Department of Prints and Drawings

The Museum's Department of Prints and Drawings is devoted to making its collection and specialist knowledge accessible. The entire prints and drawings collection has been catalogued.

You can search for information and images about objects from the collection on Collection online which has information about more than four million objects in the British Museum collection.

• You can make an appointment to see works from the Prints and Drawings collection in our study room. Please complete our study room application form and email it to pdstudyroom@britishmuseum.org
• The Department of Prints and Drawing Study Room is located on the fourth floor on the north (Montague Place) side of the Museum, next to the Prints and Drawings gallery (Room 90) – view the Museum map.
• It's open from 10.30–13.00 and 14.00–16.00 on Wednesdays, Thursday and Fridays. 
• It's closed in January every year.
• Visit our Study rooms page for further information. 
• We aim to answer questions from the public by post or email that relate to our own collection, or to the graphic arts in general. We won't reply to enquiries that don't relate to prints and/or drawings. 

When completing your study room application form, please be aware:

• If individual works are required, please supply registration numbers and locations or, alternatively, a more general description, such as:
  • 'Rembrandt etchings from the 1630s'
  • 'A box of Mary Delany watercolours'
  • 'Picasso's Vollard suite etchings' etc.
• The only restricted items in the Prints and Drawings collection are works by Jacopo Bellini and watercolours by Albrecht Dürer. If you wish to see these items, you must write to the Keeper of Prints and Drawings by letter or email, explaining why you want to see them. Decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis.

If you're a teacher or lecturer wishing to teach parties of students in front of works in the study room, you may use the centre table in the department for display. Departmental staff are not available for teaching, but will put out whatever selection of works is asked for.

There's space for a maximum of 10 people at the centre table in the study room, including the tutor. Larger groups will have to be split into shifts. The centre table can hold about 15 works. You must supply a list of the works to be shown at least two weeks in advance, by email to pdstudyroom@britishmuseum.org. Please provide as complete references as possible, including register numbers, artist's name, location and references to standard catalogues.

During the session the tutor must ensure that members remain around the centre table, and don't approach other areas in the study room. Pencils, not ink, should be used for taking notes.

If you'd like to make a booking then please contact the prints department by emailing pdstudyroom@britishmuseum.org. For all other group bookings, please refer to the group visits page.

The study room is in constant demand so it's recommended that you book well in advance.

No fee is charged for this facility, though donations made in recognition of our help are welcome.

About the library:

• The library's Prints and Drawings collection contains more than 25,000 books and periodicals pertaining to Western prints and drawings.
• It has extensive runs of most major art periodicals and an important collection of 18th and 19th-century British and foreign prints and drawings auction catalogues.
• Newly published monographs, catalogues and journals related to the graphic arts continue to be added.
• Most of the Museum's records are kept in the Central Archives, but among the archives found in the department library are the registers of acquisition and visitors' books.
• The library collection is vital to the ongoing research of the Prints and Drawings collection.

Using the library:

• Records of books and other materials held by the Department of Prints and Drawings Library may be accessed using the British Museum library catalogue.
• Please contact the library service at library@britishmuseum.org to make an appointment to consult library materials, allowing 10 working days for a reply.

A selection of our holdings are generally displayed in temporary exhibitions in Rooms 90 and 90a. 

You can view a selection of items from the extensive collection of Western graphic art in the Prints and Drawings collection in the Prints and Drawings virtual gallery. 

• You can search for images on the British Museum collection database which has information about more than four million objects in the British Museum collection. Most of these images are available free of charge for non-commercial purposes. 
• High-resolution digital images of most of the objects in the collection are available for purchase from BM Images.
• To commission new photography or to use images for commercial purposes, please contact sales@bmimages.com. 
• You may take pictures of works on display in our exhibition galleries unless they've been lent to us and the lenders have refused permission for public photography.
• We also allow non-Museum photographers to take images of works in our study room.
• Press, television and film companies should contact the Museum Press Office: communications@britishmuseum.org.

The British Museum lends its collection widely. For information on borrowing items for your organisation, read our How to borrow page.

The Department of Prints and Drawings provides an object identification service. Through this, we offer opinions on objects held by members of the public.

If you have any questions about our identification service, please email the department at prints@britishmuseum.org in advance of your visit so a member of staff can advise. 

Please note:

• We do not provide valuations or certificates of authentication – if you require this advice, please consult a dealer or auctioneer.
• Neither the Trustees of the British Museum nor members of staff can accept liability for opinions given on objects submitted for examinations, or for information provided.

Read more about the object identification service. 

• The object identification service is available on Wednesday, between 14.00–16.00, by appointment only. Please email prints@britishmuseum.org to arrange an appointment. 
• The service is free, but no more than 10 objects can be shown at one time.

• If requests are made electronically, digital images should be sent to prints@britishmuseum.org.
• All images should be clear enough that any lettering and detail is legible, but individual emails should not exceed 2MB.
• Please indicate when and how the objects came into your possession.