These include two early works on shipbuilding: Matthew Baker's 'Fragments of English Shipwrightry', ca.1586, and Sir Anthony Deane's 'Doctrine of Naval Architecture', 1670, held in the Pepysian Library at Magdalene College, Cambridge. Other examples include copies of two letters written by Sir Francis Drake, (1540?-1596) 1587 and 1589, a copy of his will, 1595, and one of his 'Pilot of the Caribbean and Azores', 1596; copies of the will of Captain Cook, made in 1776, and of fifty-six letters by or about Lord Nelson (q.v.), 1780 to 1805, and the personal papers of Nevil Maskelyne (1732-1813), Astronomer Royal.

Administrative / biographical background
Copies of Volumes and Documents - Photostats