if anything good can come out of the disaster at the #BritishLibrary, surely it’s a rethink of accepting digital “copies” as fulfilment of legal deposit. @bookstodon
If anyone is trying to access stuff at the British Library but can't due to the #CyberAttack, National Library of Scotland is worth a try.
For example, it has some historical maps of the entire UK.
I've been looking at a large scale one for Suffolk, where my grandmother's family farmed up til the 1880s, and overlaying a modern satellite view. #BritishLibrary#maps https://www.nls.uk/
@markhburton While awaiting the return of digitised manuscripts & context to the British Library website, I've been hoping to find alternative sources after all the international collaboration on IIIF etc? but meanwhile just discovered that some popular images are at https://imagesonline.bl.uk
Loved the British Library's 'Fantasy: Realms of Imagination' exhibition. Looks at different aspects of modern fantasy by contextualising them historically. See the handwritten notebook for Coraline by @neilhimself sitting next to C S Lewis's original ideas for The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. There is the manuscript of Beowulf, Gandalf's staff from the Lord of the Rings films, and much more. A great celebration of books and fantasy.
The British Library has made available online its entire collection of manuscripts related to Geoffrey Chaucer. Users can now freely access over 60 items, which include many versions of The Canterbury Tales.
Here's #Chaucer depicted in the initial "W" of the General Prologue of the Canterbury Tales: "Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote..." from Lansdowne MS 851, c.1410.
An assortment of some very adorable hedgehogs from illuminated manuscripts, mostly dating from the 14th and 15th c.
Snails and rabbits get a lot of attention, but personally I love the hedgehog. Especially the ones with stuff on their spines. #medievodons#medieval#medievalart#bestiary