The 17th Century Collection is a small but expanding collection of books printed 1600-1699. The books it contains are a good reflection of this period as a time of rebellions, intrigues and conspiracies; hierarchical power; and strong religious views. Sermons and speeches were commonly printed.

The 18th Century Collection contains approximately 4000 volumes printed 1700-1799. The collection covers a variety of subjects including aspects of the penal system, education and the constitution. Highlights include the famous treatise by the English philosopher and enlightenment thinker John Locke, Some thoughts concerning education ( 1772) in which Locke applies his theories of the self and the mind to approaches to education and The state of the prisons in England and Wales: with preliminary observations and an account of some foreign prisons and hospitals (1784) by the English philanthropist and prison reformer John Howard, detailing his findings after visiting several hundred prisons across England, Scotland and Wales, in a series of reports, maps and plans.

The 19th Century Collection of books published 1800-1899, is broad in subject coverage but English literature is well-represented with works by such authors as R. Browning, A. Tennyson, D.G. Rossetti, C. Dickens, G. Crabbe, C.A. Swinburne, G. Meredith, R. Kipling and G. Eliot in the collection, as well as works by some lesser-known nineteenth-century writers and some nineteenth-century editions of earlier works.The collection includes first editions of Lewis Carroll's last novel for children, Sylvia and Bruno (1899), and of The Hunting of the Snark (1876). There is also local history material, such as local auction catalogues and C. Hindley's The history of the Catnach Press: at Berwick-upon-Tweed, Alnwick, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in Northumberland, and Seven Dials, London (1887) and some general history, natural history, travel accounts and nineteenth-century editions of Ancient Greek and Latin classical works.

The 20th Century Collection, because it contains books which were published 1900-1999, is multi-disciplinary in its subject coverage. Literature is represented in the works of such authors as Siegfried Sassoon, T.S. Eliot, W.H. Auden, Jon Silkin and Robert Graves. There is local history, in the form of Jackson, G. The Boer War and the Liberal Party in Newcastle and Gateshead (1998); Willis, P. Capability Brown in Northumberland (1983) and Pawson, H.C. Cockle Park Farm: an account of the work of the Cockle Park Experimental Station from 1896-1956 (1960). Whilst there are some items relating to World War I, there is a significant amount of material relating to World War II - published 1939-1943, often by Penguin (or the Pelican imprint) in the iconic early paperback series. This material includes E.O. Lorimer's What Hitler Wants [1939] - a Penguin Special which achieved record-breaking sales, as well as F. Lafitte, The internment of aliens (1940) and Glover, E. The psychology of fear and courage (1940).

The 21st Century Collection is newly-established but, as it expands, will contain books on miscellaneous subjects from varied sources which were published 2000-2099. Currently, these books are likely to be issued by private presses, in limited print-runs, relate to other collections in Special Collections, have interesting or significant provenance, or be particularly valuable due to them being fine or extra-illustrated copies. One example is Bajac, Q. L'image révélée: l'invention de la photoggraphie (2001) which reproduces a Lerebours daguerreotype, Port Ripetta, à Rome, from our holdings on page 112.

This small collection comprises books which were produced in the infancy of the art of printing, and specifically before 1500. The collection includes such works as the Epistolae of St. Jerome, printed in Palma in 1480, Opus de peste, a tract on plague printed in Bologna in 1478, and the first printed book on architecture, Alberti's De Re Aedificatoria (1485).

The Miscellaneous Manuscripts include some local history material, particularly relating to nineteenth-century bonds and deeds and to the coal trade as well as A collection of recipes, compiled in the years 1684-5; agriculturalist Robert Bakewell's Letters to George Culley, 1786-1792; eighteenth-century household account books; manuscript letters from Henry Liddell on the 1715 Jacobite Rebellion; early twentieth-century National Service League memoranda; An alphabetical list of members of the Northumberland Militia enrolled between 1809 and 1813, giving their full names, places of residence, trades, ages, dates of enrolment, and parishes for which installed; a fair copy of poems by Mary Coleridge, bound in vellum, which she made for a friend in 1891 and which was later published as Fancy's Following; worksheets, correspondence, typescripts and a postcard relating to Tony Harrison's Newcastle is Peru and letters from Sean O'Casey to the People's Theatre, Newcastle.