Rare Book Monthly
Articles - October - 2006 Issue
Top Sights for Collectors To See Around London
World War II poster offers help to those made homeless by German bombing.
The British Museum was founded around the private collection of Sir Hans Sloane back in 1753. Located in the Bloomsbury area, the British Museum is the largest museum in Europe. Plan your trip carefully here. Unless you have several days just to tour this museum, try to focus on the areas of the massive collections that most interest you. Not to be missed is the Rosetta Stone, which contains Egyptian hieroglyphics with corresponding Greek. The Greek allowed historians to decipher it. There are many other priceless world artifacts and treasures, including a wide selection of Roman and Etruscan artifacts, helmets, coins, sarcophaguses, seals, jewelry, and statues. Across the street facing the British Museum is a rare bookshop (don't recall the name), which had a special sale going on for many of their rare books and manuscripts.
For the historian, a must see is the Imperial War Museum, which contains a rich display of war history focusing on WWII, including military vehicles and weapons, vintage posters, memorabilia, a photography archive, and a stark Holocaust exhibit.
The Cabinet War Rooms where Winston Churchill stayed during the course of WWII is highly recommended. There is an admission charged which goes towards continued operation. From these bunkers, Churchill and his staff directed the course of the war. The chalkboard in the war situation room gives a status of the situation on September 15, 1940, just before the tide started to turn in the war as Hitler diverted his attention to Russia. Amazingly, the rooms have been well preserved and remain virtually unchanged from the end of the war.
The British Library has on display a multitude of priceless original books and manuscripts from around the world, including two Gutenberg Bibles dating to 1454, the Lindisfarne and Egerton Gospels, original pieces by Bach, Mozart, early Japanese, Korean, and Indian manuscripts. Two copies of the Magna Carta are in the collection, dating as early as 1215. The Magna Carta contained concepts of liberty and legal procedure that later influenced the forming of the U.S. Bill of Rights and Constitution. The Diamond Sutra is here, which is reported to be dated as the world's oldest printed book.
