The Australian Museum, Sydney, is Australia's oldest museum, internationally recognised for its longstanding scientific contributions. Less well-known is the Museum's fine collection of monographs and journals relating to natural history and anthropology, which has been used to support the work of Museum staff and external enquirers since the late 1840s. This paper discusses the library's collection up to 1883, the date of its first published catalogue. The author urges library history researchers to make those who are responsible for Australia's book heritage in similar institutions aware of the significance of their collections. (Contains 25 notes.)