British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, holding more than 200 million items from every corner of the world — making it one of the largest libraries on earth. As a legal deposit library, it receives a copy of every book published in the UK and Ireland; the collection grows by around three million items each year, requiring nearly ten kilometres of new shelving annually. The building itself stands beside St Pancras station in London, was formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1998, and is the largest public building constructed in the UK during the twentieth century, now listed as a Grade I building. From the sculptures in the piazza to the six-storey glass book tower, from the stamp collection to the manuscript galleries — there is far more here than a single visit can cover.
United Kingdom · 9 The overlooked corners inside
The overlooked corners inside
Newton Statue
Step into the piazza before the main entrance and you will find a large bronze figure hunched over a high plinth, compass in hand, measuring the ground at his feet — this is Newton, by the Scottish sculptor Eduardo Paolozzi. Paolozzi rendered Newton's body as a kind of mechanical assembly: shoulders, elbows, knees and ankles are all bolted together, and the head still shows the deliberate seams left when he split and reassembled the mould. Installed in 1995, the figure stands roughly 3.7 metres tall and marks the crossing point of the library's two principal axes, designed by architect Colin St John Wilson — it is the first work of public art to greet you as you arrive.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
UK Web Archive Consortium
The British websites you visit today may one day end up preserved here. The UK Web Archive is run by a consortium of six UK legal deposit libraries and aims to crawl and archive every UK website at least once a year. It covers the entire .uk domain alongside other UK country-code and geographic top-level domains such as .scot, .cymru and .london, storing everything in a shared infrastructure called the Digital Library System — effectively a running record of the nation's online memory.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
British Library Manuscripts and Archives Collections
The British Library's manuscripts and archives hold more than 351,000 items spanning over a thousand years and every inhabited continent. At the heart of the collection are three founding groups brought into the British Museum in 1753: the Cotton manuscripts, the Harley manuscripts and the Sloane manuscripts. The Cotton collection contains the only surviving manuscript of *Beowulf* (dating from around 975–1025) and the Lindisfarne Gospels (c. 715–720) — one of the finest examples of Hiberno-Saxon illuminated manuscripts in existence.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org
British Library Philatelic Collection
Up on the upper level of the library's main entrance hall, a row of display cases holds the National Philatelic Collection — around 80 million stamps and items of postal history. The collection has its origins in an 1890 gift: Hubert Haes donated two stamp albums along with a request that the Museum Library use them as the foundation of a philatelic holding. The following year (1891), a bequest from Thomas Tapling established the collection's real scale; probate valued the Tapling material at £12,000, but the library estimated it at over £50,000 — Richard Garnett, then Assistant Keeper of Printed Books, called it the most valuable gift since the Grenville Library in 1847. The collection today spans stamps, postal stationery, proof impressions, airmail items and newspaper duty stamps, and includes the Perkins D roller die used to print the first British stamps — the single largest physical object in the collection.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
British Library Advisory Council
The British Library Advisory Council is a statutory advisory body established under the British Library Act 1972 and has existed since the library was founded. Its role is purely consultative — it holds no decision-making powers over library governance. Its remit is to advise the library on the development and operation of its services and on the library's relationships with other libraries in the UK and abroad. The Council is made up of a chair and up to twenty-five members, appointed either because of the positions they hold within the UK library system or because they can offer insight into the library's services, strategic planning and stakeholder affairs. Members serve three-year terms, renewable once. The Council typically meets three or four times a year, at either the St Pancras site or the Boston Spa site in Yorkshire; meetings are attended by the Chief Executive, the Chief Librarian, the Chief Operating Officer and one or two members of the Strategic Leadership Team.
Sources: apply-for-public-appointment.service.gov.uk · legislation.gov.uk · wikidata.org
Colindale Newspaper Library
The Colindale Newspaper Library was the British Library's national newspaper repository, o… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
Sources: pressgazette.co.uk · wikidata.org · librarylearningspace.com
British Library Exhibition Galleries
Several galleries are housed within the library building. The permanent Sir John Ritblat T… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
Sources: en.wikipedia.org · artrabbit.com · cindex.camden.gov.uk
Foundation Collections
The core of the British Library's manuscript holdings rests on three founding groups — the… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Additional Manuscripts
The Additional Manuscripts series, held in the library's manuscript reading room, records… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
FAQ
What overlooked corners are worth seeing inside British Library?
Newton Statue, UK Web Archive Consortium, British Library Manuscripts and Archives Collections and more — 9 spots in all, each with sources and a guide in your language to read or listen to on the spot.
Is the British Library guide free?
The first 5 spots are free to read; the other 4 unlock with a one-time purchase (not a subscription).