Manuscript notes and selection of nearly 800 photographs from the dal Pozzo-Albani drawings collection preserved in the Royal Library at Windsor Castle, purchased by Thomas Ashby. Inspired by Rodolfo Lanciani's work on the collection of drawings of ancient sculpture in the Topham Collection at Eton College (1894) and in Italian and foreign archives, Ashby began to examine several collections of early modern drawings held in English libraries, the discovery and study of these important documents being relevant to the understanding of the topography of Rome and its suburbs. This project was not at all disconnected from his passion as a bibliophile, particularly for rare books, prints, drawings and manuscript collections which he avidly assembled, and meticulously examined, following in the footsteps of his parents' antiquarian interests.

The photographs in this series were purchased by Thomas Ashby on behalf of the BSR, and were used to assemble facsimiles for a catalogue of the dal Pozzo drawings, similar in scope to his publication on the Codex Coner (PBSR, vol. II, 1904 - but see also PBSR, vol. VII, 1914 for the drawings of ancient paintings in English collections). They are accompanied by many of Ashby’s handwritten notes, which would have formed the foundational structure of a planned PBSR volume that was never published.