Collected by Edwin Clarke (1919-1996), the Clarke General Collection is a run of cuttings, illustrations, manuscripts and historic documents which are organised into two sequences: a subject sequence and a biographical sequence.Subjects range from the weather, food and actors, to Victorian 'freakshow' acts whilst items in the biographical sequence include silk in red, white and blue with a note asserting them to be

Part of a bequest from Edwin Clarke (1919-1996), the Clarke Local Collection is more than a local history collection as it is quite strong in the literature of the region too: T. Wilson's The pitman's pay: and other poems (1843), Robert White's The Tynemouth nun: a poem (1829), Rhymes of Northern bards (1812) and more, as well as memoirs, sermons, topographical descriptions, guides and histories.

Although it comprises books published in the mid- to late-Twentieth Century, for the most part, it does contain a significant amount of more historic material, such as The papers which passed at New-castle betwixt his sacred Majestie and Mr Al. Henderson … (1649), R. Gardiner's Englands grievance discovered … (1655), A sentimental tour through Newcastle (1794), History of the water supply of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (1851) and several nineteenth-century directories and poll books.

This is a collection of chiefly historical medical texts, numbering about 450 volumes, along with some archival material which was formerly owned by the neurologist and medical historian, Edwin Clarke (1919-1996). The collection usefully complements the Pybus and the Medical Collections.

Highlights include An inquiry concerning the history of the cowpox: principally with a view to supersede and extinguish the smallpox (1798) by George Pearson, the well-known physician, chemist and early advocate of Jenner's cowpox vaccination; and the Report from the Committee appointed to examine the physicians who have attended His Majesty, during his illness: touching the present state of His Majesty's health (1789), issued by Parliament during the period of King George III's recurrent mental illness. The collection also contains some modern secondary texts on various aspects of the history of medicine.

Bequeathed by Edwin Clarke (1919-1996), approximately half of the Clarke Miscellaneous Collection was published in the Twentieth Century but the collection contains material dating back to 1655. It is a collection with a strong bias towards the occult, ritual and folklore, with some rogue items relating to book history.

Examples include A laconic narrative on the life & death of James Wilson, known by the name of Daft Jamie (1881) - a victim of Burke and Hare -, F. Hutchinson's An historical essay concerning witchcraft (1718), The Yorkshire spiritual telegraph and British harmonial advocate (1857) and a book on exercise by H. Halsted called Motion-life: or the demon of the age and means of its exorcism (1856).