Titles and Collections in our Catalogue

At Academic Microforms Ltd. we publish a number of archives, collections, manuscripts, journals and rare books on both 35mm microfilm and digital formats.

We offer a full micropublishing service with examination of potential projects, costings, royalty agreements, sales promotion, and on-site filming of original documents.

Micropublished materials are offered for sale as 35mm silver duplicate microfilms and also as electronic media (CD-ROM/DVD). All micropublished materials are produced to the highest standards under strict quality control. We are known for the high quality of our microforms. In the unlikely event of you receiving defective microforms from us we have a free of charge replacement policy.

Our collections are marketed in the Americas by UMI Division of ProQuest Information and Learning Inc.

• Forthcoming microfilm and digital publications
  Henry Crabb Robinson, the complete surviving correspondence
  Lindsay's Armorial
• Titles available now
• Heraldic resources on CD-ROM
• New projects recently completed

Forthcoming microfilm and digital publications:

Crabb Robinson and the Romantics

When speaking of the Romantics many names come to mind, Byron, Coleridge, Keats, Shelley, Southey,Worsdworth to name but a few. One name rarely mentioned is that of Henry Crabb Robinson (1775-1867) who, during his long life was a friend, correspondent and acquaintance of these and many other members of the Romantic movement.

Born in 1775 Henry Crabb Robinson early came under the influence of Catherine Buck, the older sister of one of his playmates. Of her he said "She lent me books, made me first acquainted with the new opinions that were then afloat, and was my oracle, till her marriage with the then celebrated Thomas Clarkson, the founder of the society for the abolition of the slave trade"

At the age of 25 Henry Crabb Robinson travelled to Germany where he was fortunate enough to meet some of the foremost thinkers of the time including Goethe and Schiller and other members of the Romantic movement. He remained in Germany until 1805, returning briefly to England before going, in 1808, to Corunna in Spain, working for The Times as one of the first war correspondents.

Returning to England he was admitted to the Bar in 1813, a profession at which he would make his living for the next fourteen years. Catherine Buck, now Mrs, Clarkson, introduced Crabb Robinson to many of the literary and scientific intellectuals who formed part of what was to become known as the Romantic movement. This seems to have had its origins in Germany and Austria and spread rapidly from thence to Britain. Crabb Robinson's acquaintances in Germany, including Goethe, Schiller, Madame de Stael, Baron Bunsen and others formed the basis for his introduction to the English Romantics. Among these were Charles Lamb, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Thomas de Quincy.

Walter Bagehot said of him that "Mr. Robinson had known nearly every literary man worth knowing in England and Germany for fifty years and more ... he had studied at Jena in the 'great time', when Goethe, and Schiller and Wieland were all at their zenith; he had lived with Charles Lamb and his set, and Rogers and his set, besides an infinite lot of little London people; he had taught Madame de Stael German philosophy in Germany, and helped he in business afterwards in England; he was the real friend of Wordsworth, and had known Coleridge and Southey almost from their 'coming out' to their death. And he was not a mere literary man. He had been a Times correspondent in the days of Napoleon's early German battles, now more than 'seventy years since'; he had been off Corunna in Sir John Moore's time; and last, but almost first it should have been, he was an English barrister, who had for years a considerable business, and who was full of picturesque stories about old judges. Such a varied life and experience belong to a very few men, and his social nature - at once accessible and assailant - was just the one to take advantage of it."

Henry Crabb Robinson left behind a marvellous legacy in the form of his notebooks, diaries, travel journals and correspondence all of which are now preserved in the archives of Dr Williams's Library, London.

Academic Microforms Limited has issued a micropublication of Henry Crabb Robinson's complete Diaries, Journals and Reminiscences.

• Henry Crabb Robinson: The Complete Surviving Correspondence
• Henry Crabb Robinson: Diaries, Travel Journals and Reminiscences

Henry Crabb Robinson:
The complete surviving correspondence and miscellaneous papers, c.1725 – 1867

A fascinating collection of documents, one of the most important literary archives of the late eighteenth to mid nineteenth century. This huge collection of holograph letters and miscellaneous papers has never before been published in its entirety. It contains correspondence between Crabb Robinson and many of Europe's most famous figures including Browning, Byron, Carlyle, Coleridge, Dickens, Goethe, the Shelleys, Tennyson and many others.

Further information

Titles Available Now:

Aborigines' Protection Society: Transactions 1837-1909

From the Libraries of Anti-Slavery International, London, and Rhodes House, Oxford, England

" Founded in 1837, the Aborigines' Protection Society published tracts, pamphlets, Annual Reports and a journal entitled The Aborigines' Friend, or Colonial Intelligencer. The Society continued until 1909 when it merged with the Anti-Slavery Society (now Anti-Slavery International). ... "

ISBN 1 897955 59 6, 8 reels

Further Information

Anti-Slavery International: The Binns and Supplementary Collections of Anti-Slavery Tracts, Pamphlets and Books, 1767-et seq.

From the combined holdings of Anti-Slavery International, London, and Rhodes House Library, Oxford.

" This collection of nearly 800 titles covers a century of campaigning in Europe and America on the subject of slavery and includes tracts, pamphlets, books, albums of press cuttings and engravings, maps and diagrams, as well as volumes of literature and poetry. ... "

ISBN 1 8970955 44 8, 45 reels

Further Information

Anti-Slavery Reporter, 1825-1994

From the Library of Anti-Slavery International, London.

" The Anti-Slavery Reporter was founded in 1825 by Zachary Macaulay (1768-1838) who was its first and most influential editor. Father of the historian Lord Macaulay, Zachary was born in a manse in Argyll. He became at one time a manager of a slave plantation in Jamaica and so had first-hand knowledge of the condition of the slaves. ... "

ISBN 1 897955 39 1, 18 reels

Further Information

Friends Association for Abolishing State Regulation of Vice, 1873-1910, and for Promotion of Social Purity, 1910-1926

From the Library of the Religious Society of Friends of Great Britain, London

" Following the institution of the Contagious Diseases Act (1869), yearly Meeting 1870, sent down a minute to subordinate meetings urging Friends to work for the Act's immediate repeal 9YM Proceedings 1870). In 1873 the Friends Association for Abolishing Regulation of Vice was established. (This was also known as The Friends Repeal Association; the Friends Abolitionist Association; and the Friends Association for Abolishing the State Regulation of Vice). ... "

ISBN 1 897955 29 4, 4 reels

Further Information

Henry Crabb Robinson Diaries, Travel Journals and Reminiscences, 1790-1867.

From the Library of Dr. Williams's Trust, London, England

" This publication contains 29 volumes of diaries covering the period 1811-1867; 32 volumes of travel journals covering the period 1801-1866; 4 volumes of reminiscences covering the period 1790-1843 and includes 3 volumes of translations of Crabb Robinson's shorthand notes. It documents in detail Henry Crabb Robinson's extraordinarily wide-ranging cultural interests and provides a unique contemporary insight into the lives and works of many of Europe's most famous literary, scientific, and political figures during the first half of the nineteenth century. ... "

ISBN 1 897955 19 7, 11 reels

Further Information

Heraldic and Genealogical Manuscripts, 16th-17th centuries, at Lambeth Palace Library, London

From Lambeth Palace Library, London, England

" A fascinating and unique collection of twenty-four manuscripts dating from the sixteenth to the late seventeenth centuries including armorials of Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Scottish, and Spanish families together with pedigrees of many noble European families. This little known collection has never before been published. ... "

ISBN 1 897955 54 5, 6 reels (2 in colour)

Further Information

The Lambeth Armorial (Lambeth Palace Library MS.316)

The Lambeth Armorial (Lambeth Palace Library MS.316)

AVAILABLE NOW as cross-platform PDF images ON CD-ROM

This important and hitherto virtually unknown manuscript is a Scottish armorial of the Court of the Lord Lyon. Begun in the 1560s in the tempestuous reign of Mary, Queen, of Scots, the armorial seems to have commenced as a working herald's copy of the armorial of Lord Lyon Forman of Luthrie (Lord Lyon 1555-1567). Following Mary's abdication and flight to England the armorial continued in use in Scotland during the reign of her son and successor, James VI. It is especially important as this and that at the Hague in the Netherlands are the only two surviving Scottish armorials which covers the period when the regulation of arms in Scotland was undergoing review. The Scottish Parliament passed several Acts which attempted to reform the usage of coats-of-arms, particularly for Chiefs of Clans and Heads of Families, in the years 1587, 1592, 1594 and 1597, but the Armorial Register relating to the important Act of 1594, once kept at the Court of the Lord Lyon, has been missing since the seventeenth century. The Lambeth Armorial continued in use until c.1624 but how it came to Lambeth Palace is something of a mystery which still remains to be solved. There are tentative links to the Cecil family in the persons of William and Thomas Cecil, 1st and 2nd Lords Burghley respectively, and to the English spy Thomas Randolph who was actively engaged in reporting the activities of the Scottish protestant lords from 1559 until his death in 1590. As well as the arms of the Scottish kings and queens and Scottish peers it also contains more coats-of-arms of the Chiefs of Clans, Heads of Families and Lairds, than any other source before the existing Lyon Register began in 1672.

Further information

Heraldic Manuscripts, c.1300-c.1800, at the Society of Antiquaries of London

From the Library of the Society of Antiquaries of London, England.

" A special selection of volumes and rolls totaling 36 items containing many thousands of Coats of Arms covering a period of 500 years.

There are Arms of Austrian, Bosnian, Croatian, Dalmatian, English, German, Serbian and Spanish families, including arms attributed to classical heroes and saints. Included are selected examples of Dictionaries of Arms and family genealogies; the Hatton-Dugdale facsimiles and a rare volume of South Slav heraldry. .."

ISBN 1 897955 64 2, 13 reels (8 B&W and 5 in colour)

Further Information

Heraldic resources on CD-ROM

A series of famous and unique early armorials faithfully reproduced as digital images on CD-ROM. Click on the titles below to see further details.

The Illyrian Armorial (Balkan arms) c.1595

The Lambeth Armorial (Scottish Arms) c.1595

Lindsay's Armorial (Scottish Arms) 1542

The Illyrian Armorial (Society of Antiquaries of London MS.54)

Arms of the Families and Surnames of Albania, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Dalmatia, Macedonia, Montenengro, Rascia, Serbia and Slavonia from the Armorial of Stanislas Rubchich, King of Arms to Tsar Stephen Dushan (Nemanja). 16th Century

This very important heraldic manuscript is among the earliest Slavonic manuscripts, and probably the first Serbo-Croat one, to have been collected in England. It seems to have first come into the possession of Edward Bourchier, Earl of Bath, some time before his death in 1637, but how and where he acquired this fascinating manuscript is uncertain. It passed from Bourchier, via his widow, to the Earls of Gainsborough, and the bookplate of Baptist Noel, Earl of Gainsborough (1684-1714) is pasted on the flyleaf. It was in the possession of Charles Lyttelton, Bishop of Carlisle, and was bequeathed to the Society of Antiquaries of London at his death in office as President of the Society in 1768. How it came into his possession remains a mystery.

Said to be based on an alleged fourteenth century original manuscript at Mt. Athos this is probably the earliest version now extant of this armorial. Its lapidary Bosancica script, the local variant of Cyrillic, is more accurate in its transcriptions than those of a similar armorial now in Zagreb.

It is now to be made available for the first time on CD-ROM together with a fully descriptive commentary by an expert in Balkan heraldry describing the importance of the manuscript and its relationship with other Balkan armorials.

Cross-platform PDF images on CD-ROM

List price £95.00

Further Information

Madras Christian College Magazine, 1883-1990

From the Library of Madras Christian College, Madras, India.

" The Madras Christian College Magazine possesses a character not revealed by its title. It was a monthly review of high scholarship and broad interests, the only one in South India when it began publication 117 years ago. In the words of Rev. Dr. William Miller, Principal of Madras Christian College from 1862 to 1909 and founder of the magazine, the aim was to be a voice of free thinking, and to provide stimulation ... "

ISBN 1 897955 14 6, 28 reels

Further Information

Manual of Document Microphotography

" Why microphotography? In a shrinking world the impulse to reduce in size anything which may be reduced is clearly a strong one. The desire to 'save space' is nowhere more strongly felt than in the realm of written or published material in the form of books, manuscripts, newspapers, journals and periodicals.

Since the introduction of printing in the fifteenth century, the output of textual material has rapidly increased to its now astronomical and unmanageable proportions (the so-called 'documentation explosion'). ... "

By Michael J. Gunn. Originally published in 1985, now out of print in hard-back; this CD-ROM copy is available at a cost of GB£25.00 plus postage.

Further Information

Occasional Papers from St. Augustine's College, Canterbury, 1853-1935

From the Dean and Chapter Library, Canterbury.

" St. Augustine's was originally founded as an Abbey and endowed by King Ethelbert, AD.605; suppressed in 1538 it was restored 310 years later as an Anglican Mission College, under Royal Charter, in 1848 - that turbulent year. The Missionary College of St. Augustine was established to 'relieve the deficiency of an adequate supply of Ministers, duly prepared by special training, to labour with effect in the dependencies of the British Empire.' ... "

ISBN 1 897955 34 0, 5 reels

Further Information

Papers of Thomas Murray, 1593-1623, at Lambeth Palace Library, London

From Lambeth Palace Library, London.

" Thomas Murray (1564-1623) was early attached to the Court of James VI of Scotland. Soon after James's accession to the English throne he was appointed tutor to Charles, then Duke of York. He remained tutor and secretary to Prince Charles Stuart (later Charles I) until his death. In 1622 he was elected provost of Eton College. ... "

ISBN 1 897955 24 3, 3 reels

Further Information

Quaker Official Correspondence: Home and Abroad, 1681-1881

From the Library of the Religious Society of Friends of Great Britain, London.

" Official correspondence sent and received by London Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends
Yearly Meeting is the autonomous decision making body of the Quakers. London Yearly Meeting, which has responsibility for England, Wales, Scotland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands, has been held regularly from 1672 until the present day ... "

ISBN 1 897955 09 X, 7 reels

Further Information

Royal Maternity Charity Minutes, 1761-1949

From the Library of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, London.

" This collection from the Markland Library of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists consists of 30 volumes containing valuable case records and statistics. It provides a unique insight into obstetrics and mid-wifery practice during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It documents in some detail the changing social attitudes towards charitable domiciliary midwifery until its replacement by the National Health Service in 1949. ... "

ISBN 1 897955 04 9, 8 reels

Further Information

New Projects Recently Completed

Microfilmed Medieval Records of the Manor of Maidstone

Microfilm copies of medieval estate documents relating to the manor of Maidstone have been added to the collections at the Centre for Kentish Studies at Maidstone.

The original court rolls, rentals, and account rolls of various ministers and receivers are held at Lambeth Palace Library. These have been filmed by Academic Microforms Ltd.
The microfilms of these documents will complement other Maidstone manorial records already held at CKS, especially those dating from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries in the Romney collection, U1644.