GHIL Library

Image showing a desk and chair in one of the first floor library rooms. The chair is pulled out invitingly, and a book is lying on the desk.

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

Summer opening hours:
The library is open Monday-Friday, 9.30am–4pm.

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-3pm). 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 Guide

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

Featured Books

Petitions in the political process

Have you ever written to your MP or signed a petition? Then you are part of a long tradition of individuals or groups trying to exert influence on political decision-making. The success or failure of a petition usually depends on the power of the person or body being petitioned - and the political climate at the time the petition was written. This month, we have chosen 12 books covering a wide range of petitions written from the Middle Ages through to the late 20th century. Did they make a difference or gain the writer(s) the advantage they desired? Read them to find out...

You can see these books in the display case in the Common Room at the GHIL. There is an additional display on papal administration (or paperwork - we're embracing alliteration this month!) in the display case facing onto the stairs.

See in library catalogue

Ernst Wolfgang Becker and Frank Bösch (eds.)

Partizipation per Post : Bürgerbriefe an Politiker in Diktatur und Demokratie

Zeithistorische Impulse. Band 16

Stuttgart : Franz Steiner Verlag, 2024

ask librarian

Michaela Fenske

Demokratie erschreiben : Bürgerbriefe und Petitionen als Medien politischer Kultur 1950-1974

Frankfurt/M. ; New York, N.Y. : Campus Verlag, 2013

Sk.11/216/3

Daniel Carpenter

Democracy by petition : popular politics in transformation, 1790-1870

Cambridge, MA. ; London : Harvard University Press, 2021

eBook ProQuest

Esteban Mauerer (ed.)

Supplikationswesen und Petitionsrecht im Wandel der Zeit und im Spiegel der Publikationen der Historischen Kommission

Schriftenreihe der Historischen Kommission bei der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Bd 105

Göttingen : Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2020

Sa.7/3970

Cecilia Nubola and Andreas Würgler (eds.)

Bittschriften und Gravamina : Politik, Verwaltung und Justiz in Europa, 14.-18. Jahrhundert

Schriften des Italienisch-Deutschen Historischen Instituts in Trient. 19

Berlin : Duncker & Humblot, 2005

Ma/3049

Werner Conze and Wolfgang Zorn (eds.)

Die Petitionen an den Deutschen Handwerker- und Gewerbe-Kongreß in Frankfurt 1848

Forschungen zur deutschen Sozialgeschichte. Bd 7

Boppard am Rhein : Boldt, 1994

Se.9/3900

Richard W. Reichard

From the Petition to the Strike : A History of Strikes in Germany, 1869-1914

American University Studies. Series 09, History. Vol. 67

New York, N.Y. : Lang, 1991

Sf.8/518/1

Thomas Pegelow Kaplan and Wolf Gruner (eds.)

Resisting persecution : Jews and their petitions during the Holocaust

Studies in Contemporary European History. 24

New York, N.Y. ; Oxford : Berghahn, 2020

eBook ProQuest

Lex Heerma van Voss

Petitions in social history

International review of social history. Supplement. 09

Cambridge : Cambridge Univ. Press, 2001

Zs 103/46

Marion Dotter and Ulrike Marlow (eds.)

»Allerunterthänigst Unterfertigte Bitte« : Bittschriften und Petitionen Im Langen 19. Jahrhundert

DigiOst Series. v.18

Berlin : Frank & Timme, 2024

ask librarian

Uwe Andrae

Die Rheinländer, die Revolution und der Krieg 1794-1798 : Studie über das rheinische Erzstift Köln unter der Besatzung durch die französischen Revolutionstruppen 1794-1798 im Spiegel von Petitionen

Düsseldorfer Schriften zur neueren Landesgeschichte und zur Geschichte Nordrhein-Westfalens ; Bd 37

Essen : Klartext-Verlag, 1994

Se.6/1030

Klaus Tenfelde and Helmuth Trischler (eds.)

Bis vor die Stufen des Throns : Bittschriften und Beschwerden von Bergleuten im Zeitalter der Industrialisierung

Bergbau und Bergarbeit

München : Beck, 1986

Sf.8/423

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.

Start your search

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

Summer Opening Hours:

The Library is open Monday-Friday, 9.30am-4pm.

Meet the Team

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German Historical Institute London