British Library Treasures in full

Treasures in full: Shakespeare’s plays, Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, Gutenberg’s Bible

This is well worth a visit. I have to confess to being a bit of a library geek. I love looking at books. When I was a student (many years ago!) I used to spend hours in the special collection in the University Library looking at rare and old books. I was particularly impressed with very old manuscripts of books by Aubrey Beardsley.

The link takes you to the British Library website where you can find digital images of the pages of various editions of Shakespeare’s plays, Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and Gutenberg’s Bible. The Quartos of Shakespeare’s plays were published towards the end of his life – books that are 400 years old. The site enables you to compare different versions of the same play, which is great if you are into that sort of thing.

For me, the main attraction is the ability to actually browse through the pages of these incredibly rare manuscripts. Thank you, British Library!