For the Love of the British Isles: BRITISH LIBRARY

They collect everything published today, tomorrow and decades into the future. They have millions of books, but also newspapers, maps, sound recordings, patents and stamps. The library contains such diverse elements as the Magna Carta and handwritten Beatles lyrics on some 400 miles of shelves.

It is the national library of the UK and the largest library in the world by total item count - some 170 million items

A reader pass is needed to access books, the reading rooms, and online resources. To be granted a pass you must show that you need to consult items you cannot easily access elsewhere.

The complex is built around a garden, with seating and statues.

At the centre of the library is the transparent King's Library, a six-level glass cube housing the book collection of George III.The sound-proofing in the library is wonderful; auditory distractions are minimized through unobtrusive acoustic engineering, creating an aura of peaceful calm.

The public areas, including 3 exhibition galleries, are open to all. An illuminated Manuscripts Gallery, exhibits of Shakespeare original folios, the Gutenburg Bible, and other original author's manuscripts, as well as changing exhibits and world-class events program

The Treasure Gallery at the British Library was created as an on-site museum to display some of the most significant illustrated books and manuscripts from English, European, and world history. The room is a trove of literary and linguistic historic treasures. Originals of some of the most important legal texts in world history can be seen, such as the Magna Carta and the Domesday Book. You can also see fragments of the first surviving letters written in English, the Anglo-Saxon epic “Beowulf,” and original copies of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, Shakespearean plays, and the illustrated books of Lewis Carroll and J. R. R. Tolkien.

Among the exhibits are countless medieval books, including bestiaries depicting colourful mythical beasts such as werewolves and dragons; herbariums showing plants believed to cure illnesses real and imagined; and an alchemic book of hours showing crowned corpses and nightmarish depictions of the apocalypse.

Here, too, are the chronicles of early English history, showing the wars, assassinations, and plagues that were commonplace. On a global scale, there are books relevant to world history originating from countries and civilizations as diverse as Spain, China, Persia, India, and Japan.

Scientific and geographic history are also featured, and you can view intriguing antique world maps alongside letters and illustrated documents by some of the most famous scientists, inventors, and geographers, such as Leonardo Da Vinci, Isaac Newton, and Charles Darwin.

The library is located directly outside the St Pancras railway station. Entrance to the library and the treasures gallery is free and opening hours are 9:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. from Monday to Thursday. There is a cafe, restaurant, and shop onsite for visitors.

The Treasures Gallery can be found immediately up the steps to the left upon entering the library and close at 6 pm Mon.- Fri., and 5 pm at weekends. As with any museum, items may be removed or placed on loan to other institutions. There is also a section near the entrance that is dedicated to a specific topic of the library's vast collection.

It took Christopher Wren 36 years to build St. Paul's Cathedral, and similarly, it took 36 years to build the British Library, because of a combination of changing government policies, changing sites, opposition from political and architectural pundits (including Prince Charles) and funding problems.

And this is the painting by William Blake, that 'Newton' is based upon

I do like this view of the St. Pancras hotel, from the courtyard of the British Library. The architects were wise to choose the terracotta and grey colour scheme for the Library, which ties in perfectly with the Victorian Gothic of the hotel.

Today, I had the pleasure of attending an exhibition of written works by medieval women - everything from household hints, cosmetics, pregnancy, poems and books. There's even a treatise on women's equality! Many of them were written by Noble women, as they were the ones most likely to have received some form of education. Below is a random selection of what was on offer - including a naughty Welsh poem and a page of music in Mozart's own hand