A double‐crystal x‐ray spectrometer (DCS) has been used to obtain high‐resolution x‐ray spectra of laser‐produced plasmas. The DCS has a high dispersion, and thus can obtain highly resolved spectra in circumstances where the resolution of a conventional single‐crystal Bragg spectrometer at comparable source‐to‐detector distances would be limited by the source size. In addition the DCS also yields unit‐magnification one‐dimensional spatial resolution in the direction perpendicular to the spectral direction. The instrument produces two spectra symmetrically disposed about a central wavelength, which makes it especially useful for measuring spectral line shifts. Analysis of the spectra from hydrogenic aluminium and helium‐like chlorine indicates a resolving power (&lgr;/&Dgr;&lgr;) greater than 2500 and a spatial resolution better than 30 &mgr;m.