The British Library

It was great to visit the British Library yesterday...

My favourite area is The Sir John Ritblat Gallery which hosts a permanent display of many of the library's greatest treasures.
It houses over 200 beautiful and fascinating items including sacred texts from many faiths, maps and views, early printing, literary, historical, scientific and musical works from over the centuries and around the world. I spent a long time looking at the Treasures and it was simply awe inspiring to look at some of the world's most exciting and significant books, from Magna Carta and the Gutenberg Bible, to Handel and the Beatles. Their special exhibition explores the English language in all its national and international diversity and aims to show the many social, cultural and historical strands from which the language has been woven. The 'Evolving English; One Language, Many Voices' exhibition looks at the roots of Old English, slang dictionaries, medieval manuscripts, advertisements and newspapers from around the world alongside everyday texts and dialect sound recordings. Visitors follow the social, cultural and historical influences on the English language... and see how it’s still evolving today.
Chris