This database holds details of pre-1850 music sources preserved in libraries and archives in the UK and Ireland. It includes manuscripts from national, public and academic libraries, county and city record offices, cathedral and chapel libraries and some private collections.  It also now includes more than 300 printed anthologies from the 16th century, with links to digitised copies of the music in the Early Music Online collection at Royal Holloway. We estimate that about two-thirds of surviving manuscript sources in the UK have now been documented. Work has recently begun to document music sources in Ireland.  Some music collections in Dublin libraries, notably the Mercer's Hospital Collection at Trinity College, Dublin, are included in the present database.  A new database dedicated to sources across Ireland will soon be launched by the RISM Ireland working group.

Quick search of this database is a free-text search of the entire database. Advanced search allows you to restrict your search to specific fields, and to search by tune using the incipit search option. After making a search, you can filter your results further using the filter options above your set of results. From the menu on the left, you can also browse the indexes of people, institutions, titles, subjects, library sigla, and, for printed sources, places.

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