Collection of ephemera, 1857-1869 and undated {1850s-1860s}, largely printed, including playbills, programmes, song sheets, catalogues and guides, relating to events, including sport, music, fireworks, fountains and illuminations, at the Crystal Palace (Sydenham, Kent); to operas at the Royal English Opera and the Royal Italian Opera, Covent Garden (Westminster); and to theatrical, musical and other recreational events, including comedies, ballets, tableaux, dioramas, exhibitions, and popular scientific events, at various premises including in Westminster, St Marylebone, Paddington, St Pancras, St Giles in the Fields, South Kensington, Kew, and Greenwich.

The Special Collections fonds comprises four important collections of graphic material: prints and maps from the Guildhall Library; Ordnance Survey maps; the photograph library and a collection of prints.

The Guildhall Library Prints and Maps collection is a diverse collection of graphic material relating to the City of London and surrounding areas, 1553-2008; including prints, sketches, drawings, engravings, etchings, panoramas, photographs and lantern slides of various subjects including streets and buildings, Second World War bomb damage, churches, people, City of London Corporation personnel and events including the Lord Mayor, statues and memorials, the Thames, and markets. Also maps, plans and surveys of London and surrounding counties, London streets, parish boundaries, railways, tramways, and sewers. With a collection of ephemeral items including posters, bills, cuttings, printed menus, invitations, exhibition ephemera, playing cards, trade cards, booksellers' labels, satires, and theatre playbills and programmes.

Ordnance Survey maps of Kent, 1894-1939; London, 1848-1940; and Middlesex, 1863-1914.

The prints collection is arranged by area of London, including views of streets and buildings in Bermondsey, Bethnal Green, Battersea, Chelsea, Camberwell, City of London, Deptford, Finsbury, Fulham, Greenwich, Holborn, Hackney, Hammersmith, Hampstead, Islington, Kensington, Lambeth, Lewisham, Paddington, Poplar, Shoreditch, Saint Marylebone, Stoke Newington, Saint Pancras, Stepney, Southwark, Wandsworth, Tower of London, Westminster, and Woolwich; 1508-1988.

The photograph library, 1890-1986, includes photographs of streets organised by borough, including Barking and Dagenham, Barnet, Bexley, Brent, Bromley, Camden, Hammersmith and Fulham, City of London, Croydon, Ealing, Enfield, Greenwich, Hackney, Haringey, Harrow, Havering, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Islington, Kensington and Chelsea, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Newham, Redbridge, Richmond, Southwark, Sutton, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest, Wandsworth and Westminster. Also photographs of subjects including London County Council and Greater London Council personnel, buildings and services; parks; statues; events and visits; important buildings; schools and educational services; rivers; fountains; industrial sites; healthcare services; museums; almshouses; lodging houses; youth clubs; social problems; docks; transport; churches and chapels; emergency services; libraries; restaurants and public houses.