The Hone Collection comprises 148 books illustrating the history of printing in Europe and Australia. Among the early works are:

• Appianus of Alexandria, P. Candidi in libros Appiani sophiste Alexandrini ad Nicolaum quintu summu pontificem, Bernadus pictorem & Erhardum, Venetijs, 1477
• Virgil, [Opera] Anton Koberger, Nuremburg, 1492
• Joannes de Burgo, Pupilla oculi oib sacerdotibus, François Regnault, Paris, 1521
• Geoffrey Whitney, A Choice of Emblems and Deuises for the Moste Parte Gathered out of Sundrie Writers, Christopher Plantyn, Leyden, 1586
• The Text of the New Testament of Jesus Christ, Christopher Barker, London, 1589
• Horace, [Opera] Ex Officia Elzeviriana, Leyden, 1629
• Edward Brown, An Account of Several Travels Through a Great Part of Germany, Benjamin Tooke, London, 1677
• Jacques de Solleysel,  Le parfait mareschal qui enseigne à connoistre la beauté, Henry van Bulderen, The Hague, 1691
• Alexander Pope, Mr Pope’s Literary Correspondence, E. Curll, London, 1735
• Catullus, Catulli, Tibulli at Propertii: Opera, John Baskerville, Birmingham, 1772.

Modern English private presses represented in the collection include:

• Astolat
• Chiswick
• Golden Cockerel
• Fanfrolico
• Gregynog
• Kelmscott
• Nonesuch
• Peter Pauper.

There are 18 productions of the Marlborough College Press, including its first publication, The Adderley Times (1934). Australian presses include:

• the Australian Limited Editions Society
• Frensham Press
• Hassell Press
• Juniper Press
• Sydney Technical College. 

There are also a number of commercial books on the history of printing.

The collection contains a medieval manuscript, a choirbook, written on vellum with music and text on alternate lines. It was probably written in Florence in the late 15th century.

Among the personal papers are 2 scrapbooks containing cuttings, programs and ephemera relating to Oxford University and Marlborough College, some papers concerning Marlborough College Press, and lecture notes on early printing.

The remainder of the papers mainly date from the last 20 years of Hone’s life. They include:

• correspondence
• financial papers
• appointment diaries
• agenda papers
• reports. 

There are extensive files on Melbourne Grammar School, the Schools Commission, and the Commonwealth Secondary Schools Libraries Committee, which Hone chaired in 1971–74.

In 1981, the personal papers of Hone were donated by Lady Hone under the Taxation Incentives for the Arts Scheme. She added further papers in 1989. Lady Hone presented his collection of rare books in 1986–89, again using the Taxation Incentives for the Arts Scheme.

The books in the Hone Collection are housed in the Rare Books collection in either the RB MISC or RB MOD runs. They have been catalogued individually and the entries include a provenance statement. 

The manuscript and the personal papers are kept in the Manuscripts collection. Use the finding aid.

This guide was prepared using these references:

• Weston Bate, Hone, Sir Brian William (1907–1978), Australian Dictionary of Biography online
• Chris Harrison, Sir Brian Hone: The Scholar, His Press and His Books in the National Library, National Library of Australia News, vol. 1 (5), February 1991, pp. 11–13.