The Magical Experience of Platform 9 ¾

Basically, today was amazing! We started off the day at the British Library. We went into their Treasures of the British Library exhibit. It was amazing!

• ·         They had original music written by the composer in their handwriting. Bach, Beethoven, Handel, Chopin, etc.
• ·         They had copies of the first prints of Shakespeare’s plays.
• ·         The only known medieval manuscript of Beowulf.
• ·         A handwritten copy of Jane Eyre. A handwritten copy of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s poem Sonnet 43 (it’s the ‘How do I love thee? Let me count the ways’ poem).
• ·         The Gutenberg Bible.
• ·         A copy of the New Testament from the 4^th century.
• ·         The oldest English document from 689 BC (I think that’s the right year).
• ·         The Magna Carta.
• ·         A copy of the Canterbury Tales with a Chaucer dictionary at the back.
• ·         One of Dickens’ books.

So, basically it was the coolest exhibit. It was awesome (the literal sense of the word) to see their handwriting. To see how they wrote. I was looking at Beethoven’s handwriting. At Dickens’ handwriting. I saw Winston Churchill’s signature. I saw Queen Elizabeth’s signature. Henry VII’s handwriting. It was amazing! There’s so much history here. It’s unbelievable.