German Historical Institute London

17 Bloomsbury Square
London WC1A 2NJ
United Kingdom

Phone: Tel. +44-(0)20-7309 2050

URI: www.ghil.ac.uk

 

Library: Line drawing of a books, in a circle. GHIL Library

 
 

The library of the GHIL is an important and well-regarded institution for British historians of German history, students at London universities, and the general public. Its holdings on German history, British-German relations from the Middle Ages to the present day, and wider European history are comprehensive, up to date, free to use, and form a unique collection in Britain.


Visiting and joining the Library

Opening hours:
Mo-Fr, 9.30am-8pm

New readers need to register for a library card and have a short introductory tour of the library before or during their first visit (Mo-Fr, 9.30am-4pm). Photo ID (passport, ID card or driving licence) must be provided.

Library staff are also available for general enquiries at library@ghil.ac.uk

If you would like to receive regular updates on recent acquisitions, featured books, and other library news, then you can sign up to the Library Newsletter.


Library: Line drawing of a old-fashioned library lamp, in a circle.

Library Guide

Take a look at the flipbook below for an introduction to our library.


Print/Online publications: Line drawing of a open book surrounded by electrical circuits, in a circle.

Featured Books

British-German relations

For our first book display since the reopening of the GHIL, we thought we would go back to basics in the best way, showcasing a topic at the core of our institutional mission. Great Britain and Germany are close geographical neighbours, separated only by a narrow sea channel. So how have these neighbours lived alongside one another over the centuries? It is a complicated history of wars and invasions, competition and rivalry, but also one of cultural exchange, royal dynastic entanglements, and economic cooperation.

You can see all these books on the shelves to the left of the fireplace in the Common Room. There is also a whole section on British-German relations in the Octagon room next door: look for classmark L. There, you can explore histories of the Hanse, of Germans emigrating to Britain for a variety of reasons, and of the many social, cultural, and economic connections between the two countries.

 

Philip Oltermann

Keeping up with the Germans : A History of Anglo-German Encounters

London : Faber and Faber, 2012

La.3/220

Thomas Kielinger

Reiseberichte und andere Zeugnisse über den deutsch-britischen Pas de deux in der Geschichte

Berlin : Duncker & Humblot, 2023

La.3/52

Miranda Seymour

The pity of war : England and Germany, bitter friends, beloved foes

Lanham, MD : Rowman & Littlefield, 2014

La.3/64

Karina Urbach (ed.)

Royal Kinship : Anglo-German Family Networks 1815 - 1918

Prinz-Albert-Forschungen. Bd 4

München : Saur, 2008

La.5/410

Helga Hannken

Frauen sind wichtig - Frauen sind nichtig! : durch Eheschließungen von Angehörigen deutscher Fürstenhäuser zur Macht und Regentschaft in Großbritannien : von den Tudors über die Stuarts zu den Hannoveranern

Interethnische Beziehungen und Kulturwandel. Band 73

Berlin ; Münster : LIT, 2021

La.5/405

Franz Bosbach, William Filmer-Sankey and Hermann Hiery (eds.)

Prinz Albert und die Entwicklung der Bildung in England und Deutschland im 19. Jahrhundert

Prinz-Albert-Studien. Bd 18

München : Saur, 2000

Se.11/121

Johanna Oehler

"Abroad at Göttingen" : britische Studenten als Akteure des kulturellen und wissenschaftlichen Transfers 1735-1806

Veröffentlichungen der Historischen Kommission für Niedersachsen und Bremen. 289

Göttingen : Wallstein Verlag, 2016

Gi/Goett 25 (eBook)

Alessa Johns

Bluestocking feminism and British-German cultural transfer, 1750-1837

Ann Arbor : University of Michigan Press, 2014

Lg.8/50

Heather Ellis and Ulrike Kirchberger (eds.)

Anglo-German Scholarly Networks in the Long Nineteenth Century

Knowledge infrastructure and knowledge economy. Vol. 43

Leiden ; Boston, MA : Brill, 2014

La.11/27

Colin Storer

Britain and the Weimar Republic : The History of a Cultural Relationship

International Library of Twentieth Century History. 29

London, New York, N.Y. : Tauris, 2010

Lk.11/80

Jan Rüger

Heligoland : Britain, Germany, and the struggle for the North Sea

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2017

La.3/61

Anand Toprani

Oil and the great powers : Britain and Germany, 1914-1945

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2019

Sh.5/2033

Frank McDonough

The Conservative Party and Anglo-German Relations, 1905-1914

Basingstoke : Palgrave Machmillan, 2007

Uh.5/4420

Terry Macintyre

Anglo-German relations during the Labour governments 1964-70 : NATO strategy, détente and European integration

Manchester, New York, N.Y. : Manchester Univ. Press, 2007

Uk.5/90

Mathias Haeussler

Helmut Schmidt and British-German relations : a European misunderstanding

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2019

Ln.3/27

 

Online Catalogue Research: Line drawing of a book surrounded by electrical circuits, in a circle.

Library Catalogue

All of our books, journals and electronic resources can be found via our online catalogue.

Recently published books can be made available to readers very quickly, and we invite readers to suggest new acquisitions at library@ghil.ac.uk.

 


Print/Online publications: Line drawing of a open book surrounded by electrical circuits, in a circle.

Library Collections

The GHIL Library's holdings comprise around 95,000 volumes, with a growing number of electronic resources. The collection's focus is largely on German history, with a special emphasis on the 19th and 20th centuries. Around a third of the library's resources are English-language materials.


Access and Services

The library is open to anyone with an interest in German history, British-German relations, or comparative historiography. The collection is reference only, so books cannot be taken out on loan.

There are no membership or joining fees but a passport photo and recent proof of address should be provided on the first visit so that a library card can be issued.


Contact and opening hours

Contact

German Historical Institute Library
17 Bloomsbury Square
London WC1A 2NJ

Tel. +44-(0)20-7309 2050
Email: library@ghil.ac.uk

 

Opening Hours:

Mo-Fr, 9.30am-5pm 
From Tuesday, 1st of September: Mo-Fr, 9.30am-8pm