National Art Library at the V&A


Today, we went to the National Art Library at the Victoria and Albert Muesum.  As I was walking up to the V & A was an experience for the building seemed so daunting but beautiful at the same time. We entered and were led to a beautiful room lined with books with tables to sit at.  The room reminded me of a library room that one would find in a castle or mansion.  The tour took us behind the scenes of the National Art Library in which many collections of magazines and the Great Exposition were available.

The most interesting part of the tour was seeing the rare books that the National Art Library owns.  The librarian brought out a copy of the Book of Hours that was once owned by Margaret de Foix.  The illustrations inside were stunning!  The next rare book that was brought out was a copy of SHakespeare's First Foilo.  The National Art Museum owns several copies - 3 First Folios, 4 second First Folios and 1 third First Folio.

I found out that the National Art Library has 5000 books and has the largest artist book collection in the United Kingdom dating from the 1890s. Wow!



 




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