Besides the Countrywide Artwork Librarys main catalogues, the following sources are available for material in the Exclusive Collections:
Closed collections
The Countrywide Art Library holds a number of libraries put together by individuals, as well as collections relating to a single subject acquired at one time. These are preserved as distinct entities rather than integrated into the librarys general stock. They are known as Closed Collections, meaning that they are no longer added to.
Each Closed Collection has a group-level description on the Library Catalogue, where the collections history, contents and cataloguing position are made clear. Where they exist, ancillary lists and catalogues for each Closed Collection are mentioned. These lists and catalogues are being transferred into the Librarys Computer Catalogue as resources allow.
The two largest Closed Collections are the Dyce Collection and the Forster Collection. Entries from these catalogues have now been transferred on on the Computer Catalogue as part of the National Art Library Heritage Project. Copies of the printed catalogues of 1869 and 1876, annotated with pressmarks, remain available for consultation near the Invigilators Desk in the Reading Room.
Bindings
A typescript list of the Librarys collection of fine bindings, arranged chronologically by country and including an index of binders names, is available at the Counter in the Centre Room. An incomplete photographic catalogue of fine bindings, currently being revised and extended, is also available from the Counter.
For material catalogued from 1987 onwards, including the Clements Collection, the Library Catalogue provides detailed information.
Childrens books
Entries for both current and older acquisitions can be found on the Library Catalogue, along with Beatrix Potter material and an increasing proportion of the Renier Collection.
Early printed books
Apart from the National Artwork Librarys own Catalogues, the following short-title catalogues can be useful in identifying early printed materials held in the Library. All are described in the Library Catalogue.
The British Library Incunable Short-Title Catalogue, known as ISTC and containing all European works printed before 1501. The catalogue is maintained on a database at the British Library to which libraries all over the world contribute. A print-out of Nationwide Artwork Library materials on the database is available at the Library Counter.
Pollard, A.W. G.R. Redgrave, A Short-Title Catalogue of Books Printed in England, Scotland and Ireland and of English Books Printed Abroad, 1475-1640. 2nd ed. in 3 volumes. London: Bibliographical Society, 1976-1991
Wing, D.G. A Short-Title Catalogue of Books Printed in England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales and British America, and of English Books Printed in Other Countries, 1641-1700. 2nd ed. in 3 volumes. New York: Modern Language Association, 1972-1988
At a future date, it is hoped to enter details of the Librarys 18th-century books onto the Eighteenth Century Short-Title Catalogue of Works printed in Great Britain and her Colonies and all Works in English (ESTC). This is maintained as a database at the British Library and in the United States. A CD-ROM version of the database, published by the British Library in 1992, is held in the Nationwide Artwork Library.
Printers and publishers
This index of printers and publishers of books in the National Art Library published before 1801 is on a beige microfiche in the Centre Room. Based on this index is a Topographical Index, on clear microfiche, listing printers by town. The Library Catalogue gives access to printers and publishers of works catalogued from 1987 onwards, plus an increasing amount of earlier material.
Manuscripts
Descriptions of the Librarys holdings of manuscript material can now be found on the Library Catalogue. Documentary manuscripts (including autograph letters), western medieval illuminated manuscripts, oriental manuscripts, typescripts and modern calligraphy can be located using a variety of search options on the catalogue. For example, senders and recipients of letters can be found by using the Name index and a list of examples of calligraphy can be found by using the Physical feature index.
Manuscripts are also found in the Closed Collections, notably in the Forster Collection and the Dyce Collection.
Archives
To locate material held in the Archive of Artwork and Design and for information on the VAs archival files, see Archives.
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