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Last chance for libraries to reveal their hidden treasures

British Library competition attracts entries from across the United Kingdom

The British Library is urging librarians across the UK to finalise their entries for its 'Hidden Treasures Brought to Life' competition, which closes on Friday June 29. The competition challenges public libraries in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to uncover the items in their collections that most deserve to be converted into Turning the Pages 2.0 'virtual texts' and shared with the world via the British Library website.

Libraries from Exeter to Edinburgh, from Belfast to Birmingham have unearthed some of their most spectacular treasures, ranging from Christopher Saxton’s 1579 atlas of England and Wales (Leeds Central Library) to engraver William Milton’s 1736 ‘Book of Ornaments’ (Bristol Central Library), to enter them into the competition, which is supported by the Society of Chief Librarians (SCL) and Microsoft.

For the past decade the British Library has created Turning the Pages versions of its greatest treasures, from Mozart’s musical diary to Lewis Carroll’s manuscript of Alice’s Adventures. Turning the Pages 2.0, which has been developed with Microsoft to demonstrate their new Windows Vista operating system, enables an even richer user experience and speeds up the process of creating a virtual text. See: www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/ttp/ttpbooks.html.

Ministers and local MPs alike have welcomed the opportunity the competition presents for public libraries to raise the profile of their collections and services.

Jim McGovern MP (Dundee West), said: “Much of our national and local heritage is contained within our local libraries. In this digital age the best way to ensure we protect this for the future is to rediscover these local treasures and save them for a whole new generation to access over the internet. This competition will assist us in this aim.”

David Lammy MP, Minister for Culture added, “Since its launch, Turning the Pages has reached out to new audiences with an immediate power, allowing dynamic and interactive access to iconic works of global importance. The competition…gives public libraries across the country the chance to get in on the action, and put in a bid to create their own Turning the Pages. I hope that many of them will take up this challenge, and engage their communities in thinking about the books that are important to them. I greatly look forward to hearing about the winning projects.”

For further information and images please contact the British Library Press Office: Chloe Tait (+44 (0)20 7412 7113, chloe.tait@bl.uk); Ben Sanderson (+44 (0)1937 546126, ben.sanderson@bl.uk) or Lawrence Christensen (+44 (0)20 7412 7114, lawrence.christensen@bl.uk).

Notes for editors

  1. The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. It provides world class information services to the academic, business, research and scientific communities and offers unparalleled access to the world’s largest and most comprehensive research collection. The British Library’s collections include 150 million items from every era of written human history beginning with Chinese oracle bones dating from 300 BC, right up to the latest e-journals. Further information is available on the Library’s website.
  2. The following items in the British Library’s collection are now available on Turning the Pages 2.0 and also in their original Shockwave format.
    • Lindisfarne Gospels (circa 700): one of the most magnificent manuscripts of the early Middle Ages written and decorated at the end of the seventh century by the monk Eadfrith who became Bishop of Lindisfarne in 698
    • Sultan Baybars’ Qur’an – a masterpiece of Arabic calligraphy, produced in Cairo between 1304-1306 AD (704-705 in the Muslim calendar)
    • Golden Haggadah: a lavishly illustrated fourteenth century Hebrew Manuscript from Spain (a Haggadah is the Hebrew Service Book used in Jewish households on Passover Eve)
    • The Luttrell Psalter (circa 1325-1335): one of the most famous medieval manuscripts because of its rich illustrations of everyday life in the early fourteenth century
    • Sforza Hours: a masterpiece of Renaissance art by celebrated artists Giovan Pietro Birago and Gerard Horenbout
    • The Sherborne Missal (circa 1400): the largest, most lavishly decorated medieval service book (containing the order of service then used in the Roman Catholic Church) to have survived the Reformation intact
    • The Diamond Sutra: a Chinese Buddhist scroll printed in 868 AD, the world’s oldest, dated, printed book
    • The Golf Book: a masterpiece of Flemish manuscript painting. Produced in the 1540s by Flemish artist Simon Bening, this book of hours features devotional texts to accompany private prayer and painted scenes of contemporary life, work and pastimes through the seasons of the year
    • Elizabeth Blackwell’s Herbal (1737-39): George III’s copy of a beautiful botanical text
    • Andreas Vesalius’ Anatomy – a landmark medical work of the sixteenth century and one of the most influential works in the history of Western medicine. It contains beautifully detailed anatomical engravings by artists from the workshop of Titian
    • Mercator’s Atlas: a stunning 90-page digitisation of Gerardus Mercator’s sixteenth century Atlas of Europe – the most important surviving body of Mercator’s work in a single volume
    • Jane Austen’s ‘History of England’: written when she was just 15 years old, the entire 36-page document including waspish pen-portraits of key historical figures
    • Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures Under Ground (1864): the fully-digitised first version of what eventually became ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ containing 90 pages and 37 illustrations
    • Mozart’s Thematic Catalogue: This manuscript is Mozart's record of his compositions in the last seven years of his life, and thus is a uniquely important document
    • The Notebook of William Blake: William Blake is famous today as an imaginative and original poet, painter, engraver, and mystic. Blake wrote and sketched in this notebook, which came into his possession after his brother's death in 1787, for 30 years.