A gallery of real treasures

THE 17th century philosopher John Locke once wrote: “Reading is for the improvement of the understanding. The improvement of the understanding is for two ends: First, for our own increase of knowledge; secondly, to enable us to deliver and make out that knowledge to others.”

He penned this in 1703, in an essay titled “Some thoughts concerning reading and study for a gentleman”.

I came across this quote in the British Library’s Treasures Gallery, its permanent exhibition of important and influential manuscripts, documents and books.

Whatever you make of the Locke quote – personally, I think it’s difficult to disagree with it, although reading can also provide hours of pleasure and entertainment – it was fascinating to see it in his own handwriting on the page of a book in the display case.

In fact, the entire exhibition was utterly fascinating. You don’t have to be a bookworm like me to appreciate the works on display.

The 250-odd items in the gallery range from early printed books to major literary, scientific and musical works through the centuries. There are sacred texts from different faiths, old maps and historical documents from the Middle Ages to the recent past.

One of my personal highlights was Jane Austen’s writing desk and pages from a manuscript, dated 1816, of Persuasion. I’m a big Austen fan and Persuasion is one of my favourite novels. Seeing the desk she wrote on and a page in her own writing was quite a surreal experience.

Next to this was a handwritten, corrected draft from 1838 of Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens and Charlotte Bronte’s 1847 manuscript of Jane Eyre showing deletions and revisions she had made to the text.

The manuscripts were absorbing, not only for showing us what the authors’ handwriting looked like but a glimpse of their creative process at work as they corrected and revised certain lines or words.

They left me reflecting on how authors in the 18th and 19th centuries had to write their drafts by hand, not having the convenience of computers or typewriters that modern-day writers can employ.

It makes one think about how far technology has advanced compared with a couple of hundred years ago, and yet the appeal of a book still depends on the quality of the writing and content rather than how it was written.

In the section on musical works, I was particularly intrigued by Mozart’s musical diary, Beethoven’s sketchbook of ideas and a printed manuscript of Chopin’s Polonaise in A major, often described as one of his most patriotic works.

No less interesting was the Beatles display, which included scribbled lyrics for Help!, A Hard Day’s Night and Yesterday.

In the historical documents section, what caught my attention were a letter written by Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII in August 1528 to Cardinal Wolsey, Elizabeth I’s speech dissolving Parliament on Jan 2, 1567 and the aforementioned Locke quote.

Other exhibits highlight important moments in the history of books and printing. Among them are the handwritten St Cuthbert Gospel from the early 8th century, making it the earliest intact European book, as well as the Diamond Sutra from China, the world’s earliest printed book made in 868.

There’s also the Gutenberg Bible, the first book to be printed in Europe using movable type, the invention by Johann Gutenberg which revolutionised the world by enabling the spread of information through mass production of books and other printed materials.

According to a display panel, an Italian bishop in the 1470s explained that three printers could produce 300 copies of a book in three months, whereas it would take three scribes a lifetime each to complete the same number.

Another significant artefact is the Codex Sinaiticus, described by the British Library as one of the most important landmarks in the history of books.

Inscribed by hand in the mid-fourth century, it is the earliest manuscript of the complete New Testament and the earliest and best witness for some books of the Old Testament.

The exhibit that I found most moving was William Tyndale’s New Testament, the first printed translation of the Bible in English.

In his day, back in the 16th century, the Bible was only available in Latin, which could only be understood by the highly educated. Tyndale wanted to make it accessible to all, but his English translation was considered heretical.

The New Testament on display is one of three copies to survive from 3,000 or so printed in Worms, Germany, in 1526. Tyndale paid for it with his life, burnt at the stake in 1536.

However, his work continues to live on in the 1611 Authorised Version, also known as the King James Bible, when it was no longer a capital offence to translate the Bible into English.

It was a poignant reminder that what we take for granted now came at great personal cost and sacrifice for others in the past.

Also, that sometimes those in power would go to great lengths to suppress the accessibility of information and that the printed (or handwritten) word holds a great wealth of knowledge with which we can improve our understanding of the world.