Diaries and sketch books of Robert Wood, James Dawkins, John Bouverie and Giovanni Battista Borra of a tour of the Levant, 1750-1751, comprising:
Transcript (8 volumes) of the diaries of the archaeologist, James Dawkins, 5 May 1750-8 June 1751, describing the tour from Naples, Italy to Porto Leone, via Smyrna [Izmir], Sardis, Thyatira [Akhisar], Pergamum [Bergama], Sinus Eleaticus, Constantinople [Istanbul], Boursa, Cyzicus [Belkis], Troy, Tenedos, Phocaea [Foça], Teos [Sigacik], Ephesus, Magnesia ad Meander, Laodicea, Hierapolis [Pamukkale], Antioch, Mytilene [Mitilíni], Lesbos, Scio [Chíos, Nísos], Neomene, Samos, Mylassa, Halicarnassus [Bodrum], Cos [Kos], Cnidus Nova, Rhodes [Ródhos], Alexandria [Al-Iskandariyah], Cairo, The Pyramids, Acre [Akko], Mount Carmel [Har Hakarmel], Nazareth, Capernaum [Kefar Nahum], Tiberias [Teverya], Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Rama, Sidon [Sayda], Beirut, Damascus, Baalbek [Balabakk], Tripoli, Delos [Dhílos], Athens, Marathon, Thermopylae, Chalcis [Khalkís], Thebes, Delphi [Dhelfoi] and Megara.
Diary (1 volume) of John Bouverie, 25 May-8 June 1750, 25 July-3 Aug 1750, and 7 Sep 1750, covering the tour from Smyrna to Meander, as described above.
Papers of Robert Wood, comprising diaries (3 volumes), 25 May-19 Aug, 22 Sep - 8 Oct 1750, 16 May-1 June 1751; pocket books (2 volumes), containing copies of inscriptions made during the tour, including Athens, Baalbek, Palmyra, and other sites in Turkey, Greece and Egypt; extracts (made by Wood's daughter) from his tour manuscripts, including some that are not in the collection; manuscript A universal history by Wood, almost certainly pre-dating the tour; notebook, containing extracts from Wood's journals from his 1742-1743 visit to the Levant, itineraries from his 1745 visit to Italy, preparatory plans for the 1750-1751 tour and notes on Homer; notebook conntaining copy of an extended letter from Wood to James Dawkins, [c1755], Remarks on Homer's plan of Troy, in effect an early draft of his Essay on the Original Genius of Homer [see printed books below].
Sketch books of Giovanni Battista Borra, containing ink and pencil sketches made on the tour, mainly of architectural details, but also including landscapes, of Naples and Mount Vesuvius, Palmyra and Damascus.
Printed books: Robert Wood: An Essay on the Original Genius and Writings of Homer, London, H Hughs for T Payne and P Emsley, 1775, including engravings after Borra of ruins near Troy, and a map of Troas; The ruins of Palmyra and Baalbek, London, W Pickering, 1827 and Les ruines de Palmyre, autrement dite Tedmor au desert, Paris, Firmin Didot, 1819; Homer: Operum omnium quae exstant. Tomus prior sive Ilias Grece et Latine.Juxta editionem emendatissimam et accuratissimam Samuelis Clarke Amsterdam, J Wetstenium, 1743 [Wood's interleaved copy, containing notes and transcripts of inscriptions]; l'Abbe Barthelemy Reflexions sur l'alphabet et sur la langue dont on se servot autrefois a Palmyre, Paris, 1754; Giacomo Barozzi [Il Vignola] Regola delli cinque ordini d'architecttura, Rome, [1620].

Papers and correspondence, 1929-1975 and undated, of Julia Frances Strachey, including diaries, notebooks, manuscripts and typescripts, 1929-1975 and undated; letters to Julia, 1924-1956 and undated, the writers including Dora Carrington; letters to Stephen Tomlin and Julia, 1923-1930 and undated, the writers including Lytton Strachey; correspondence between Stephen Tomlin and Julia, 1930-1931; correspondence between Julia and Lawrence Gowing, 1939-1971 and undated, and other letters to Julia, 1952-1967 and undated; personalia, including a copy of a divorce certificate, 1967, a will, 1971, a business diary, 1971, an appointment diary, 1974, passports, and an undated address book; postcards and photographs, largely undated, mainly miscellaneous works of art but also including Lytton and Oliver Strachey, Dora Carrington, and Stephen Tomlin; a scrapbook, 1932-1971, mainly comprising press cuttings including reviews of Strachey's novels, with a few miscellaneous letters inserted.

The correspondence, papers and diaries of Sir Charles Blagden. Blagden's papers are interesting on several levels, generally for his close contact with European men of learning, and his relationship with Sir Joseph Banks. Blagden's professional researches are represented by medical notes in the boxed sequence. These are grouped with papers on other subject interests, including linguistics, e.g. a draft Tahitian-English dictionary, compiled from conversations with Omai, whom Blagden inoculated after Omai's voyage to England with James Cook. Blagden's interest in antiquities and travel is documented by diary entries, as is his intercourse with fellow scientists, particularly those associated with the founding of the Royal Institution.

Diaries and notebooks of James Theodore and Mabel Virginia Anna Bent, 1883-1898, comprising:
Mabel Bent's diaries of visits to the Greek Islands, 1883-1884; Greece and Egypt, 1885; Constantinople [Istanbul] and the Greek Islands, 1886; Greece, 1887; Turkey and Russia, 1888; India and Persia [Iran], 1889 (3 volumes); Cilicia, Turkey, 1890; Central Africa (Mashonaland), 1891 (2 volumes); Hadramout, 1893-1895 (3 volumes); Suez, Kourbat and Athens, 1895-1896; Socotra, Yemen, 1896-1897; Greece and Egypt, 1898;
Theodore Bent's diary of visits to Hadramout, Yemen, 1893-94; Muscat, Dec 1894; Socotra, Yemen, Dec 1896-Mar 1897; notebook, containing Greek inscriptions, 1888; notebook on language in Socotra [1896-1897].