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Scientific papers sent to the Royal Society which remained unpublished at their time of receipt, or which were abstracted in the Society's 'Proceedings' after being read at a meeting of Fellows. Early papers in this sequence are occasionally of interest in being preserved complete with associated correespondence (pre-dating Referees Reports); for example, the Charles Wildbore - Nevil Maskelyne letters 1787-1790 (AP.7.16-34). Mid nineteenth century papers of some significance may exist, in both original and abstracted form, such as HWF Talbot's 'Some account of the art of photogenic drawing' (AP.23.19) The Society's policy now is to return rejected scientific papers to authors, so any current additions to this collection usually take the form of unpublished supplementary data to published papers.

An ecclesiastical and astronomical calendar, together with the tables and figures of the zodiac: folding calendar on a sheet of parchment. Originally two rows, each of twenty four folds, but the first folds in the lower row ( lower if the sheet is looked at from the side containing art. 1) are missing and the first fold in the upper row has been sewn to the foot of the second fold. Three membranes were joined to make a sheet.

In both rows on one side, the calendar is in blue, red, green and black, four folds to a month. The second half of January is missing. Entries in red include Edwardii Regis and Translacio Edwardi Regis (20 March, 13 October); in black, Translacio Mildride (13 July). Each feast is illustrated by a conventional head, sideways, in coloured penwork: kings crowned, abbots tonsured etc. The ruling is in red and green inks.

On the other side, the other way up: (a) in the upper row, the sign of the zodiac in each month, followed by its occupation; (b) in the lower row, an astronomical calendar, 1 january to 15 June on 22 folds, four to a month.

(a) The January sign and occupation are missing. The December occupation came on the fold which was exposed when the sheet was closed and has been rubbed away.

(b) The first two folds were left blank.

The manuscript versions of papers published by the Royal Society in the 'Philosophical Transactions'. The series has many points of interest, which include authors' corrections to manuscripts, and the presence of original illustrations in various media (drawings, watercolours and photographs) bound in the volumes. Not all of the material printed in the 'Philosophical Transactions' relating to Society business survives, but manuscript examples of meteorological observations, lists of presents and annual indexing may be found in volumes 8, 9 and 12.
Papers are usually bound into vellum-covered volumes by year of publication, although a few (volumes 4, 5, 8, 9, 12, 17, 73-75) are loose, boxed items. Several gaps appear in the collection, notably for the period 1825-1839 (volumes 18-22) and any year may lack one or more papers; these omissions are noted at the beginning of each part. Despite this, the series constitutes a large, relatively complete run.

Manuscripts and occasionally proofs of papers published in the 'Proceedings of the Royal Society' 1882-94, covering volumes 33-56 of the printed series. The printed Proceedings may contain 3 types of papers read to the Fellowship:

1) papers abstracted in the 'Proceedings', but not printed in 'Philosophical Transactions'.

2) papers abstracted in the 'Proceedings', and then printed in 'Philosophical Transactions'.

3) papers printed in full in the 'Proceedings'.

The published 'Proceedings' were issued from 1832 initially as retrospective abstracts of the 'Philosophical Transactions', but from volume 3 as a record of the Society's meetings including abstracts of papers read but not published. Volume 7 initiated the procedure of publishing full papers in addition to abstracts. The papers are in separate locations within the archives. Manuscript papers of typ 1 (see description above) may be found in the series Archived Papers; those of type 2 in the 'Philosophical Transactions' series; and type 3 in this series of 'Proceedings Papers'. ther are a number of missing papers from the series, but it remains relatively complete with the dates specified. 87 papers are unaccounted for, together with some illustrative material.