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A library blog for all staff, students and researchers in the Faculties of Physical and Applied Sciences, Natural and Environmental Sciences and Engineering and the Environment is now available.

Decorated initial 'B'(estiarum) and a miniature of lions breathing life into their cubs, at the beginning of the entry 'De natura leonis', from a bestiary with theological texts, central or northern England, c. 1200-10, Royal 12 C. xix, f. 6 One of the most popular items in our current Royal exhibition is this bestiary (Royal 12 C. xix), which is on display beside another similar example (the so-called Rochester bestiary, Royal 12 F. xiii).  A bestiary is a book of beasts, both real and imagined (for example, see below for a miniature of a dragon and elephant). Bestiaries in Latin first began to appear in England at the beginning of the 12th century.  They were based ultimately on a late-antique text called the Physiologus (The Naturalist), supplemented by material from a variety of sources such as the Naturalis historia of Pliny the Elder (d. 79), the Historia animalium of Aristotle (d. 322 BC), the Hexaemeron of St Ambrose (d. 399) and the Etymologiae of Isidore of Seville (d. 636).  These extracts were blended together to form a compendium of natural history with a particular emphasis on allegory and the moralisations that could be drawn from animal behaviour.  The number and types of animals included in bestiaries could vary greatly, but many copies begin with a description of the lion, the king of beasts, and the section on the lion provides a good example of the morally didactic aspect of the bestiary text.  It starts with a discussion of the lions' habitat and nature, and goes on to explain the scene in the miniature above.  Lion cubs, it tells us, are born dead, and remain that way for three days.  After this time, the cubs' father breathes upon them, bringing them back to life - a very clear analogy to God's resurrection of Christ.  Detail of a miniature of an elephant with a dragon on its back, at the beginning of the entry for 'Draco', from a bestiary with theological texts, central or northern England, c. 1200-10, Royal 12 C. xix, f. 62 The bestiary's format lends itself quite well to illumination, and many of the surviving examples are illustrated.  This copy is one of the grandest survivals, with eighty miniatures of animals painted against gold backgrounds; it is also one of the first to include such elaborate, full-colour paintings.  It is not clear for whom this book was produced, but research has revealed that it is a very close (almost exact) copy of the Worksop Bestiary (Pierpont Morgan Library M.81), which was produced in the North Midlands c. 1185.  The Royal bestiary dates from c. 1200-1210, and was created in roughly the same region.  Judging from the expense that must have been incurred in its production, it seems likely that it was intended for an aristocratic, if not royal, layman (or woman) who could either read Latin or had a chaplain to do it for him and his household.  Little is known about the subsequent history of the manuscript until it was purchased by the antiquarian John Theyer in the 17th century, whose collection was purchased by Charles II and included in the Old Royal Library. For more information on bestiaries in general and the British Library's holdings in particular, please see the virtual exhibition Books of Beasts in the British Library: the Medieval Bestiary and its Context, which was written by Royal project intern Emily Runde.  A highlights version of the Royal bestiary is also available for purchase from the British Library's eBook treasures. - Royal project team

The third edition of Stephen Adams' Information sources in patents has been published by De Gruyter Saur, ISBN 9783110235111. Stephen is a well-known professional in the patent information world....

(From Steve van Dulken's Patents Blog)

Recordings of North Indian Classical Music digitised as part of the EAP132 projecthave been catalogued and can now be searched through the Library's Search Our Catalogue Archives and Manuscripts...

(From the Endangered Archives Blog: Lynda Barraclough on histories in peril)

Recently opened at the Bodleian Library in Oxford, and on until 13 May 2012, is the exhibition The Romance of the Middle Ages. One of the key exhibits is an item familiar to many medievalists – the British Library's unique manuscript of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Made in England towards the end of the 14th century, the manuscript in question (Cotton MS Nero A. X, ff. 41–130) contains the only surviving medieval copies of four important Middle English poems: Pearl; Cleanness; Patience; and, most famously, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The whole is written in a single, idiosyncratic hand (perhaps that of the author?), and flanking each poem is a series of full-page miniatures, painted in a consistent if exceedingly limited palette. (One critic described the manuscript as containing "several illuminations, coarsely executed".) We're delighted that visitors to Oxford will be able to see the manuscript for themselves, and it can also be viewed on the exhibition website. On occasion, the Gawain-manuscript (sometimes known as the Pearl-manuscript) can be seen in the British Library's permanent exhibition gallery (Sir John Ritblat Gallery: Treasures of the British Library). You can read more about Pearl here. Don't forget to follow us on Twitter: @blmedieval

Last night I attended the CMI Management Book of the Year for 2012 held in association with the British Library. This competition aims to celebrate the best of management books published or...

(From In through the Outfield, Neil Infield's blog on business and intellectual property)

Jonathan Summers, Curator of Classical Music, writes: After making some discs for Polydor in Paris at the beginning of her career, Clara Haskil recorded for the newly formed British company Decca...

(From the Archival Sounds Blog: British Library staff explore our audio resources)

What do Anne Boleyn, Horatio Nelson, Charlotte Brontë and Oscar Wilde have in common? The answer is that love letters in their own hands survive at the British Library, which for the first time have been gathered together in a single volume, Love Letters: 2000 Years of Romance. In the margin of this Book of Hours, made in Bruges c. 1500, is a note from Anne Boleyn to Henry VIII, reading 'Be daly prove you shall me fynde / To be to you bothe lovynge and kynde.' London, British Library, MS King's 9, f. 66v. Edited by Andrea Clarke, Curator of Early Modern Historical Manuscripts at the British Library, Love Letters contains missives dating from 168 BC (Isaias to her husband, Hephaestion) to c. 1980 (a poem written by Ted Hughes to Sylvia Plath), and features images and transcriptions of each letter. Among them is the oldest Valentine, written by Margery Brews to John Paston III in February 1477. See these articles in The Daily Mail ("Charlotte Bronte's lost love letters to married professor were preserved by his wife") and The Daily Telegraph ("Charlotte Bronte's lost love letters revealed"), which focus on one letter in the collection. On Saturday, 11 February, Dr Clarke will introduce some of these handwritten love letters in a special event at the British Library (14.30-16.00), where she will be joined by acclaimed biographer Anne Sebba. Love Letters: 2000 Years of Romance (ISBN 9780712358255) is currently available on special offer from the British Library shop (£7.00, normally £10.00). Here is the full list of contents: 1: Letter from Isaias to her husband, Hephaestion, 29 August 168 BC 2: Margery Brews to John Paston III, February 1477 3: Prince Arthur to Katherine of Aragon, 5 October 1499 4: Pierre Sala, Petit Livre d’Amour (letter to Marguerite Bullioud), c.1500 5: Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII, love notes in a Book of Hours, c.1528 6: Katherine Parr to Henry VIII, July 1544 7: Earl of Essex to Elizabeth I, 18 October 1591 8: Sir Thomas Baskerville to his wife, Mary, 21 August 1595 9: Thomas Knyvett to his wife, Katherine, 26 November 1621 10: George Villiers to James I, 29 August 1623 11: Dorothy Osbourne to Sir William Temple, 15/16 October 1653 12: Sir John Fenwick to his wife, Mary, January 1697 13: Vanessa [Esther van Homrigh] to Jonathan Swift, 1714 14: Horatio Nelson’s last letter to Lady Emma Hamilton, 19 October 1805 15: Charles Dickens to his future wife, Catherine Hogarth, May 1835 16: Charlotte Brontë to Professor Constantin Héger, 18 November 1844 17: Oscar Wilde to Lord Alfred Douglas, De Profundis, January 1897 18: Gordon Bottomley to Emily Burton, 17 October 1899 19: Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Sonnet 43 from Sonnets from the Portuguese, c. 1846 20: Christina Rossetti, Valentine poem to her mother, 1884 21: Rupert Brooke to Cathleen Nesbitt, 1913 22: Roger Keyes to his wife, Eva, 10 December 1914 23: Mervyn Peake to his wife, Maeve Gilmore, early 1940s 24: Ted Hughes, poem to Sylvia Plath, c.1980 25: Ralph Richardson to his wife, Meriel Forbes, 1964-70

As we approach our seventh birthday, we are trying to conduct a census of all our customers – past and present. We need your help if you are one of the 50,000 people who have used our services, we...

(From In through the Outfield, Neil Infield's blog on business and intellectual property)

We are very pleased to tell all our readers about an upcoming special concert by the noted choral ensemble The Sixteen, who will perform at the British Library on 10 February. The Sixteen, led by their conductor and founder Harry Christophers, have been recording and performing worldwide for more than thirty-two years, and they are particularly noted for their interpretations of early English polyphony and other masterpieces of the medieval and Renaissance periods.  The event on 10 February will include the opportunity for an after-hours visit to our exhibition Royal Manuscripts: The Genius of Illumination, which has inspired The Sixteen's new CD, 'The Genius of Illumination.'  Following this, the ensemble will present a programme of late medieval music entitled 'Musical Illuminations', which will include pieces by William Cornysh, Robert Davy, and even King Henry VIII himself.  A download of the full programme, including texts and translations, is available here. This concert has unfortunately already sold out, but those who are unable to come to the performance can buy the CD in the British Library shop or online here. Those who are fortunate enough to have tickets should be aware that the concert will be held in the Entrance Hall of the British Library (rather than the Conference Centre, where events are usually  hosted).  This will be an unseated performance; doors will open at 19.30 and time will be allowed to visit the Royal exhibition.  The Sixteen will perform from 20.30 until 21.20.  On a related note, there are only about 6 weeks remaining to see the exhibition Royal Manuscripts: The Genius of Illumination, which will close on 11 March.  Last weekend saw record numbers of visitors, and we expect it to be even busier in the final days, so please plan your visit accordingly! You can also now follow us on Twitter:  @blmedieval

Cats Eyes® reflective road studs have been around since the 1930s, but SolarLite road studs use solar power to improve on them by providing permanent lights, and not reflected light. The story goes...

(From Steve van Dulken's Patents Blog)

The Royal United Services Institute's (RUSI) collection of maps at the British Library reveals the importance of mapping to the work of the Institute, which was founded in 1831 by the Duke of...

(What's on the minds of the curators of the Americas Collections at the British Library)

Whatever the outcome of the transport ‘issues’ surrounding the London 2012 Olympics, the problem has certainly been (endlessly) debated. Nearly 6 months in advance of the actual event a website has...

Takes the Olympic Games as a platform upon which to introduce the wide range of materials held at the British Library which can support research into the social aspects of sport.

For more details on calendar pages or the Hours of Joanna of Castile, please see the entry for January 2012. Calendar pages for February, Hours of Joanna of Castile, Bruges, between 1496 and 1506, Additional 18852, ff. 2v-3 The opening for February shows two scenes of vine-trimming. The left-hand miniature shows a group of men at work under a threatening February sky.  On the right, beneath the astrological sign of Pisces, is a similar group finishing their work and heading home (perhaps because of the snow which is just beginning to fall).

Many see the QR (Quick Response) Codes on advertisements and so on but few realise that the concept was patented. Nippon Denso and Toyoda Chuo Kenkyusho KK of Japan applied for patents in 1994 for an...

(From Steve van Dulken's Patents Blog)

As we celebrate our 100,000th page view – not bad for a blog devoted to old books – we wanted to share some of our favourite posts and the feedback they've generated. White gloves or not white gloves In August 2011 we told you about the British Library's policy on handling manuscripts. One of our biggest fans is David Thomson, the Bishop of Huntingdon, and in his Bishop's Blog he wrote "The British Library has come clean on the White Glove Ritual. You’ve seen it: the suitably awed TV presenter is allowed to hold the precious mediaeval manuscript, and solemnly goes through the ritual of donning the White Gloves, before gingerly opening the priceless volume. Well, white gloves are fine for evening dress, waiting-on and a verger in a full fig, but it turns out that the manuscript business is just for show." Beowulf in Hungarian ... and French ... and Telugu ... In September 2011 we posted recordings of an excerpt of the Old English epic Beowulf, translated into various modern languages. Madhava Turumella came specially into the British Library to record the Telugu version of Beowulf. He describes himself as a friend of the British Library, always keen to volunteer, and he added a link to the recording on his own webpage. The Royal Conference: A Retrospective In December 2011 the British Library held a successful conference associated with the exhibition Royal Manuscripts: The Genius of Illumination. Greta Franzini is studying for a PhD in Digital Humanities at University College London, and in her blog she provides a useful resumé of each speaker's presentation, with links to the websites of individual participants. Melvyn Bragg's The Written World In January 2012 BBC Radio 4 broadcast five programmes devoted to the written word, and how it has shaped our intellectual history. Here is a blog entry written by Tom Morris, producer of the series, describing the first time he laid eyes on the St Cuthbert Gospel: "Melvyn Bragg and I sit waiting at a conference table. We are there to interview the library's Lead Curator of Medieval and Earlier Manuscripts, Claire Breay ... She slides off the lid to reveal a small linen-wrapped package. There is an undeniable tension in the room as she removes this protective covering to reveal a small leather-bound volume." The Medieval and Earlier Manuscripts curators at the British Library are having great fun writing this blog. Thanks for reading it – we hope you continue to do so! You can now follow us on Twitter: @blmedieval

The British Library is a treasure trove of stunning manuscripts, not all of which are in our Royal exhibition. One of these books is an Italian herbal, made around the year 1440 (Sloane MS 4016), which contains this delightful image of a cat chasing a mouse. The manuscript is a luxurious production, and you may like to know that a full-colour facsimile of it is available. Apart from numerous detailed botanical drawings, this herbal supplies many images of animals and of aspects of medieval life, a small selection of which can be seen below: (1) a man and a woman sitting on a bench (labelled 'De homine sive de muliere experimenta', illustrating the effects of an aphrodisiac); (2) an impressively hairy elephant; and (3) a man urinating into a pot (this is a medical manuscript, after all). It's reassuring to know that little has changed in the past 500 years ... You can now follow us on Twitter: @blmedieval

I couldn’t see how my colleagues could top the speakers at our first Digital Library Conversations @British Library. Internet pioneers Vint Cerf (known as one of the fathers of the internet) and Ted...

(From In through the Outfield, Neil Infield's blog on business and intellectual property)

Last year was a busy one for Team Americas and one of the many things we managed to do was take on some responsibilities for materials relating to Antarctica, thus adding a whole extra continent to...

(What's on the minds of the curators of the Americas Collections at the British Library)

Detail of a roundel of William the Conqueror ('William Bastard'), from a genealogical chronicle of the kings of England, England (East Anglia?), c. 1340-1342, Royal 14 B. vi, membrane 5 It may seem somewhat obvious to state that the majority of medieval manuscripts were created in codex (or book) form, but it is important to remember that this was not always the case.  Rolls were the preferred, and most prestigious, form throughout the classical period, only being supplanted by the codex in the Christian era.  Nonetheless, rolls (or more familiarly, scrolls) remained in use in medieval Europe, particularly for special projects.  Visitors to our exhibition Royal Manuscripts: The Genius of Illumination can see prayer rolls such as those created for Margaret of Anjou (MS 124, on loan from Jesus College, Oxford) and that owned and used by Henry VIII when he was Prince of Wales (British Library Additional 88929).  Also displayed are two of the treasures of the Royal collection, a pair of genealogical chronicles of the English kings (Royal 14 B. v and Royal 14 B. vi, both now fully digitised and available online). The roll format was ideal for the presentation of history as genealogy or a royal family tree, with detailed long diagrams of royal descent featuring kings and members of their families in roundels.  The images are accompanied by short captions and commentary on the royal portraits, mostly variants on text from an anonymous Anglo-Norman chronicle. The ultimate source of this particularly diagrammatic history of the English monarchy may be Matthew Paris, the monk and historian of St Albans (d. 1259) whose works feature elsewhere in the exhibition; for a much more detailed description of the history please see Joanna Frońska's essay on the rolls in the exhibition catalogue, or her virtual exhibition Writing and Picturing History: Historical Manuscripts from the Royal Collection. These rolls were particularly popular in England in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries, with around forty surviving from the time of Edward I's accession in 1272 to the end of Henry V's reign in 1422.  Probably created for the aristocracy or other wealthy patrons, these genealogical chronicles sought to emphasize the legitimacy of the Plantagenets through their connections to both the Anglo-Saxon and Norman royal dynasties.  Detail of a diagram of the Heptarchy, from a genealogical chronicle of the kings of England, England (East Anglia?), c. 1340-1342, Royal 14 B. vi, membrane 1 Royal 14 B. vi is nearly five metres long, formed of seven membranes (sheets of parchment) glued end-to-end.  It begins, as many like rolls do, with a large circular diagram of the Heptarchy, which represents the seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms (Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, Essex, Kent, Sussex, and Wessex; see above).  The first king depicted is 'Ecgberht' (Egbert, d. 839), the King of Wessex who was said to have united the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.  A series of Anglo-Saxon kings are followed by Rollo, the first Duke of Normandy (d. c. 932) and descending to William the Conqueror, or 'William the Bastard' as he was then known and thus labelled in the roll.  William the Bastard had an unenviably difficult status, as both illegitimate and the usurper of the English throne, but efforts were made to reconcile him with 'English royalty' through the House of Plantagenet.  The blue genealogical line which can be seen along the left of this section (see below) stretches nearly a metre long, linking St Margaret, the grand-daughter of the Anglo-Saxon Edmund Ironside (half-brother of Edward the Confessor) to Queen Matilda, wife of Henry I and grandmother of Henry II, the first Plantagenet king. (This link can be dramatically seen in the first episode of the BBC 4 programme Illuminations: The Private Lives of Medieval Kings, available on BBC iPlayer, during which Janina Ramirez and Dr Frońska unroll the chronicle to examine this complex genealogy.)  Detail of roundels of the dukes of Normandy, ancestors of William the Conqueror ('William Bastard'), and descendants of Wililam the Conqueror, from a genealogical chronicle of the kings of England, England (East Anglia?), c. 1340-1342, Royal 14 B. vi, membrane 5