Original printed works

Held at the Science Museum Library Wroughton

• Rare Books collection : 4600 books and 85 periodicals published before 1800, and rare later works.
• Comben Collection  of early works illustrative of the History of Animal Husbandry, Farriery and the Veterinary Art
• Watt Collection : 119 titles owned by James Watt (1736-1819), the famous engineer
• International Exhibitions : 1278 publications from exhibitions held throughout the world including the Great Exhibition of 1851
• Nineteenth century books : about 23,000 popular and academic books covering all branches of science, technology and engineering including natural history and scientific exploration
• Twentieth century books : about 75,000 popular, technical and academic books on all branches of science, technology and industry.
• Periodicals : a collection rich with scientific and engineering journals from around the world with many foreign language titles.
• Patents : British patent specifications dating from 1617 to 1992
• Trade Literature : technical and promotional literature including trade catalogues and instruction manuals from thousands of mainly British companies
• Trade Directories : several hundred trade and street directories of different industries and locations, but focussed on London, mostly dating from the twentieth century.
• Chartered Institute of Transport: several hundred bound volumes of reports, books and pamphlets dealing with all aspects of transport including management, policy, company information and history, the social aspects of transport and town planning.
• Walt Patterson Nuclear Collection : ephemera and popular and semi-popular books on nuclear energy.
• John Milne Seismological Library : a collection of several hundred books, pamphlets and journals covering seismology and earthquakes from the 18th to early 20th centuries.