Kew's Library Art and Archives

Kew's Library, Art & Archives contains more than half a million items, including books, botanical illustrations, photographs, letters and manuscripts, periodicals, biographies and maps. Within the Illustration Collection there are more than 200,000 prints and drawings, including original works of art in various media. These range in date from the great masters of botanical illustration of the 18th century to contemporary botanical artists of today. The Archive holds over 7 million sheets of paper in 4,600 archival collections. Items from Kew's Library, Art and Archives collections are often on display in the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art.