The list below provides links to digitised primary sources which can be used for studying Bristol’s history. Many have been digitised and epublished by the BRS and can be found on The Internet Archive (archive.org) Bristol Record Society Collection. The primary sources includes both records volumes derived from manuscript sources which are largely or entirely textual in nature. It also includes printed books (such as guidebooks) that were not created as historical works in their time, but which now have value for those studying Bristol’s history.
Atchley, E. G. Cuthbert F. , ‘Medieval Parish clerks in Bristol’, Transactions of the St. Paul’s Ecclesiological Society, vol. 5 (1904), pp. 107-16
Atchley, E. G. Cuthbert F., ‘On the medieval parish records of the church of St. Nicholas, Bristol’, Transactions of the St. Paul’s Ecclesiological Society, Vol. VI (1906)
Atchley, E. G. Cuthbert F., ‘Some inventories of the parish church of St. Stephen, Bristol’, Transactions of the St Paul’s Ecclesiological Society, Vol. VI, part III (1908)
Atchley, E. G. Cuthbert F., ‘Some more Bristol inventories’, Transactions of the St. Paul’s Ecclesiological Society, Vol. IX, Part II (1922), pp. 1-50
Barrett, William, The History and Antiquities of the City of Bristol: compiled from Original Records and Authentic Manuscripts (Bristol, 1789)
Beaven, Alfred B., Bristol Lists: Municipal and Miscellaneous (Bristol, 1899)
Bettey, Joseph H., Bristol Observed: visitors’ impressions of the City from Domesday to The Blitz (Redcliffe, Bristol, 1986)
Bickley, Francis B. (ed.), A Calendar of Bristol Deeds (Chiefly relating to Bristol) collected by George Weare Braikenridge (T. and A. Constable, Edinburgh, 1899)
Bickley, Francis B. (ed.), The Little Red Book of Bristol (Bristol, 1900) Vol. 1
Bickley, Francis B. (ed.), The Little Red Book of Bristol (Bristol, 1900) Vol. 2
Bristol Chamber of Commerce, Bristol Chamber of Commerce Reports, 1823-1833 (Bristol, 1823-33)
Bristol City Council, Bristol: The Western Gateway to the Old Country (J. W. Arrowsmith Ltd., Bristol, 1911)
Bristol City Council, Council House Bristol (Bristol City Council, 1956)
Bristol Corporation, Official Guide to the City of Bristol (Arrowsmith, 1925)
Bristol. The City Charters. Containing the Original Institution of Mayors, Sheriffs, Recorders, Town-Clerks and all other Officers whatsoever.(Bristol, 1736)
Bush, Henry, Extracts of Key Primary Sources Illustrative of the Local Taxation of the Town of Bristol, from the Thirteenth Century Onwards (Bristol, 1824) [British History Online edition, sponsored by the BRS]
Clifton College, The Memorial to Old Cliftonians who fell in the South African War (J. W. Arrowsmith, Bristol, 1904)
Clifton College, The Cliftonian Memorial of the Great War, 1914-1919 (J. W. Arrowsmith, Bristol, 1922)
Evans, John, The Picture of Bristol; or a Guide to Objects of Curiosity and Interest in Bristol, Clifton, the Hotwells and their Vicinity (Bristol, 1818)
Lesser Columbus (alias Laurence Cowen), Greater Bristol by Lesser Columbus (Bristol, 1893)
Dallaway, James, William Wyrcestre Redivivus (Bristol, 1823)
Dallaway, James, Antiquities of Bristow in the Middle Centuries; including the Topography by William Wyrcestre, and the Life of William Canynges (Bristol, 1834)
Damer Powell, J[ohn] W[illiams], Bristol Privateers and Ships of War (Arrowsmith, Bristol, 1930)
Dawson, James W., Commerce and Customs: a history of the ports of Newport and Caerleon (R. H. Johns Ltd. Newport, 1932)
Flavin, Susan & Jones, Evan T. (eds.), Sixteenth-century Bristol customs accounts transcribed in EXCEL workbooks (2008)
Fox, Francis F., Some Account of the Ancient Fraternity of Merchant Taylors of Bristol: with transcripts of ordinances and other documents (Bristol, 1880)
Fox, Francis F. and Taylor, John (eds.), Some Account of the Guild of Bristol Weavers in Bristol: chiefly from MSS. (Bristol, 1889)
Fox, Francis F. (ed.), Adams’s Chronicle of Bristol (Bristol, 1910)
Fry, Edward Alexander (ed.), A Calender of wills : proved in the Consistory Court (City and Deanery of Bristol division) of the Bishop of Bristol, 1572-1792 : and also a calender of will in the great orphan books, preserved in the Council House, 1379-1674 (British Record Society publications, Vol. 17, 1897) [Hathi Trust version]
Green, Kenneth H., Bristol an appreciation (Garland Press, Bristol, 1947)
Jones, Evan T. (ed.), Bristol Annal: Bristol Archives 09594/1 (version 30 Sept 2019) [This is a draft annotated transcription . Photographs of the manuscript (137 MB) have also been made available with the permission of Bristol Archives.]
Lart, Charles Edmund (ed.), Registers of the French Churches of Bristol, Stonehouse and Plymouth (Publications of the Huguenot Society of London, vol. 20, 1912)
Latimer, John (ed.), Calendar of the Charters &c. of the City and County of Bristol (Bristol, 1909)
Major S. D., New Illustrated Handbook to Bristol, Clifton and Neighbourhood (Bristol, 1872)
Manchee, Thomas John (ed.),The Bristol Charities, being the report of the commissioners for inquiring concerning charities in England and Wales, so far as relates to the charitable institutions in Bristol. Vol. I (T. J. Manchee, Bristol, 1831)
Manchee, Thomas John (ed.), The Bristol Charities, being the report of the commissioners for inquiring concerning charities in England and Wales, so far as relates to the charitable institutions in Bristol. Vol. II (T. J. Manchee, Bristol, 1832)
Matthews, William, Matthews’s New History of Bristol or Complete Guide and Bristol Directory for the Year 1793-4 (Bristol, 1793, ed. 1898)
McGrath, Patrick (ed.), The Marchants Avizo by I[ohn] B[rowne,] Marchant, 1589 (Harvard, 1957)
McGrath, Patrick and Williams, Mary E. (eds.), Bristol Inns and Alehouses in the Mid-Eighteenth Century (Bristol, 1979)
Micklem, Nathaniel, Arnold Thomas of Bristol: collected papers and addresses (London, 1925)
Morgan, William, ‘William Morgan’s Annals of Bristol, 1246-1687‘ [BRS archive.org] in William Tyson, The Bristol Memorialist (Bristol, 1823), pp. 38-44, 115-122, 189-201, 287-293.
Müller, George, compiled by G. Fred. Bergin, Autobiography of George Müller (Bristol, The Bible and Tract Warehouse, Centenary Memorial edition, 1905)
Neale, W. G., At the Port of Bristol: volume one, members and problems, 1848-1899 (Port of Bristol Authority, Bristol, 1968)
Neale, W. G., At the Port of Bristol: volume two, the turn of the tide, 1900-1914 (Port of Bristol Authority, Bristol, 1970)
Neale, W. G., The Tides of War and the Port of Bristol, 1914-1918 (Port of Bristol Authority, Bristol, 1976)
Newcomb, George, Annals of Bristol, containing a List of the Mayors, Prepositors, Bailiffs, and Sheriffs, from the commencement to the Present Time; together with Chronological Notices of such Remarkable Events as have Transpired in the City during a period of Six Hundred Years (Bristol, 1834)
Nicholls, J. F., How to see Bristol: A guide for the excursionist, the naturalist and the archaeologist (Bristol: Arrowsmith. First published 1874, 6th edition, 1893)
Overton, Harold (ed.), War-Time Walks: Thirty-Five Rambles near Bristol (Ramblers’ Association, Bristol, 1942)
Pilkinton, Mark C. (ed.), Records of Early English Drama: Bristol (University of Toronto Press, 1997)
Pocock, Rose R[achel], Sketches of Bristol in the Olden Time (G. Davey, Broad St, Bristol, 1846)
Port of Bristol Authority, The Port of Bristol Official Handbook 1955 (Bristol, 1955)
Ralph, Elizabeth, Guide to the Bristol Archives Office (Bristol City Corporation, 1971)
Rimbron, T., The Domestic Monitor: or, a Director and Guide to Parents and Children, to Masters and Servants, in Religion and the Way of Salvation (Bristol, 1790)
Scott, Edward and Alfred E. Hudd (eds.), “The Cabot Roll”. The Customs Roll of the Port of Bristol, AD. 1496 to 1499 (William George’s Sons, Bristol, 1897)
Seyer, Samuel, The Charters and Letters Patent, granted by the Kings and Queens of England to the Town and City of Bristol (Bristol, 1812)
Seyer, Samuel, Memoirs Historical And Topographical of Bristol And Its Neighbourhood, 2 vols. (Bristol, 1821-25) Vol. 1 and Vol, II
Thomas, H. Arnold, Memorials of the Rev. David Thomas, B.A., of Bristol (London, 1876)
Toulmin Smith, Lucy (ed.), The Maire of Bristowe is Kalendar by Robert Ricart, Town Clerk of Bristol 18 Edward IV (Camden Society publications, 1872)
Tyson, William, The Bristol Memorialist (Bristol, 1823)
Wadley, Thomas Procter, Notes or Abstracts of the Wills contained in the Volume entitled the Great Orphan Book and Book of Wills in the Council House at Bristol (Bristol, 1886)
Warner, George (ed.), The Libelle of Englyshe Polycye: a poem on the use of sea power (Oxford University Press, 1926) [Sponsored by the BRS in honour of Prof. Peter Fleming]
White, James Walter, The Flora of Bristol: being an account of all the flowering plants, ferns, and their allies that have at any time been found in the district of the Bristol coal-fields (John Wright and Sons Ltd. Bristol, 1912)
Wilkins, H. J. (ed.), The Letters Patent of King Henry VIII Granting Westbury-on-Trym Collegiate Church and College, etc. together with all their Endowments to Sir Ralph Sadler (J. W. Arrowsmith, Bristol, 1909), 42 pp.
Wilkins, H. J. (ed.), The Church Register (A.D. 1559-1713) of the Ancient Parish of Westbury-on-Trym (Westbury and Bristol Records, Vol. III, Arrowsmith, Bristol, 1912)
Williams, Edith E., The Chantries of William Canynges in St Mary Redcliffe, Bristol (Bristol, 1950)
Bristol Record Society