This collection of approximately 1500 nineteenth-century novels consists almost entirely of the works of lesser-known This collection of approximately 1500 nineteenth-century novels consists almost entirely of the works of lesser-known writers, such as Rosa Carey, Emma Warboise and Alexander Grant. Scottish writers are also well-represented in the collection.

Brian Alderson (b. 1930) is a pioneer of children’s literature studies in Britain as a distinguished author, reviewer, and translator. He has also collected books for more than 60 years, beginning when he was an undergraduate with cheap editions of work by poets Ezra Pound and T.S.Eliot. His interest in children’s books came later but soon became a lifelong passion, resulting in the curation of a collection of over 20,000 books, dating from the 17th century to the present day. This collection, donated jointly to the University and Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children's Books, represents a vast and diverse distinctive resource.

This collection represents the historical portion of the Library of Appleby Grammar School in Cumbria (formerly in the old county of Westmorland) and has been deposited on indefinite loan. The nucleus of the collection was the personal library of an early headmaster of the school, Reginald Bainbrigg [1545-1612?].Books in this collection range in publication date from the Fifteenth Century to the Twentieth Century. The collection can be searched on the library's catalogue and there is also a printed catalogue by the late Edgar Hinchcliffe, formerly a master at the school, available from the Special Collections reading room.The collection contains predominantly classical, theological, literary and historical works, as well as a number of early sixteenth-century English bindings. There are many sixteenth-century editions of works by classical authors, such as Cicero, while other highlights include several works by the English philosopher and enlightenment thinker John Locke and a 1561 Basel imprint of Martin Luther's Quaestionum Sacrarum.

Bloodaxe Books authors and books have won virtually every major literary award given to poetry, including the T.S. Elliot Prize, Pulitzer Prize and Nobel Prize. Bloodaxe is also known for its work with translated collections and American poetry, and have published responsively to cultural change in Britain, publishing some of the finest writers in the British-Caribbean and South-Asian diaspora. Another significant achievement is that Bloodaxe publish more female writers than any other British poetry publisher, at a 50:50 male:female ratio. This collection consists of the books published by Bloodaxe Books including poetry and prose.

In the 1970s, Book Trust (now Booktrust) and Arts Council Great Britain (now Arts Council England), recognising that Britain is a world leader in children’s publishing, worked with the nation’s publishers of children’s books to establish the Booktrust collection. The Booktrust collection was conceived and developed as an informal deposit library with children’s publishers agreeing to send books as they become available. The Collection has grown so that it now totals some 70,000 volumes, including new titles, reprints, existing books in new formats and books in translation.

In 2004 the Collection was transferred to Newcastle University’s Robinson Library (now the Philip Robinson Library). Bringing the Collection to Newcastle meant that it became part of the partnership between the University and Seven Stories: National Centre for Children’s Books (https://www.sevenstories.org.uk/).

This collection continues to grow thanks to the past and ongoing commitment and generosity of the UK publishing industry. Many publishers have been involved since the collection was created in the 1970s, and recent contributors include: Child's Play, Tate, O'Brien, Lantana and Macmillan.

The Bradshaw Collection contains books published 1601-1700 and is notable for its English Revolution, or Civil War, tracts, of which there are about sixty mostly describing local events, such as The Taking of Gateshead Hill: and blocking up of Newcastle … (1644), A Terrible and bloudy fight at Tinmouth Castle on Fryday last … (1648) and The King's declaration at Newcastle concerning his refusall to come to the parliament of England … (1647). Some of these are illustrated, often with wood-cut portraits.Other subjects represented in the collection include theology and some literature. Classical works, in Latin and Greek, by such authors as Catullus, Pliny, Virgil and Juvenal; Aristophanes, Dionysius and Euripides make up a large portion of the collection. The collection also has volume I of Edmund Gibson's English translation of William Camden's Britannia (1695), the first (Latin) edition of which had been the first comprehensive study of Britain.