Most people who know me well (or even for 40 seconds for that matter) know my fondness for books, libraries, archives, etc. If I had the means – that is, if I didn’t have all these other distractions – I’d probably form, become Director of, and inevitably check myself in to the first Biblioholics Anonymous.

One place I used to live, I was so short on square footage that I built a shelf onto my bed (the frame was basically just a box with the mattress in-laid, IKEA brand I think, so I just screwed in a shelf from end to end) and books would always spill onto me while I slept: Russian Painted Shop Signs, The Great Exhibitions, issues of ArtForum, Global Conceptualism: Points of Origin 1950s-1980s (conceptualism while you sleep, whoops!). Anyhow, point being, I love the books.

So you can imagine how excited I am by the British Library’s ‘Turning the Pages’ website, in which the B.L. has scanned in and made available some of their rare books and printed items – including works like this image of Scotland turned sideways in the first atlas of Europe compiled by Gerardus Mercator. Awesome!

(They also have available a copy of the original Alice with illustrations by Lewis Carroll! woot woot!)

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