British LibraryCritiques

Alright but not memorable. I wish it had new illustrations instead of recycling them from other HP books.

Gift from Audrey Walstrom Gabbard

Reason read: its the season
I picked this up from Audible on sale. It is an anthology of Christmas tidbits from various British literary works such as;
Moore's A Visit from St Nicholas or The Night Before Christmas
A Christmas memory from Cider with Rosie (Laurie Lee)
Poetry; Wordsworth, Wadsworth, Shelley, Thomas Hood, Tennyson
Christmas Carol and other Dickens
Wuthering Heights
Thomas Hardy, The Oxen
A work of horror; The Mistletoe Bough
and others such as Dylan Thomas, Kenneth Grahame, Nancy Mitford, Louisa May Alcott, Thackeray. and so much more.

Spring 2018:

Where do I even start? How do I even quantify how beautiful this was, and how touching it was to listen to forty different pieces of preeminent poetry and prose from the literary canon. I can see myself putting this on, and letting it sing and read throughout my whole house, as I'm putting up the tree and all the decorations this coming after-Thanksgiving weekend.

A nice little anthology (there is an audiobook available read by Juliet Stevenson and Simon Callow). Most authors are British with the exception of "the usual suspects" -- Moore, Alcott, Longfellow, Irving -- and Henry James, who probably counts as British anyway. Much of the book consists of excerpts from longer works. Still, I would have given this book five stars but for the fact that the many lovely illustrations are completely uncredited, being in the public domain, except for the illustration from E. H. Shepard's drawing from The Wind in the Willows. I recognized Arthur Rackham and John Leech but it would have been nice to know the sources of the other illustrations; and a bit of information on the less well-known contributors would have been a good thing too.

My favorite bits were the annotations and illustrations by J. K. Rowling. Still waiting on the actual textbook "A History of Magic" though... Not to mention "Hogwarts, A History."

Not many books make me quite so happy as those which explore the Harry Potter universe, and this one was no exception. It was a little bit of a tease though, because I know that the fullsize exhibition book from the British Library has way more content and commentary on the history behind the Harry Potter series and that the real exhibition can't quite be duplicated. Oh well, on to reading the full book soon enough!

I'll always be slightly disappointed that I missed seeing the British Library's exhibition on Harry Potter, but at least they published this gloriously lush exhibition book and ensured that it was widely available to a global audience. Not that I wouldn't have paid the customs and duties (or talked nicely to my globetrotting friends), but the hefty discount available at Chapters pre-Christmas made the deal even sweeter. And boy was it worth it, since the writers and editors crammed the book with tonnes of wonderful content from the British Library's and other museum's collections, as well as included lots of illustrations from Jim Kay, film content, and HP exclusive from private collections. I quite enjoyed the smaller version of the exhibition book as well, but even with all of the added content in this volume that established its dominance, the real benefit was how much more academically the subject matter was treated. Instead of just getting materials meant to entertain, we also got treatises on historical medicine and herbology, scientific astronomy, and a serious look at witchcraft throughout the ages. Yet no matter how seriously the curators took the materials (archival research and historical analysis are crucially important), they also imbued the text with a sense of humour by dropping jokes intermittently throughout the text to ensure that readers can't get bored. Though why would they, when the exhibit (and book) so carefully juxtaposed the historical inspirations besides J.K. Rowling's seminal series of novels?!

This is everything I wanted and more. It contained so much information on the different topics and classes. I loved reading on different artefacts, and seeing drafts of the Harry Potter series. It was awesome

I love this book a lot. I would've given almost anything to go to this exhibition, but since I wasn't able to, I'm so happy they produced a version the rest of us can access. It's a gorgeous book and a great grown-up companion to the "Journey Through" version for kids. It also introduced me to new museums I want to visit and authors whose books I want to read.

All religious

This highly designed book is a walk through the British Library's exhibition, Harry Potter: a journey through a History of Magic. Very well put together, the exhibition explores the historical sources for the magic found in J.K. Rowling's books through artifacts from the British Library's collections, and a few other museums. The sections are based on the Hogwarts curriculum: Potions and alchemy, Herbology, Charms, Divination, Defense against the Dark Arts, and Care of Magical Creatures. A fun and informative romp.

Really interesting. This audiobook is an experiment in historical linguistics - a collection of sonnets, soliloquies, and scenes spoken with the dialect and pronunciation that probably would have been the norm during Shakespeare's time. Modern English makes Shakespeare sound very posh (i.e., the "Queen's English"), but actors of the time would've sounded much more relatable, with an accent reminiscent of Welsh, Irish, and Scottish. These original pronunciations make certain rhymes and puns much more apparent.

Some of the "sources" selected seemed, odd. And there was way too many pages spent on Divination. That's just my opinion o'course. ;) BUT, all of the handwritten notes, never-before-seen original manuscript pages, and original illustrations by Rowling made this worth the read. I'd buy a copy of this book for those alone.

Recommended for diehard Harry Potter fans.

3 stars

"A collection of artifacts from the British Library Exhibition in the UK: Harry Potter: A History of Magic"

A unique type of exhibit catalog that mixes fiction and fact, history and magic, this book is a wonderful way to revisit the world of Harry Potter - all seven books plus the play and the three other books - with many incredible items from the British Library and other museums mixed in.

Revisiting quotes from all the books, seeing J.K. Rowling's manuscript pages (sometimes handwritten) with edits, learning about all of the Hogwarts classes, and seeing pictures of real items like the Ripley Scroll and an astrolabe all contribute to the experience of this book. I also loved Jim Kay's marvelous artwork - closer to what I imagined as I read than what appeared in the Potter movies - and, best of all, Rowling's original sketches of the characters and settings.

There are also a few "magic" activities for kids, and I learned that dugongs may have been the original inspiration for sirens or mermaids. (See https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/d/dugong/)

A brillian, well illustrated book of what looks like it was a brilliant exhibition at the British Library. It looks at Harry's world in terms of subjects that are studied there. Intricate and involved, yet well illuminated by photographs, and illustrations of manuscripts and drawings as well as original text from the author, this is a brilliant treasure tome for Ll Harry Potter fans.

This book is merely snippets of information from various sources.

Included: copies of several hand written manuscript pages by the author; small copies of original drawings by the author; some historical facts on magic & witchcraft; several beautifully done portraits of Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, & Hagrid; original manuscript changes...

Overall I found it lacking and I wasn't really impressed. It is not a book I would add to my collection.

Just because it is "Harry Potter" doesn't make it good or interesting.

What this proves is that poets are not necessarily good readers or speakers.  Those collected on the first disc, especially, tend to the sonorous monotone, including, disappointingly,  Wallis" Stevens, as the female announcer for the BBC called him.  Still, it's fantastic to have this insight into many very famous poets, including even Sylvia Plath.  I think you'd appreciate & enjoy this more if you found a copy of each poem (yes, lots of poems are online somewhere, just search) and read along with the author.  I did not do this, and so did not gain insights or enjoy the listen.  But someday I hope to try again."

This is the perfect game for bibliophiles to challenge their literary acumen and test their writing skills in a social environment - for 4 to 8 players.

The game consists of a box containing one hundred double-sided book cards displaying a synopsis of a title on one side and the 'First line...' and '...Last Words' on the back. Included is a jotter-pad containing the full rules of the game, as well as a genuine British 1½d coin, for determining whether the first or last lines will be played (I got a vintage 1965 ha'penny coin in my box). The whole package is held within a 'book safe' style box, which fits neatly on your bookshelf.

The object of the game is to bluff the other players away from choosing the actual lines from the book in play, while attempting to guess the correct one yourself out of the list containing other player's invented texts.

e.g. Here is an easy one; but, still, harder than it seems.

J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan

a) Nana was the children's nurse.
b) All children, except one, grow up.
c) The Darlings had three children; Wendy, John, and Michael.
d) A shadow darted across the rooves of old London town.

One is the correct first line from the book. The other three, I just made up on the spot.

I like to shuffle through the cards in my spare time for fun. (Note: you probably should not play against me for money - not even that ha'penny ;)

UPDATE - You can now buy a 48 card extension pack for this game - called 'Ex Libris Addendum', with brand new authors, and now including non-fiction books as well!

Answer: b)

The British Museum Library General Catalogue of Printed Books is a biblio scholar's dream. Although now on CD-Rom, the 30-plus volume set was reprinted by a private company offered in the early 1990s to members of AB Bookman's Weekly. Granted, the micro-print version is not easy to read without a magnifying glass. Yet for those who study original works in multiple languages, the scholarly value is beyond words.½

A curious and beautiful engagement book illustrated with reproductions of birds painted around 1400 AD. These are from the Sherborne Missal and were drawn to illuminate the manuscript. The birds are detailed enough to be recognizable, illustrated by someone of the day with a good eye, and most are given their name written in Middle English making for a delightful item for an art or bird book collection.

shelved at: 76 : Libraries

I have not yet read this book.