The main part of these manuscripts is a translation into English of part of the published account of de Bruin's travels. There is also a transcription of a small portion of Sir John Chardin's travels. The first volume is signed by Joseph Smith, probably Joseph Smith whose biographical details are noted under the appropriate heading, and some of the manuscripts are in his hand.

Papers of James Bruce, 1750-1779, comprise seven letters, various dates, 1758-1789, which refer to personal affairs, except for the letter to Mr. Mackenzie from Tunis, 9 May 1766, which describes a journey in the hinterland of Tunis.

Papers of Clarence Dalrymple Bruce, 1901-1907, comprise a diary of a journey across Asia in 1907; copies of an article for the London Evening Standard, 1902-1903; account of a ride from Peking to Lake Baikal; and two volumes of a route report from Tibet to Peking.

Papers, mainly accounts, concerning the British Antarctic expedition (1910-1913).

Papers of James Brant comprising a report of a journey through part of Armenia and Asia Minor, 1836, published in the Journal of the Royal Georgraphical Society vol 6; ten letters from Captain Washington and Colonel Jackson, (secretaries of the Royal Geographical Society) to Brant 1829-43; sketch map of disputed territory between 'Ghuriel' and 'Adjarah'. The collection also includes an impression of an RGS wax seal on an envelope, the only example of such a seal held within the archives.

Papers, 1963-1971 and undated, of and relating to Edward William Bovill, comprising notebooks and files and research material for the book Missions to the Niger, Vols I-IV (Hakluyt Society, 1962-1966). The papers are mainly xerox copies of correspondence in the Public Record Office relating to the explorations of Friedrich Hornemann, Mungo Park, Dixon Denham, Hugh Clapperton, Alexander Gordon Laing and Walter Oudney in Africa during the period c1800-1829. There are also several notebooks, which contain notes of the progress of Bovill's work.

Bourne and Tratman collection, 1897, comprises barometric and hypsometric observations, upper Yangtse Kiang, 1897 and correspondence from Tratman.

Papers of Vero Louis Bosazza, 1942-1980, comprise papers relating to his work as a geoglogist and include 'The identification of Daka na Moio island in the Shire river', 1969; 'Notes on the journal of Thomas Baines... April 3rd to September 17th 1858', 1970; 'Dr Livingstone's geological description omitted from the published version of Livingstone's African Journals, 1853-1856' (annotated transcipt, prepared from the original held by the National Archives of Rhodesia, 1973); 'David Livingstone, pilot and navigator', 1972 (two vols, typescript, fully annotated, maps, diagrams, tables, photographs and bibliography); 'The magnetic variations along the east coast of Africa, 1822-1969', 1972; ' Discussion on David Livingstone: a Mid-Victorian scientist by Dr D J Siddle', 1974; 'The Pioneer surveys in the Zambesi and Shire valleys and the mapping of Malawi', 1974; 'David Livingstone and his modern critics', 1975 (illustrated with maps, diagrams and photographs); 'Thomas Baines on the Zambesi', 1975. (Illustrated with maps and photograpghs); edited transcripts of: Antonio Jozi's 'Narrative of the proceedings of a small party ... July 1823 ... to explore the course of the river Zambesi' (Archives Library MSS.); and a letter from Thomas Maclear to David Livingstone, 11 July 1865 (Archives Special Collections: David Livingstone), 1976. Papers relating to southern Africa including: 'The Rev Robert Moffat's sextant', 1978; 'The grave of Herbert Rhodes on the Shire river, Malawi'; 1978.

Papers of G C Binsteed, 1913, comprise five journals of travel in Inner Mongolia with Captain Holme and in the Mongolian Republic, 1913. Translation by G C Binsteed of extracts from 'Report on a summer excursion into Mongolia in 1911'.

Papers of James Berry, 1879-1926 comprise a journal of a world tour via the Suez Canal, Colombo, Austrailia, New Zealand, Canada and include photographs of illustrations and text from the original manuscript. The collection also includes diaries, including one entitled 'My Journal 1892' and others dated 1879 and 1918-1926 and two annotated copies of the journal of a world tour.

Papers of Louis Charles Bernacchi, 1901-1925, including private diary covering the voyage of the DISCOVERY, 14 Feb-5 Nov [1901-1904], including sketch maps and photographs and folder containing a synopsis of the Antarctic expedition of 1925.

Histoire de l'Académie Royale des Sciences et Belles Lettres de Berlin, avec des Mémoires: Classe de Philosophie Expérimentale. Illustrated with folding and other pen and wash drawings. Produced in Berlin, 1748-1757.

Papers of Gertrude Margaret Lowthian Bell, 1905-1924, comprises twelve notebooks containing archaeological notes, plans of churches and other sites; records of inscriptions including those from Turkey, Iraq, and Syria; one notebook and folders containing astronomical observations from Arabia, 1913-1914 and a notebook by Lesley Gordon for an exhibition at the University of Newcastle, 1994.

Correspondence, papers and journals of Charles Tilstone Beke, 1824-1910, principally relating to Abyssinia and the Middle East, with papers of his wife Emily Beke (née Alston). The collection holds information on all aspects of Beke's career, from his early legal training to the search for employment and financial security of his final years. His intervening travels, geographical and biblical studies and resulting publications are documented by journals, notebooks and printed material. Correspondence includes that generated during Beke's secretaryship of the National Association for the Protection of Industry and Capital throughout the British Empire; and generally reflects a wide range of scholarly acquaintance and interests. Supplementary papers of Emily Beke record her championing of C.T. Beke's posthumous reputation, and her attempts to gain recompense for his occasional government service.

Papers of Prof Stanley Henry Beaver, 1930-1980, including papers on European railways; draft chapters for The British Isles; notes for Admiralty Handbooks on the Netherlands East Indies; papers on housing and planning and papers on British sand and gravel resources.

MSS. 5958-5963 comprise journals of A B Barton, mainly written while he was a medical officer in the service of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P & O), 1853-1858. They cover his journeys between Bombay, Singapore and Hong Kong; to the Crimea; and to the Far East. They include descriptions of the progress of the Chinese rebellion (MS. 5959), tending to and transporting the sick and wounded from Balaclava to Scutari (MS. 5960), and his shipwreck off the coast of Ceylon, together with General Henry Havelock, on the steamer Erin (MS. 5962). Some are manuscript or typescript copies. MSS. 7589-7594 comprise journals and sketches mainly relating to the Yangtse expedition, led by Captain Thomas W Blakiston, on which Barton served as a medical officer, 1861. One journal, MS. 7591, also records the end of the expedition and Barton's journey to Ceylon via Singapore, with entries on hunting expeditions in Ceylon. The journals are all fair copies. MS. 7592 comprises a narrative of the Yangste expedition read by Barton to the Royal Geographical Society, based on his journals. MS. 7593 is a series of mainly topographical illustrations relating to the expedition, comprising sketches by Barton, plus photographs and engravings based on other sketches by Barton, some of which were used to illustrate Five Months on the Yang-Tse by Thomas W Blakiston (London: John Murray, 1862). MS. 7594 comprises later papers of Brian M Gould relating to Barton and his journals, 1967 and n.d.

Papers of William Barents and Jacob van Heemskerk, 1871-1877, comprise a photocopy of record left by them on the island of Novaya Zemlya, in the Artic Circle, in 1597.

Papers of William Singer Barclay, 1901-1918, comprise diaries, 1901-1918, of residence and travel in Uruguay, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina Ecuador and Colombia; reports on the Misiones region, 1904-1907 and miscellaneous notes and news cuttings from a variety of sources concerning South America.

Papers of Sir Joseph Banks, 1788-1811, comprise microfilm, and enlarged prints from the microfilm, of papers held in the Sutro Collection, State Library of California concerning subjects including the Africa Association.

Personal papers and correspondence of Sir Joseph Banks, 1609-1618. His correspondence is primarily related to his interest in botany, hence the letters sent by Banks, were mainly sent to and about naturalists. In particular he was concerned with the welfare of naturalists and petitioned against the imprisonment of several naturalists as well as the provision of a salary for botanist Francis Masson (1741-1805). The papers reflect his overseas interests such as, his trip to Holland 1773, papers relating to China, and details of an expedition to India for which he provided instruction. His commitments in Lincolnshire are also represented in his papers, such as the survival of an account book for Hemingby Hospital. Family papers also survive, MS.5215: 1609-1816. In addition MS. 5250 consists of some surviving correspondence and papers, 1721-1739, of the Banks family, baronets, of Revesby Abbey, Lincolnshire.

Papers of Sir Samuel White Baker including diaries (which include sketches) of expeditions to the Upper Nile between 1861 and 1873, and notes on hunting in Ceylon 1844-1853; cash book for 1869; observations taken in Central Africa, 1860-1873 and papers and letters to John Petherick (1863) and Mr Kerrison (1873).

Papers of John Thomas Baines including manuscript descriptions of four lithographs of South Africa; photocopies of two letters to Thornton, one dated 1859; typed list of 288 paintings owned by the RGS; catalogue and booklet of exhibitions of 1975; topographical notes of journey west from Zambesi and diary, May 1869-April 1870, missing since 1968.

Papers of Sir George Back, 1814-1878, including c. 250 letters addressed to Sir George Back by various correspondents (listed by name), 1848-1878; personal letters from Back to his family, 1813-1878; photocopies of extracts from Back's sketchbook and slides of his sketches from 1819-1822 expedition to Arctic; passports and framed letter with sketches of polar bear, 1874.

Records of the London County Council Architect's Department relating to the control of buildings and streets under the London Buildings Act 1894 and subsequent Acts. Records include subject and policy files (including procedures, precedents, diagrams, plans, petitions, legislation, sub-committee papers, statistics, bye-laws, reviews, standards and fire reports), 1856-1965; subject and policy files for the District Surveyors, 1856-1936; subject and policy files for new building materials, 1891-1941; returns and abstracts of the District Surveyors, 1889-1954; registers of alterations to names of streets and numbering of houses, 1856-1935; reports, 1889-1965, on matters concerning building regulation, on matters affecting the District Surveyors and on the naming and numbering of streets; Ordnance Survey maps of London amended to show street name changes, proposed new roads, building numbering, borough boundaries and future road positions, 1883-1967.

Manuscript translation into English, by an unknown hand, of Petrus Martyr Anglerius, Opus epistolarum ... Cui accesserunt epistolæ Ferdinandi de Pulgar, Latinæ pariter atque Hispanicæ (in Latinum idioma conuersæ a J. Magon), cum tractatu Hispanico de viris Castellæ illustribus, edited by C. Patin, (Elsevir, Amsterdam, 1670) 'The Work of the Letters of Peter Martyr of Angleria, a Milanese...to which are added the letters of Fernandez de Pulgar....'.

Correspondence and papers of Alexander von Humboldt relating to his many scientific interests, publications, and professional and social life. Most of the letters are written to French men of science, publishers, officials and others, with a smaller number to German, British and other correspondents.

Journal of the scientific research voyage of HMS Challenger from 1872-1875. Illustrated with watercolours and line drawings. The typescript contains the text of the journal.

Papers of the African Association, 1788-1831, including microfilm and enlarged prints from microfilm of the Association's minute books of its Committee Meetings (1788-1809), General Meetings (1790-1831) and Meetings of the Saturday Club (from 1799 the African Club) (1788-1815) and miscellaneous correspondence: nine items of different dates (1808-1822) principally concerning John Lewis Burkhardt.