Oxford University's Bodleian Library has launched a 65,000-item cultural history collection online.

The John Johnson Collection of Printed Ephemera is one of the largest and most important collections of such material in the world, consisting of more than 1.5 million items.

The collection contains documents tracing Britain's cultural, social, industrial and commercial history over the past five centuries.

Assembled by John de Monins Johnson (1882-1956), Printer to Oxford University from 1925 to 1946, it was transferred from Oxford University Press to the Bodleian in 1968.

Richard Ovenden, the library's associate director and Keeper of Special Collections, said: "Regarded as the most significant single collection of ephemera in the UK, the John Johnson Collection has been one of Bodleian's least-known treasures.

"Through the digitisation programme, we're now able to make this valuable primary resource available to researchers and the general public worldwide."

Those visiting the collection on the Internet will have access to more than 150,000 high-resolution full-colour images under five broad subject headings: 19th-century entertainment; the book trade; popular prints; crimes, murders and executions; and advertising.