The British Library

The British Library is a treasure-trove. Visitors to our site at St Pancras may recognise that the building is shaped like an ocean liner (the inspiration of its architect, Colin St John Wilson), but they may not realise that the Library holds, at current estimates, more than 170 million collection items in over 400 languages. Alongside our printed books and manuscripts, the British Library is home to the national newspaper archive, the national philatelic collection and the records of the India Office, all kept on shelving that expands by several kilometres a year. Some of these items date back thousands of years, while others belong to the digital age. They represent hundreds of languages, countless formats, and the accumulated knowledge of numerous generations.

The British Library’s Reading Rooms have been used by many famous readers, including Sun Yat-sen, Karl Marx, Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker, Mahatma Gandhi, Rudyard Kipling, George Orwell, George Bernard Shaw, Mark Twain, Vladimir Lenin, Virginia Woolf, Arthur Rimbaud, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, H. G. Wells and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

What is the British Library in China Project?

As part of an ambitious cultural exchange programme with China funded by the UK Government, the British Library will be developing exhibitions, online learning resources and a knowledge exchange programme. In addition, there will be a variety of related events in the UK and China. The British Library in China: connecting through culture and learning project aims to build closer cultural and people-to-people relations between the British Library and China, working with Chinese cultural and educational organisations. The British Library will raise the profile of its collections for Chinese audiences, and of the Library as a destination for visitors from China. The Library will also take a leading role in network-to-network exchanges between libraries in both countries.

What is the largest item held at the British Library?

The Klencke Atlas is one of the world’s biggest, measuring 176 × 231 cm when open, and taking several people to lift it. Another candidate is the precious Audubon’s Birds of America, which is in the so-called ‘double elephant folio’ format (printed on double elephant paper, the largest size available, approximately 100 × 67 cm). This beautiful book was compiled by the ornithologist John James Audubon (1785–1851), born Jean-Jacques Laforest Audubon in Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) in the Caribbean. It was Audubon’s ambition to produce a book containing life-size reproductions of all the birds of the ‘United States and its territories’, and its publication took nearly 12 years to complete. The British Museum Library was reluctant to take out a subscription to such an expensive publication; it received its copy through the bequest of Major-General Thomas Hardwicke’s natural history collection in 1835. Only 120 of the 200 complete copies produced are known to survive.

Which is the most curious item held at the British Library?

Over the years, the Library has been presented with locks of authors’ hair (Percy Bysshe Shelley and Charlotte Brontë spring to mind), the earliest manuscript atlas of the night sky and a set of plasticine models of Winnie the Pooh and his friends, used by the illustrator E H Shepard (1879–1976). However, taking this question literally, we might point to Elizabeth Blackwell’s A Curious Herbal. This work was illustrated, engraved and hand-coloured by Blackwell, in order to raise sufficient funds to have her husband released from a debtor’s prison. The book was issued in weekly parts between 1737 and 1739, and it contains images of 500 of ‘the most useful plants, which are now used in the practice of physick’. Although the venture raised enough income to secure the release of her husband, he eventually left for Sweden, where he was hanged for treason having becoming involved in a political conspiracy. Elizabeth died alone in England in 1758.

What is the most iconic item at the British Library?

Again, this is open to debate, but one item that has international appeal is the notebook of Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519). This manuscript, known as Codex Arundel after its English owner (Thomas Howard, 14th Earl of Arundel), is written in Italian, in Leonardo’s characteristic ‘mirror writing’, left-handed and moving from right to left. Among the topics covered are mechanics, astronomy, optics, architecture and the flight of birds. Recently, our imaging scientist discovered a previously hidden figure in Leonardo’s notebook, underlining that there is still much to be discovered in the British Library’s amazing collections.

The Klencke Atlas is one of the world’s biggest: it measures 176 x 231 cm when open. It takes its name from Joannes Klencke, who presented it to Charles II on his restoration to the British thrones in 1660.

标题：Klencke Atlas (c.1660) 藏品存于：British Library 书架号：Maps KAR 版权：Public domain

The Chinese star chart is the earliest known manuscript atlas of the night sky. It was produced in central China around AD700 and it shows over 1,300 stars visible to the naked eye – centuries before the telescope was invented.

标题：Chinese star chart 藏品存于：British Library 书架号：Or. 8210/S.3326 版权：Public Domain

Elizabeth Blackwell’s beautiful illustrations of medicinal plants would be notable enough in their own right, but the unusual circumstances of their creation make them doubly interesting. She began the work to raise money to secure her husband’s release from a debtor’s prison.

标题：A Curious Herbal 作者／创作者：Elizabeth Blackwell 藏品存于：British Library 书架号：34.I.12-13, plate 3 版权：Public Domain

Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519), painter, sculptor, architect and engineer, kept notes and drawings of his studies, ideas and inventions. Over 7,000 pages have survived, including this notebook, known as Codex Arundel after its English collector Thomas Howard, 14th Earl of Arundel.

标题：Leonardo da Vinci's notebook - Codex Arundel 作者／创作者：Leonardo da Vinci 藏品存于：British Library 书架号：Arundel MS 263 版权：Public Domain

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Breaking the News

British Library | 2022/04/22 - 2022/08/21

• Breaking the News, supported by Newsworks, explores issues of choice, interpretation, truth and trust in the media
• Home to the UK’s collection of news, the British Library exhibition spans five centuries and includes newspapers, newsreels, radio, television, the internet and social media
• Accompanied by displays at public libraries across the UK, a season of in-person and online events and a book

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