The Visit

The British Library – Home to the wow! And extraordinary prints.

My visit to the British Library can be said in one expression: WOW!

Figure 1

On the 6th of this month, I journeyed through London's King's Cross Station St. Pancreas. This gave me what I believe most Harry Potter fans (HARRY POTTER: Books: Bloomsbury Publishing (UK), s.d.) feel when walking in the station as the film's train station scenes were shot here (Figure 1). Really magical.

Figure 2

Walking towards the Library, I couldn’t help but be impressed with the grand architecture of the clay buildings and more blown away by the massive interior space.

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I met our Lecturer Brian at the entrance, and he directed me to register and explore the library especially the 'Treasures of the British Library' room and an exhibition titled, ‘Digital Storytelling’.

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The Digital Storytelling exhibition was very informative and interactive. I enjoyed the interaction with the stories. The interfaces were easy to use and informative with a fun factor.

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For me, the crowning of my visit was to the ‘Treasures of the British Library’ room. As a fan of history looking at these original prints from all over the world was very overwhelming. You have in one room a combination of over 1000 years of history from Shakespeare play prints (Figure 10) and the Ethiopian Sacred Bible (Figure 11) from around the 17th century, to the Magna Carta from the 13th century (Figure 12). I took images and sent them to my family to share my excitement.

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I know that this won't be my last visit. I need to explore so much more to calm my curiosity and I know this will be many many years of visits.

Images

Figure 1. Donna, B.O. (2023) British Library.

Figure 2. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002). (2016) Figure 3. Donna, B.O. (2023) Outside view of the train station and British Library.

Figure 4. Donna, B.O. (2023) Inside the British Library

Figure 5. Donna, B.O. (2023) Visitors relaxing inside the British Library.

Figure 6. Donna, B.O. (2023) Donna with Brian and coursemates

Figure 7. Donna, B.O. (2023) Digital Storytelling exhibition Student ticket.

Figure 8. Donna, B.O. (2023)Treasures of the British Library exhibit.

Figure 9. Donna, B.O. (2023) Digital Storytelling exhibit.

Figure 10. Donna, B.O. (2023) Shakespeares Second Folio.

Figure 11. Donna, B.O. (2023) Octateuch and Four Gospels.

Figure 12. Donna, B.O. (2023) Magna Carter.

Bibliography

HARRY POTTER: Books: Bloomsbury publishing (UK) (s.d.) At: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/harry-potter/ (Accessed 09/10/2023).