King's College London - Catalogue of treasures

Thousands of rare books, state documents, treaties and pamphlets are being unearthed as a unique collection formerly used by diplomats and civil servants is catalogued. Acquired by King's College London in 2007, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Historical Library Collection includes 60,000 items and spans the past 500 years. Among the 11,500 items already catalogued is a copy of the first published account of Captain James Cook's expedition to Australia in 1770, which appears to have been annotated by a member of his crew, and Winston Churchill's valedictory letter to staff after losing the post of Colonial Secretary in 1922. King's is launching a £650,000 fundraising campaign to enable it to catalogue the rest of the collection.