Library and archives

The Museum's Egyptian and Sudanese collections, among the most important of their kind in the world, are underpinned by the library of the Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan which ranks among the top ten libraries for Egyptology world wide.

The departmental library has been in existence since around 1860. Its aim is to cover all elements of Egyptology and Sudanology. The collection comprises over 19,000 library items, the oldest of which was published in 1636.

The library has a particularly strong collection of older material (including journals going back to the nineteenth century), museum and exhibition catalogues (around 1,300 items), auction catalogues, and the Nubia and Sudan section. Special collections include the Rare Book Collection, Pamphlet Collection and the Roxie Walker Collection (books on Physical Anthropology). The library also houses over 200 runs of journals, of which 110 are current.

This collection enables research into any topic in Egyptology, Coptology, and Sudanology.

The departmental library is a library of last resort. It is used primarily by British Museum staff, participants in the International Curatorial Training Programme, and scholars and international researchers who are working on the department's collection of objects. It is also accessible to those who are seriously researching topics in the fields of ancient Egypt, Coptic Egypt and Sudan.

Appointments should be made through the librarian.

Since its move in 2001 the library has been accommodated in the Study room, which is the dynamic heart of the department and an integral part of its public-service provision.

Images:

• Researchers in the Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan Study Room.
• The oldest book in the collection, Athanasius Kircher's Prodromus coptus sive aegyptiacus, was published in 1636. It includes the first Coptic grammar published in the West. It is on display in the Enlightenment gallery (Room 1).