This is an in-person only event in the British Library Pigott Theatre. Tickets are pay-what-you-can, minimum £5.

This celebratory event, hosted by broadcaster Samira Ahmed, showcases precious items, from archives to single manuscripts, rare books and even rarer personal letters, that have recently been acquired by the British Library.

These exciting and often surprising items are introduced and explored by invited writers, scholars and Library curators, who explain their unique stories and their incomparable value to researchers and our collective history. Each acquisition has been made possible largely through generous donations and bequests made by members of the public to the British Library through the British Library Collections Trust, which supports the Library’s work across all the collection areas

 

•  Historian Helen Bormanand researcher Helena Rutkowska explore the remarkable of William Camden's Annals of the Reign of Elizabeth I one of the most important, contemporary accounts of the reign of this famous Tudor queen. Recent specialist imaging of these handwritten manuscripts sensationally revealed that much of the original text is pasted over and over-written showing that Camden was self-censoring his work, for fear of upsetting the new King James, and to paint him (and his mother, Mary Queen of Scots) in a more flattering light.
•  Writer, actor and comedianCharlie Higson reflects on a cache of 150 mostly unseen and unpublished letters between Ian Fleming and his wife Ann. They give an intimate and detailed insight into the shifting sands of their relationship, their travels and social circles and many references to Ian Fleming's most famous literary creation, James Bond: progress reports, occasional plot details and sources of inspiration. With Michael St John-Mcalister (BL)

 

• An extremely rare illuminated charter issued by Edward III in 1368 with a beautifully preserved Great Seal of England. Introduced by British Library Curator of Medieval Manuscripts, Julian Harrison.

 

•  Economist Professor Mariana Mazzucatopresents only known copy, recently discovered, of the first volume John Castaing's The Course of the Exchange from 1697. Castaing was among the earliest to write lists of stocks and shares, exchange rate currents, money exchange on the walls of Jonathan’s Coffee House, the main meeting place of London’s stock brokers, and this item marks the moment they first became a printed list.

•  Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-61) is perhaps Britain’s greatest woman poet: a pioneering, modernising writer, world famous in her day and an influential political campaigner.A newly acquired collection of her letters are revealed by Barrett Browning’s biographer, poet Fiona Sampson and curator Alice Zamboni

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•  Another remarkable collection of letters sent from composers and other musicians to the UK-based music publisher George Augener includes correspondence from major musical figures such as Johannes Brahms, Samuel Coleridge Taylor, Frederick Delius, Edward Elgar and Edvard Grieg. Presented by the British Library’s Head of Music Collections, Sandra Tuppen and with a performance by pianist Zara Williams.

 

The British Library Collections Trust was founded in 2018 as successor to the Friends of the British Library.

Doors and Bar open at 18:00. The event starts at 19:00

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