British Library

Fragment of a manuscript of the Testament of Ba at the British Library.

The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of over 200 million items from multiple countries.

The library has an extensive manuscript collection, which includes rare manuscripts from Central Asia and East Asia, such as significant portions of the Dunhuang manuscripts collection, and a collection of Gandharan manuscripts.

In 1994, the Library established the International Dunhuang Project (IDP), an international collaborative effort to conserve, catalogue and digitize manuscripts, printed texts, paintings, textiles and artefacts from Dunhuang and various other archaeological sites at the eastern end of the Silk Road.

Further reading

• Digitised manuscripts and archives, The British Library
• Archives and manuscripts catalogue, The British Library
• British Library, Wikipedia