British Library
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About British Library

The British Library building is home to the UK's national library and to unique exhibition galleries. On display are some of the world's most famous written and printed items including: Magna Carta (1215), Shakespeare's First Folio (1623) and Codex Sinaiticus (c.350) and displays on calligraphy, bookbinding, printing, stamps and sound recording. Turning the Pages allows you to turn the pages of a book or unroll a scroll simply by touching the screen.

Facilities

Opening Times St.Pancras site: Mon, Weds, Thurs, Fri: 9.30-18.00. Tues: 9.30-20.00. Sat: 9.30-17.00. Sun & Public hols: 11.00-17.00 See website for details on reading room opening times/ Colindale newspaper library

British Library Address

Address:
96 Euston Road, London
London
NW1 2DB
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7412 7332
Fax: +44 (0)20 7412 7807
Email:
Website: http://www.bl.uk

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Location Information for British Library

Address:
96 Euston Road, London
London
NW1 2DB
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7412 7332
Fax: +44 (0)20 7412 7807
Email:
Website: http://www.bl.uk
Public transport: Euston or King's Cross
By Road: Turn right along the Euston Road.

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British Library
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Traveller Rating:

4.5
Based on 8 reviews
Ranked #31

  Latest 5 reviews of British Library

Definitely Worth a Stop

British Library is located next to St Pancras station. New, modern, almost Japanese style building. Photos allowed outside of galleries. Entry is free to the Sir John Ritblat Gallery inside which...

British Library is located next to St Pancras station. New, modern, almost Japanese style building. Photos allowed outside of galleries. Entry is free to the Sir John Ritblat Gallery inside which is where several of the Library's "treasures" are on display. Some of my faves in the Gallery were music scores by Mozart and Beethoven (in their hand), a number of old maps, The Gutenberg Bible, Leonardo da Vinci notebooks (mainly engineering type drawings), two of the four known copies of the Magna Carta, Jane Austen book in her hand and many others. No photos allowed.

When I was there, the Library also had a special exhibit of its collection on Henry VIII in honor of the 500th anniversary since his coronation. This was a very extensive collection and quite impressive. There was a charge to view. They had a number of letters by Henry VIII on display (he had quite nice handwriting), as well as letters from his wives (including Catherine and Anne Boelyn), his marital records, divorce records, baptism records and miliary/legal records during this reign. Amazing how great of shape the records are considering their age. The exhibit was quite large and worth a view. No photos allowed here either obviously.

The Library is quite convenient to tour and I'd highly recommend this hidden gem.

 
5.0
24 May 2009
by capsfan2002, Bismarck, ND
 

A neat sight to see if you're in the neighbourhood

To think that every book every published in the UK is stored in this library... It's pretty amazing. While you probably won't spend more than 15 minutes looking around, unless you're here to do some...

To think that every book every published in the UK is stored in this library... It's pretty amazing. While you probably won't spend more than 15 minutes looking around, unless you're here to do some actual research, this is still worth a few minutes of your time to drop by. Check out the chair that looks like a book in the lobby.

 
4.0
6 April 2009
by politikgirl, Toronto, Canada
 

One of the Best Places to Visit in London

Even if you only have an hour, visit the British Library, next to (west-side of) St. Pancras station. The Sir John Ritblat Gallery is what you want to see ... Magna Carta, Gutenburg Bible, ancient...

Even if you only have an hour, visit the British Library, next to (west-side of) St. Pancras station. The Sir John Ritblat Gallery is what you want to see ... Magna Carta, Gutenburg Bible, ancient texts, scientists notebooks/writings, Shakespeare texts, Beatles texts, etc. It is all displayed nicely, in a subdued lit room. I and my two teenagers visited the Library on Sunday, June 29, 2008 for about 2 hours and it wasn't crowded at all - relatively few people there. If a person could visit only one thing in London, it would have to be the Tower of London (16 pounds/person). After that, it would have to be the British Library and the British Museum - I rate both about the same (highly!) ... and they are both free (though, I donated a few pounds).

 
5.0
19 July 2008
by TravelsWithEmily, Pullman, Washington
 

A day in the world's largest library

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the American Library of Congress is the "World's Largest Library" in terms of shelf space, but the British Library is the "World's Largest Library" in...

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the American Library of Congress is the "World's Largest Library" in terms of shelf space, but the British Library is the "World's Largest Library" in terms of the number of books in its collection. The Library used to be housed in the British Museum, but it now has its own building, a more modern facility, in Euston next to King's Cross St. Pancras. It houses the world's oldest dated printed book, the only surviving manuscript copy of Beowulf and other historical manuscripts and books. The Library also has free exhibits at the ground floor -- when I visited, the exhibit was entitled Sacred, which featured the oldest holy books of the three major religions of the world (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam).

 
4.0
15 April 2008
by mayfsi, Philippines
 

Bigget Secret in London

Well, it's probably not a secret, but most tourists don't come here. I enjoyed it MORE than the Bristish Museum. It was uncanny -- Gutenberg Bibles, Da Vinci Notebooks, Shakespeare notebooks, Magna...

Well, it's probably not a secret, but most tourists don't come here. I enjoyed it MORE than the Bristish Museum. It was uncanny -- Gutenberg Bibles, Da Vinci Notebooks, Shakespeare notebooks, Magna Carta, the list goes on and on! I was blown away by the amount of treasures in the room. If you love history, come here before anywhere else.

 
5.0
28 February 2008
by Janda05, New York
 

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Events at British Library

  • Points of View

    Must See!
    Exhibition

    30 Oct 2009 to 7 Mar 2010

    London's British Library brings its remarkable photography collection to light. Until 7 Mar

     

  • Anthony Grafton: Panizzi Lectures - Practice Makes Imperfect

    Special event

    8 Dec 2009 to 8 Dec 2009

    This year's series of Panizzi lectures explore the ways in which texts were prepared for publication in Renaissance Europe. The lectures recreates the practice of professional correctors and the printers and authors who worked with them. This event describes the world and work of the corrector: it trace the origins of some of their practices to the world of manuscript book production and the new needs of print.

     

  • Behind the Scenes Tours of the Conservation Studios

    Guided walk

    Recurring event

    See the work of conservation and gain an insight into the techniques used to care for librarys collections on a behind the scenes tour of the Conservation studios.

     

  • The British Library

    Special event

    Recurring event

    The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and one of the worlds greatest libraries. Our collections include more than 150 million items, in over 400 languages, to which three million new items are added every year. We house books, magazines, manuscripts, maps, music scores, newspapers, patents, databases, philatelic items, prints and drawings and sound recordings.

     
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