British Library blogs

About our blogs

These blogs from our curators, subject specialists and guest bloggers express the thoughts and opinions of individual British Library staff members and guests.

Latest posts

Graham Nattrass Lecture 2022 - ‘Wittenberg 1522’

11 August 2022 European studies

Under the auspices of the German Studies Library Group in association with the British Library, the fourth Graham Nattrass lecture, Wittenberg 1522: Print Culture and Soundscape of the German Reformation, will be delivered on Tuesday 20 September 2022 at the...

Living on a reduced income in 1868

11 August 2022 Untold lives

In April 1868 Charlotte Francis Laing sent a petition to the India Office for financial assistance. She had been reduced from affluence to ‘extreme penury’ when the failure of the Bank of Bombay took away her income from a holding...

In Search of Vanilla

10 August 2022 Americas and Oceania Collections

Kathryn Sampeck is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Illinois State University and was the 2021-22 British Library Eccles Centre Fulbright Scholar. I arrived in London with all kinds of baggage—not only clothes, personal items, and tech to see me through...

Breaking the news of the fall of Richard II

09 August 2022 Medieval manuscripts

The oldest item in the British Library’s current Breaking the News exhibition (open until 21 August 2022) is an account of the Battle of Flodden in 1513. This small pamphlet is the earliest surviving example of printed news in Britain,...