The Royal Commonwealth Society (previously known successively as the Colonial Society, the Royal Colonial Institute and the Royal Empire Society and now linked with the Victoria League in Commonwealth Trust), was founded in 1868 and from its early days has maintained a library which now consists of 250,000¢ items, classified geographically; a substantial proportion of this is concerned with Africa. The small library of the Royal African Society was embodied in it in 1949. Subjects covered include all but purely technical ones, ranging from history, geography and politics to art, literature and natural history.

The literature of exploration and discovery is particualarly extensive and there are original editions of nearly all the significant books in this field. The Library is also strong in general accounts of voyages and travels, collected voyages, and the publications of the major relevant societies; much material on Africa appears in this form.