Currents and Color: The British Library 2026

Max got sent to London for a work conference and I was lucky enough to join him. This was Max’s first time in London. My first trip to London in 2019 was wonderful but very brief. We were both delighted to explore the city.

Sunrise from the plane as we approached the United Kingdom.

Taking the train into the city.

Our first stop was The British Library.

Animals from the Thiruvananthapuram Zoo, Mike Massingham, 2001.

The first piece that caught my eye was actually a modern piece; a lovely sketchbook from Mike Massingham from his travels in southern India.

Glorification of the Goddess, Gujarat, India, 1639-1640.

An excerpt from the description: “This illustration shows Devi riding on her mount, the tiger, as they fight the buffalo-demon Mahishasura.”

The Tale of Jaya Lengkara, Yogyakarta, Java, 1803.

A mesmerizing illustration full of extraordinary detail.

West African Qur’an, probably Nigerian, early 20th century.

The Duke of Sussex’s Portuguese Pentateuch, Lisbon, Portugal, 1480-1490.

An excerpt from the description: “Pentateuch is the Greek word for ‘five books’ and refers to the first part of the Hebrew Bible - the Torah or Five Books of Moses”. The book is written in a beautiful semi-cursive Sephardic script.

Octateuch and Four Gospels, Ethiopia, 17th century.

The illustrations from this book were strikingly bold.

Henry VIII’s copy of the ‘Great Bible’, London, 1540.

Old Testament in Dutch, Utrecht (present-day Netherlands), around 1431.

Magna Carta, 1225.

An excerpt from the description: “In 1225 King Henry III issued what became the final and definitive version of the Magna Carta. This copy, sent to Wiltshire in 1225, was preserved at Lacock Abbey until the 1940’s. During World War II it was carefully buried under a floor at Lacock.”

The Zoroastrian religious code, Yazd, Iran, 1647.

Codex Sinaiticus, possibly Palestine, around the middle of the 4th century.

The description reads: “Codex Sinaiticus is a priceless treasure. It is the earliest surviving manuscript containing the complete New Testament and is the oldest and best witness for some of the books of the Greek version of the Old Testament. It was copied from other manuscripts around the middle of the 4th century, possibly in Palestine. Its name (‘the book from Sinai’) refers to the location where it was kept until the middle of the 19th century, in the monastery of St. Catherine at the foot of Mount Sinai, Egypt.”

The Parc Abbey Bible, Leuven (present-day Belgium), 1148.

A close up of the beautifully detailed illustration and calligraphy.

Genealogical roll of English kings, England, late 13th century.

The genealogy of English kings from Ecgberht of Wessex (died 839) to Edward I (died 1307).

The supremacy of Henry VIII over the Church, London, 1535.

The description reads: “This is the only known copy of a printed announcement issued by Henry VIII’s confessor John Longland, Bishop of Lincoln, proclaiming the King’s supremacy over the pope and the Roman Catholic Church. It is the earliest evidence of the bishops’ support for Henry VIII’s split from Rome. Broadsides like this were read out, handed out and pinned up in public places to make important information available to as many people as possible.”

Anne Boleyn and the Tyndale’s New Testament, Antwerp, 1534.

The description reads: “Anne Boleyn (d. 1536), Henry VIII’s second wife and mother of Elizabeth I, followed the ideas of the Protestant Reformers and owned a special copy of the 1534 edition of Tyndale’s New Testament, printed on vellum and decorated by hand. Although the King and the Church still regarded Tyndale’s translation as illegal, the Queen used it for her personal study of the Bible. Large numbers of copies of Tyndale’s New Testament continued to be printed, making reading or hearing his words possible for large numbers of people at all levels of society.”

The first authorized Bible in English, London, 1540.

A lavish illustration from The first authorized Bible in English.

Martin Luther’s German New Testament, Wittenberg, 1522.

An excerpt from the description: “In 1522, the Protestant Reformer Martin Luther (1483-1546) published his German translation of the New Testament in Wittenberg. About 3,000 - 5,000 copies were printed and distributed rapidly around the country, giving German people access to the text in their own language for the first time and changing their relationship with the Bible forever. The words and phrases Luther used reflected those of his time, but they entered the everyday German language and are still in use today.”

Proclamation of Emancipation, USA, around 1865.

A calligraphic portrait of the Emancipation Proclamation.

A close up of the extraordinary detail.

Paul’s sketches of John and George, Paul McCartney and Hunter Davies, Spring 1967.

An excerpt from the description: “Shown here is one of the notebooks of journalist Hunter Davies used while researching his biography of the Beatles. As part of his research, Hunter asked Paul McCartney to describe the appearance of John and George back in the late 1950’s. Paul borrowed Hunter’s notebook and drew these sketches.”

Francesca Caccini, La Liberazione di Ruggiero dall’lsola d’Alcina, 1625.

An excerpt from the description: “Caccini was a prolific composer and singer based mostly in Florence, where she served the Medici court. La Liberazione di Ruggiero (The Liberation of Ruggiero) is the earliest known opera composed by a woman, and the only known surviving opera by Caccini.”

William Shakespeare, First Folio, 1623.

An excerpt from the description: “The First Folio is the earliest published collection of Shakespears’s plays. Without it, 18 of them might have been lost forever. The plays were brought together by Shakespeare’s fellow actors John Heminges and Henry Condell, and the First Folio was published by a group of London printers.”

Leonardo de Vinci, Sketch of an insect and studies of ballistics, around 1495-1497 and 1504.

This is a detail of a sketch made by Leonardo da Vinci featuring a range of subjects. I found the bottom right corner with the drawing a little bug particularly charming. The description even indicated that “a randomly sketch beetle is identifiable as female, because Leonardo drew its abdomen swollen with eggs”.

Arabic mathematics and new methods of computation, Iran, 1589.

An excerpt from the description: “This handbook of cutting-edge mathematics is emblematic of the work of Arabic-speaking scholars which served as the building blocks of computing.”

A 2,000 year old homework book, Egypt, 2nd century AD.

Two wax tablets from a homework book.

Wynflæd’s will, England, 11th century (copied from an older original).

The description reads: “This is one of the oldest wills of an English woman. Wynfæd lived in southern England in the 900s. She drew up her will as a widow, leaving her lands and possessions - including her clothes, bed-linen, and a tapestry - to her relatives and the nuns of Shaftesbury, Dorset, and Wilton, Wiltshire. Wynflæd, bequeathed her ‘books and other small things’ to Æthelflæd, who was perhaps her daughter. The will demonstrates that Wynflæd was a literate woman who understood the power of the written word.”