Literature and writing | National Library of Australia (NLA)

Literature and writing

Showing 25 - 36 of 96 results
Collection guide
Fitzhardinge Collection

About 300 books including incunabula and early editions of classical texts, plus limited edition reprints of celebrated English writers, mostly published in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.

Collection guide
Katherine Parr’s handwriting and signature in a copy of A Sermon of Saint Chrysostom

Katherine Parr’s handwriting and signature in a copy of A Sermon of Saint Chrysostom (1542). Image by permission of Sudeley Castle, Winchcombe.

Gorgeous books and royal annotations

We stepped into the private libraries of one of history’s most infamous royal couples and discovered how ink, margins, and manuscript flourishes reveal more than meets the eye.

Event
Video
Sappho Hildegard von Bingen Aphra Behn rare books
Great female writers of centuries past: Sappho to Aphra Behn

Explore early women writers in the Library's rare books collections up to the year 1700.

Blog
Image of the title page and portrait frontispiece of NLA RB CLI 2050 with portrait frontispiece an image of a woman in profile with a prominent 18th-century wig.

Mrs M. Robinson, Poems, volume 1, London: Printed by J. Bell, British-Library, Strand, 1791, Clifford Collection (Overseas Rare Books), RB CLI 2050, nla.cat-vn2476718

Great female writers of the eighteenth century: Trailblazers and radicals

Dive into the works of great female writers held in the Library's rare books collection.

Blog
Collection guide
Groom Collection

About 200 books and 260 pamphlets, plus personal papers and photographs mainly related to Australian history, politics, law, literature and religion from Sir Ernest Littleton Groom.

Collection guide
Collection guide
Holmes Collection

Books, pamphlets, broadsides, posters, periodicals, newspapers and some manuscripts mostly relating to Federation and political and constitutional history.

Collection guide
Books and octavos of various colours and binding from the Ferguson Collection on shelves

The Ferguson Collection situated in the National Library stacks

Honouring a legacy through digitisation

A gift from the Ralf Iannuzzi Memorial Trust is helping us to digitise some of our rarest items. 

News article
Prof. John Morrissey, 2025 National Library of Australia Stokes Fellow leaning on a table in one of the reading rooms.

Prof. John Morrissey, 2025 National Library of Australia Stokes Fellow

Human life in a wider ecosystem: Judith Wright and environmental action

Learn about 2025 National Library of Australia Fellow John Morrissey's research into poet and environmentalist Judith Wright. 

Blog
Large wall of bookshelves with hundreds of colourful books
Indie publishing: your book in our collection

If you are considering independently publishing your book, learn how to get your published book into the Library's collection.

Blog
Library services
Collection guide
Jamieson Collection

About 360 titles, particularly strong in first editions of English poetry and novels published in the nineteenth century and early twentieth century.

Collection guide
Letter from Jane Austen to her sister Cassandra, 11 June 1799

Letter from Jane Austen to her sister Cassandra, 11 June 1799, nla.obj-229629481

Jane Austen and her legacy – 250 glorious years

Susannah Fullerton OAM, President of the Jane Austen Society of Australia delivered a public lecture marking the 250th Anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth.

Event
Video
Collection guide
Jensen Collection

553 books from the 19th to mid-20th century with a particular strength in botany and gardening, among many other subjects.

Collection guide

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