The British Library is a wonder. It contains the Magna Carta and handwritten lyrics of Beatles songs as well as everything else in between and it is free.
As a child I remember it being part of the British Museum. I recall going there to see the Egyptian mummies and being bowled over by the enormous iconic domed roof of the library area. Never mind the books! The library had opened in Bloomsbury in 1857 as a result of a gathering together of several notable book collections and there it remained until the end of the last century.
The 1973 British Library Act triggered its separation from the museum and in 1997 it opened in splendour on a huge site in the Kings Cross, St Pancras area as part of the huge regeneration project which is indeed still taking place 25 years later.
The library owns all sorts of interesting treasures which are free to view and will provide primary source material if you are studying a particular topic. The coffee is good as is the food and the shop has all sorts of bookish jollities for sale, admittedly sometimes rather pricey.
My enjoyment of the library comes from the talks that happen now and again, for a small cost. I remember a stellar afternoon watching and listening to Michael Morpurgo and the Irish poet Seamus Heaney (sadly now dead) read from their own translated versions of the ancient tale of Beowulf. This is thought to be the oldest written story that we have. It is bloody, gory and beautifully structured, author unknown. It goes down a storm with children in years 5 and 6. It was written in Old English, the language in use here before the Norman Conquest, hence it is a challenge for any writer to have a go at producing their own version.
Another time I listened to Madeline Miller, author of Song of Achilles and of Circe be interviewed by Kate Mosse, writer of the sequence of stories beginning with The Labyrinth.
This sort of experience is interesting and fun and you can if you wish ask questions at the end. Very often these are promotional events upon the publication of a new book but I don’t mind that.
Don’t confuse the British Library with the London Library, as this is a very different creature. It is situated in St James’s Square and was started at the behest of Thomas Carlyle in the 19th century. You need to be a member or pay for a daily or weekly ticket. At present the President is Helena Bonham Carter. I have yet to visit.