The British Library

This building and its contents were totally over-whelming and humbling, to say the least. We spent a lot of time in here, just looking with disbelief at the history contained within its walls.  As a bit of trivia, The British Library contains approximately twelve million books.

The list of this library's historical documents cannot be fully listed here.... I'd be typing for at least a month.  We saw original drawings by Leonardo da Vinci... original music scores by Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, Debussy, Stravinsky, and The Beatles.  And that's just those that I remember.

Literature was well-represented also.... original manuscripts by Sir Walter Raleigh, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Charlotte Bronte, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Oscar Wilde, Sylvia Plath.  The sole surviving manuscript of "Beowulf" is also here, under glass of course, along with the other hand-written manuscripts.

In glass display cases, there were hand-written letters from Napoleon, Charles Darwin, Isaac Newton, Samuel Pepys, TE Lawrence, Winston Churchill, Michelangelo, Galileo...... to name but a few.  It was incredible to see the handwriting of people with such historical and cultural significance.

They had the personal prayer book of Princess Elizabeth, dated 1545..... and a handwritten Chinese almanac, dated 877.  There were sacred prayer books from all corners of the world, hand-written and hand-painted... some of them seemed to glow even under the dim lighting (kept dim, to protect the ancient pages).

In a very small, separate room, they had the original copy of The Magna Carta..... very dim lighting in there, once again to protect the document, dated 1215.  The critical principle of "The Great Charter" was that the King, like his people, was subject to the law.  This room was always filled with people, yet you could hear a pin drop... everyone was just so quiet and so respectful of this amazing document.

There was a collection of bibles, some of them hand-written, a lot of them with hand-painted illustrations, from all over the world.  Another display case had a personal collection of hand-made book covers... everything from the finest silk and satin to the most precious gold and gem-stones.

The British Library had the most wonderful bookstore and gift shop, which of course we had to see. I found books of all kinds there, and knew I'd have to buy one to take home. After much looking, and after picking up at least two dozen possibilities, I chose a red-cloth-covered edition of "Jane Eyre," by Charlotte Bronte..... such a beautiful book, small in size, but gigantic in beauty with all of its pages edged in gold.  I already have a copy of this book, one of my favorites, but this small red and gold volume from The British Library will be a treasure of its own for my library shelves, and I'll read it yet again before setting it into its place on the bookcase.