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The British Library (BL) is the national library of the United Kingdom, and one of the world's largest libraries in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats, both print and digital: books, manuscripts, journals, newspapers, magazines, sound and music recordings, videos, playscripts, patents, databases, maps, stamps, prints, drawings. The Library's collections include around 14 million books (second only to the USA's Library of Congress), along with substantial holdings of manuscripts and historical items dating back as far as 2000 BC. As a legal deposit library, the BL receives copies of all books produced in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, including a significant proportion of overseas titles distributed in the UK. It also has a significant budget for content acquisitions. The British Library adds some three million items every year occupying 11 kilometres of new shelf space. The library is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is located on the north side of Euston Road in St Pancras, London, between Euston railway station and St Pancras railway station and at Boston Spa in Yorkshire. More about the British Library... The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of 972 documents, including texts from the Hebrew Bible, discovered between 1946 and 1956 in 11 caves in and around the ruins of the ancient settlement of Qumran on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea in the West Bank. The texts are of great religious and historical significance, as they include the oldest known surviving copies of Biblical and extra-biblical documents and preserve evidence of great diversity in late Second Temple Judaism. They are written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, mostly on parchment, but with some written on papyrus. These manuscripts generally date between 150 BCE and 70 CE. The scrolls are traditionally identified with the ancient Jewish sect called the Essenes, though some recent interpretations have challenged this association and argue that the scrolls were penned by priests in Jerusalem, Zadokites, or other unknown Jewish groups. The Dead Sea Scrolls are traditionally divided into three groups: "Biblical" manuscripts (copies of texts from the Hebrew Bible), which comprise roughly 40% of the identified scrolls; "Apocryphal" or "Pseudepigraphical" manuscripts (known documents from the Second Temple Period like Enoch, Jubilees, Tobit, Sirach, non-canonical psalms, etc., that were not ultimately canonized in the Hebrew Bible), which comprise roughly 30% of the identified scrolls; and "Sectarian" manuscripts (previously unknown documents that speak to the rules and beliefs of a particular group or groups within greater Judaism) like the Community Rule, War Scroll, Pesher on Habakkuk (Hebrew pesher פשר = "Commentary"), and the Rule of the Blessing, which comprise roughly 30% of the identified scrolls. 370px Paolozzi's sculpture "Newton" which draws upon William Blake's print Newton. The statue was commissioned for the British Library's new home in St Pancras and can be found in the plaza outside. A bust of Colin Wilson on display in the foyer of the British Library. ... that British architect Sir Colin Wilson (bust pictured), known for designing the new British Library near St Pancras station, donated his collection of modern art to the Pallant House Gallery in Chichester? ... that the books and manuscripts in the Renaissance era Cotton library were categorized by their location in relation to busts of Caesars shelved alongside them? ... that grants given to the British Library by the Friends of the British Library have enabled it to acquire many historical treasures, such as the Dering Roll? ... that the Crawford Library was called the greatest philatelic library in the world when its owner died in 1913? ... that Menggu Ziyun is a 14th century rime dictionary of Chinese as written in the 'Phags-pa script? Ground floor “ The great British Library — an immense collection of volumes of all ages and languages, many of which are now forgotten, and most of which are seldom read: one of these sequestered pools of obsolete literature to which modern authors repair, and draw buckets full of classic lore, or “pure English, undefiled” wherewith to swell their own scanty rills of thought. ” — Washington Irving (1783 –1859) The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. 1819 ▼ British Library ► British Library collections [−] Media The British Library WikiProject is a project that helps to assemble writers and editors interested in improving topics related to the British Library. The aim of this project is to standardize and improve articles related to the British Library, as well as to create any missing articles. To become a member of this WikiProject (anyone may join), simply click here and add your name.  FA   A   GA   B   C   Start   Stub   FL   List   Category   Portal   Project   Template   NA   ???  Total 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 More info on the project.... The following Wikimedia sister projects provide more on this subject:

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