History of the British Library



The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. The origins and foundations of this significant library which was established in 1753. A donation was given to the library from the Royal book collection of King George III to the library in 1827 and housed in this first public museum. For over 200 years the collection was added to and kept as part of the British Museum library.

During the library's history from 1700's onwards many developments and changes have occured to the library's current day status as one of the worlds most visited national libraries. Today the collection contains million's of text book, journals, rare manuscripts, maps, encyclopaedias, newspaper collection, ephemera and resources available on-line. It wasn’t until 1973 that the British Library was established and became a new and separate organization.