Explore Our Special Collection
Special Collections is the home of hundreds of thousands of rare books, manuscripts, archives, art and objects. Our collections offer a rich resource for staff, students, and the wider research community.
Art and Antiques Market Collections
A guide to the Art and Antique Dealers’ Collections held in Special Collections.
Cookery Collections
The Cookery collection dates from 1487 to the 21st century. It is made up of nearly 10,000 printed volumes and contains over 140 manuscript recipe and household books.
International Textile Collections
Formerly known as ULITA, the International Textile Collection is an exemplary collection of world textiles, rich in embroideries, weaves, resists and prints from around the world.
Feminist Archive North Collections
The Feminist Archive North holds a wide variety of material relating to the Women's Liberation Movement from 1969 to the present day.
Featured
Description
Private library of archive and printed material relating to all aspects of furniture history and design belonging to the antiques dealer John (Victor) Bedford (1941-2019).
The archival collection includes trade cards, billheads, accounts, advertisements, posters, inventories, indentures, estate papers and files of reference material (cuttings from trade and auction catalogues etc) relating to furniture design, production, ownership and sale in the UK and abroad. A particular strength is cabinet-furniture making in Birmingham (UK).
The printed collection comprises over 5500 items, including books and printed ephemera, from the seventeenth century onwards, many of them extremely rare and in some cases unique. They cover all aspects of furniture-making from interiors and furnishings, lighting and metalwork, drapery and upholstery to architectural and garden design. The book collection contains trade directories, trade catalogues, pattern books, books of ornament, drawing books, manuals, inventories of country houses, auction catalogues and modern reference works.