

Rose Teanby

Watching and wondering

16 May 2018

Virginia Mills

See all posts

Objectivity videos

Brady takes another 'lucky dip' into the huge collection of films at AP Archive.

Sight-Seeing Soviet Sailors - Objectivity #166

15 May 2018

Brady Haran

Brady and Keith look at the history of cloud chambers.

Cloud Chambers - Objectivity #167

22 May 2018

Brady Haran

Print shop

Explore science through its visual history with our collection of rare, intriguing and beautiful paintings, drawings and prints.

Purchase high quality prints of your favourite images from our library and archive collections.

Picture library

You can licence high resolution images for editorial and commercial uses.

Search our collections

Search across printed works and archives

Search in:

Printed Works Archives

Search for printed works

Show printed work search

Search Text

Use this to search for any text in the printed work record

Search for:

Any of these wordsAll of these wordsExact phrase

Author

Search for the author's surname or any other part of their name

Title

Search for any part of the title

Search for:

Any of these wordsAll of these wordsExact phrase

Year

Search for the year the item was published

Classmark

Descriptions of the classmarks for journals and books are available.
Press 'Ctrl' (or 'Cmd' on a Mac) to select more than one.

ISBN

Note that not all of the printed work have ISBN numbers

Search for archives

Show archives search

Visitors and researchers

The Library and Archives are open to researchers and members of the public free of charge.

Plan your visit

Opening times

10am - 5pm, Monday to Friday
Closed: Friday 29 June – Friday 6 July inclusive; Friday 13 July

The Wolfson Foundation at 60

Discover a selection of stories and documents.

Explore the Wolfson archives

Turning the pages

Explore a gallery of high-quality scans of some of the important and beautiful manuscripts in our collection.

View the collection

Down

The Davy lamp

Sir Humphry Davy (1778-1829) was a chemist, but perhaps is best known for inventing the miners’ safety-lamp, a lamp that would not cause explosions when gas was present in mines.
Read more
A Nobel laureate

Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin OM FRS (1910-1994) was a leading biochemist and a pioneer in the field of protein crystallography. She received a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1964, the first British woman to be so honoured.
Read more
Hooke’s micrographia

This is the world’s first illustrated book of microscopic observations. Robert Hooke investigated many everyday objects through the microscope, including a feather, mould, a razor’s edge, finely woven cloth, and even a full stop printed in a book.
Read more
Principia mathematica

The manuscript of Sir Isaac Newton’s work, philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica (1687, mathematical principles of natural philosophy), is the Royal Society’s greatest treasure and a cornerstone of scientific thought.
Read more
The art and science of Richard Waller

The paintings of Richard Waller FRS (c. 1660-1715) are technically brilliant and years ahead of their time. His groundbreaking set of botanical watercolours was intended to illustrate a catalogue of plants.
Read more
A view of Vesuvius

Sir William Hamilton FRS (1731-1803) arrived in Naples in 1764, intent on a systematic study of modern volcanic eruptions. He employed a monk, Antonio Piaggi, to keep daily written observations and pencil sketches of activity at Vesuvius.
Read more