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British Library

British Library, national library of Great Britain, located in London; one of the world's great libraries. Long a part of the British Museum, the library collection originated in 1753 when the government purchased the Harleian Library, which belonged to Sir Robert Bruce Cotton, and groups of manuscripts. The collection grew four years later when George II donated his royal library, and was considerably enlarged with the addition of George III's library in 1823. It flourished in the 19th cent. under the leadership of Sir Anthony Panizzi. The library remained a part of the museum until 1973 when it was made a separate entity by act of Parliament. The museum complex was famous for its large, copper-domed Round Reading Room, for 140 years (1857-1997) the haunt of an array of scholars, authors, and other luminaries. In 1997 the library was moved to vast new quarters at London's King's Cross. Designed by British architect Colin St. John Wilson, the new library is spacious and multileveled, with four large reading rooms and several exhibition areas. Traditionally a nonlending reference library with manuscript and printed books divisions, the British Library now has large lending and bibliographic departments and is the copyright depository library for Great Britain and Northern Ireland. By the beginning of the 21st cent. it housed some 150 million items, including books, magazines, newspapers, manuscripts, maps, prints, drawings, musical scores, patents, various kinds of sound recordings, and stamps. The library also maintains an online catalog. Outstanding works in its collection include a unique papyrus of Aristotle, four original Magna Cartas, Beowulf, the 4th-century Greek Codex Sinaiticus Bible, a Gutenberg Bible, Froissart's Chronicles, the Lindisfarne Gospels, Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks, and the Diamond Sutra (868), probably the oldest surviving printed book.

See N. Barker, Treasures of the British Library (1988); A. E. Day, The British Library (1988) and Inside the British Library (1998).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Copyright © 2004.
Licensed from Columbia University Press

British Library

National library of Great Britain, formed by the British Library Act (1972) and organized July 1, 1973. It consists of the former British Museum library, the National Central Library, the National Lending Library for Science and Technology, and the British National Bibliography. The British Museum library, founded in 1753 based on earlier collections and later increased by the addition of royal libraries, had the right to a free copy of all books published in the United Kingdom. Its collection included a rich series of charters (including those of the Anglo-Saxon kings), codices, psalters, and other papers ranging from the 3rd century BC to modern times. The present-day British Library receives a copy of every publication produced in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.

6th century Italian Gospel Book (British Library, Harley 1775)

British Library, Harley 1775 is an illuminated Gospel Book produced in Italy during the last quarter of the 6th century. The text is in Latin and is a mixture of the Vulgate and Old Latin translations. This text is called "source Z" in critical studies of the Latin New Testament.

It is written in an uncial text with the running titles written in rustic capitals. The manuscript has enlarged initials and the opening lines of major text divisions are written in red. There are contemporary corrections in slanting uncial script which employ a Greek syllabification similar to that used by Victor of Capua.

There are 468 vellum folios that are 177 by 120 mm. The text is written in a single column of 130 by 85 mm. Each Gospel is started on a new quire. The quires are numbered so as to aid in the assembly of the codex.

The manuscript's decoration includes eighteen canon tables under architectural arcades, display capitals, and a colophon decoration. There is a nineteenth canon table that is more simply decorated.

On folio 11 there are Tironian notes in a 9th century French hand. The manuscript was owned by Cardinal Mazarin (d. 1668). In the early 18th cemtury it was in the French Royal Library. It was stolen along with several other manuscripts in 1707 by Jean Aymon. It was purchased in Holland by Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford (d. 1724). It was sold by the widow of Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford and their daughter to Parliament as part of the Harleian Collection which was one the founding collections of the British Museum.