The Edgar Osborne Collection contains a diverse selection of Early Modern [1592-1830] European books and manuscripts. Ranging from the 15^th to 19^th Century, the collection is comprised mainly of British manuscript documents. This includes ballads, letters, plays, parliamentary documents, speeches, petitions and application for letters patent and unpublished plays, which has been the research topic for the University of Calgary English Department’s  “The Osborne Project: Manuscript Plays and the English Drama.”

The Osborne Collection also includes a series of pre-1600 manuscripts and books, broadsides and watermarks. The subject matter for books and manuscripts includes classical, scientific, secular, political, religious and monarchical texts. Also included are almanacs and registers from England and Ireland, travel literature referencing North America, essays referring to the East India Trading Company, various speeches by English and French monarchs, and early English dramas, including unpublished plays, alternatively titled Marriage upon marriage, or As I told you before and The humorous magistrate.

For more information, see the Osborne Project at the University of Calgary English Department website.