From Beowulf to the Brontës, from Shakespeare quartos to Wendy Cope’s emails, our collections offer an unparalleled resource for the study of English literature and British theatre. They cover a range of formats including archives and manuscripts, printed books and sound recordings.

Collection guides

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Help

Reading Room Paul Grundy

St Pancras Reading Rooms

At St Pancras we have 11 Reading Rooms, each specialising in a different subject area or type of material and with different opening hours. In our Reading Rooms you can:

  • Consult books, journals and other items from our collections
  • Access a wide range of electronic resources and electronic journals
  • Consult subject guides, bibliographies and other research aids

If you need help, please ask our Reference Specialists at the enquiry desks or contact the Reference Service.

We offer a range of free Reader sessions and 1-2-1 consultations to help you make the best use of the Library's collections.

You’ll need a Reader Pass

Opening hours for all Reading Rooms

Blog posts

Fairy tales and creative campaigns

Friday, March 17, 2023

by Gwen Morris, Digital Learning Administrator, the British Library Learning team. In this post, Gwen reflects on her role and her work on our digital campaigns for primary schools. These creative campaigns aim to spark love of reading, writing and...

Call for Papers for 'Ted Hughes’ Expressionism: Visionary Subjectivity'

Friday, March 10, 2023

We are delighted to announce that the British Library will host a symposium on Ted Hughes and Expressionism in collaboration with Dr Steve Ely, Director of the Ted Hughes Network at the University of Huddersfield. Ted Hughes by Fay Godwin...

Artists’ Books and Fine Press at Small Publisher Fairs

Friday, February 17, 2023

By Eva Isherwood-Wallace, PhD Placement Student with Contemporary British & Irish Published Collection. As part of the British Library PhD placement scheme, I spent three months investigating small publisher fairs across the UK and Ireland to support collection development for...

Digitisation of manuscripts from the Blavatnik Honresfield Library

Tuesday, January 17, 2023

By Catherine Angerson, Curator of Modern Archives and Manuscripts. The Blavatnik Honresfield Library is a collection of books and manuscripts of exceptional historical and literary importance formed by the Lancashire mill owner William Law (1836–1901) in the late 19th century...

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Related events

Earliest known reference to Shakespeare's Hamlet

MA in Early Modern English Literature: Text & Transmission

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The British Library is working in partnership with King’s College London to teach an MA in English literature, entitled 'Early Modern English Literature: Text and Transmission'.

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Over 500 collection items from the British Library and institutions across Europe

Shakespeare's handwriting in The Book of Sir Thomas More

The Book of Sir Thomas More: Shakespeare's only surviving literary manuscript

c. 1601–04

Alice's Adventures Under Ground', the original manuscript version of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland [folio: 2r]

'Alice's Adventures Under Ground', the original manuscript version of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

1862-64

Cover page with handwritten title 'Crash'

Typescript draft of Crash by J G Ballard, revised by hand

estimated 1970–71

Notebooks of Ted Hughes, c. 1959–64

Notebooks of Ted Hughes, c. 1959–64

estimated 1959–5 January 1964

Bad' quarto of Hamlet, 1603

Bad quarto of Hamlet, 1603, also known as the first quarto of Hamlet

Manuscript notes and drafts of 'The Bloody Chamber' by Angela Carter

Manuscript notes and drafts of The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter

undated

Opening of Chapter 1. Sheet from the handwritten manuscript draft of Tess of the d'Urbervilles, first and last chapter. The page contains many words crossed out and amendments

Manuscript of the first and last chapter of Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy

estimated 1889-91

Opening page from the handwritten copy of Jane Eyre, with the text 'by Currer Bell' crossed out

Fair copy manuscript of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre

16-19 March 1847

Projects

Sarah O'Reilly interviewing Dame Penelope Lively for the National Life Stories project Authors' Lives

National Life Stories: Authors' Lives

In-depth interviews with leading authors working in Britain today

Screenshot of The Wondering Lands of Alice computer game by Off Our Rockers for Off The Map 2015

Off the Map: Videogame & Interactive Fiction Design Competition

A videogame and interactive fiction design competition for UK higher education students

All projects

Case studies

More Case studies
Pauline McGonagle British Library
…A PhD can be a lonely journey, but collaborative PhDs are certainly not that.…

Investigating constructions of identity in the works and archive of the writer Ruth Prawer Jhabvala.

AHRC innovation placement
…I have most enjoyed the collaborative atmosphere of learning at the Library.…

AHRC Innovation Placement Fellow

Imogen Lesser, PhD student and architect
…I could not have done the research without the drawing and models because they are so inherent in the discipline, I don't feel it's an architectural PhD without them.…

Non-text doctoral theses: Imogen Lesser, architect and PhD student

Hannah Silva - Collaborative Doctoral Partnership
…It will be in the British Library for eternity!…

Hannah's collaborative PhD research will lead to a new archive on black British poetry in performance.

Alexis Bennett
…The research I did as an Edison Fellow at the British Library was invaluable for my PhD…

Alexis Bennett researched 1930s British film music as an Edison Fellow at the British Library.

Photograph of Jessica Rodgers
…we felt like we had a bond with everybody…

Jessica Rodgers took part in our Writing London project in 2012 engaging young people aged 16-24, outside of formal education, with library and heritage collections.

Library experts

Jerry Jenkins British Library

Jeremy Jenkins

Curator, Emerging Media, Contemporary British Publications

Image of Stephen Cleary

Stephen Cleary

Lead Curator, Literary and Creative Recordings

Alison Bailey

Alison Bailey

Lead Curator, Printed Heritage Collections 1901-2000

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