British Library blogs

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These blogs express the thoughts and opinions of individual British Library staff members. You can subscribe to any blog by email.

Latest posts

Bestiary of Fears – an artist’s inspiration from illustrated Hebrew manuscripts

18 October 2017 Asian and African studies

Today's post is by guest contributor Jacqueline Nicholls, a London based visual artist and Jewish educator. She uses her art to engage with traditional Jewish ideas in untraditional ways. She co-ordinates the Art Studio and other Arts & Culture events...

Highway to Hell

18 October 2017 Medieval manuscripts

Today we're living easy, living free because we're on the highway to Hell! We have a season ticket on a one-way ride to explore the Hell-mouth, a popular depiction of Hell in illuminated manuscripts. Raising a little Hell: full-page miniature...

Imaginary Cities – Collaborations with Technologists

17 October 2017 Digital scholarship

Posted by Mahendra Mahey (Manager of BL Labs) on behalf of Michael Takeo Magruder (BL Labs Artist/Researcher in Residence). In developing the Imaginary Cities project, I enlisted two long-standing colleagues to help collaboratively design the creative-technical infrastructures required to realise...

Tolstoy’s Kreutzer Sonata

17 October 2017 European studies

In the 1880s Leo Tolstoy mainly focused on writing non-fiction; his novella The Kreutzer Sonata is one of the few exceptions. In February 1876 a woman calling herself ‘Slavyanka’ had written to Tolstoy her thoughts on the appalling situation of...