The Layton Collection

THE THOMAS LAYTON TRUST & LAYTON'S COLLECTION

Online Exhibition

With the help of a heritage Lottery grant we are able to bring you this web resource, delving into some of the treasures from Thomas Layton’s Library project. Here the user can explore part of the extensive collection of over 8,000 books which still survive, with important works on almost every subject – natural history, classics, history and archaeology, the decorative arts, art and artists, music, architecture (including church architecture), geography and topography, plays and poetry, philosophy, politics and satire, English and foreign travel, explorers and exploring, as well as works of literature.

The Collection

Thomas Layton collected books, coins, and archaeological items (usually described as ‘antiquities’) for 70 years. In that time he had accumulated what has been described as “probably the largest collection of London antiquities ever amassed by a single individual”.

The vast majority of items are believed to have been bought at auctions. Some came to him from his men working on the river. His businesses provided opportunities for finds from dredging, building of bridges and embankments along the banks of the Thames, for which Layton paid good money. Even by the standards of the day Layton kept poor records of where items were found. Despite this, the collection is considered highly important particularly to archaeologists and pre-historians.