Reading Room: A Year of Literary Curiosities
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365 eclectic extracts and illustrations carefully selected to inform, surprise, amuse and inspire, this is a quirky showcase of the best and most unusual items in the Library’s collection, seasonally arranged and beautifully designed. The extracts have been selected by popular BBC radio broadcaster and author Ian Sansom. This playful and provocative collection of 365 extracts gives a thrilling insight into the vast collections of the British Library.
Selected to challenge and inform the reader, each excerpt is accompanied by the unique shelfmark number of the source publication, encouraging readers to delve into the Library’s collections, only to resurface in an entirely different place, with an entirely different book. Reading Room makes space for the sometimes overlooked joy of interacting with a book, and each day brings a new one to discover; perhaps an author one hasn’t encountered, or simply a new perspective.
Collecting popular authors alongside controversial and thought-provoking writers – and encompassing a wide range of great works in literature, poetry, essays, letters, and historical and scientific treatises – each extract will encourage enquiry and stimulate the imagination. Beautifully designed and illustrated throughout with imagery from the Library’s collections, this beguiling book presents one extract for every day of the year, and can be read as a thought to start the day or dipped into for inspiration at random.
Extracts include works by… George Orwell, Joe Brainard, Emmeline Pankhurst, Barbara Kingsolver, Sigmund Freud, Betty Friedan, E M Forster, Bertrand Russell, Virginia Woolf, and Muriel Spark.
International availability - Europe and the United States.
We have resumed some European and US shipping in line with new EU GPSR regulations and recent changes to US tariffs. British Library Publications, including our subscriptions, are now available for order for customers across Europe and the United States.
We will continue rolling out our most popular products to these regions in stages. If you are browsing from Europe or the US, you can now see the products that are available for you to order.
We’re working hard to expand the offering, so the selection you see online will continue to grow as products are cleared for shipping.
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Our deliveries are now carbon neutral.
| Timescale | ||
| UK Standard* | £5.00 | 3 - 5 working days |
Please allow 7 working days from the time you place your order to contact us about undelivered orders.
*does not include custom prints or custom clothing.
Local pick up
Local pick up is free and allows you to buy online and collect your items from our shop in St. Pancras (London) or from Reception in Boston Spa.
London
Orders placed before 3pm will be ready to collect from noon the following day (including weekends). Please ensure you check our opening times before coming to collect.
Boston Spa
Orders placed before 3pm will be ready to collect between 2 - 4 working days, though this is usually quicker.
EU and Europe orders
Due to the new EU Regulation 2023/988 (GPSR), not all of our products will be available for you to order yet, we are working on rolling out a wider product range.
| Order value | Under £25 | £25 - £50 | £50 - £100* | Over £100* | Timescale |
| Airmail | £ 15 | £ 25 | £ 36 | £ 45 | Usually 2 - 4 weeks |
Rest of the World orders
| Order value | Under £25 | £25 - £50 | £50 - £100* | Over £100* | Timescale |
| Airmail | £ 20 | £ 30 | £ 40 | £ 50 | Usually 2 - 4 weeks |
International orders are shipped on a Delivered at Place (DAP) basis. Import duties and taxes are payable by the customer upon delivery. Orders returned due to non-payment of duties will be refunded for the product cost only, less any shipping fees incurred.
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