British Studies: Day 12

Being in London forces one to learn their directions quickly.  Also, undergrounds at 8:30-9am are nuts.  This morning JD and I, my Scotland travel mate for the mini holiday, needed to purchase our unlimited passes.  In doing so, we left at 8:30 promptly, purchased them at Waterloo, bought coffee/bagel, and were waiting at our respective crosswalk(the one facing the station) and began waiting by 8:50 for our group.  Now, as I said before, there was tons of foot traffic and we were watching down the sidewalk, where we have always crossed at, for fifteen specific women.  By 9:15, these women did not come.  Beginning to grow frantic(it has been days since we went towards the British library so we didn't exactly remember how to get there) we doubled back to the courtyard to make sure no one was waiting for us.  They were, in fact, gone.  Luckily, JD has a data plan and can Google Maps like no tomorrow.  We figured that we had to connect from Waterloo(walking there once more) and to Euston, then a brief walk.  We did that, no problem and a few minutes before ten.  When we got to the area for the British Conservation Library(the behind the scenes of the British Library) no one was there either.  At this point I checked my phone, it has had shoddy reception/receiving abilities the whole trip(until seemingly this week) and I had a missed call from a classmate, telling me we had missed them in Waterloo.  This evening, we discovered, they had crossed to Waterloo several crosswalks up, thereby blending into the foot traffic we had been ignoring on the far side.  Like I said, quick moving.

Either way, we had made it and while people had no idea where were were suppose to meet our group, this was solved when we met them in the front entrance of the British Conversation Library.  Here our tour guide was Robert Brodie, the leader of the team.  He began by pointing out the architecture of the facility, north facing with much natural light, and no pipes.  They have a display here with many type face tools of which are impressive to have since they originally were headed for America on the Titanic.  Their photo center has a special water system that allows pure water- calcium and CO2 or something- and can hold many items at a time.  To work on a piece, one must enter a bidding and estimating process, this allows 66% of the collection, and items won in bidding might contain a 350 hour project.  There are teams used for this time, as they figure how long(estimate) and is sent to the head of the department where they give options that dictate the outcome of their proposals.  There are minimum interventions, high profile phases, frequent requests, and digitization that affect these proposals.  Typically they work in pairs.  Robert over sees some people himself.  Having taken a history of books and printing course, this was all fascinating to see up close.  They have special boxes for different items, office records and geneological items make up the bulk of the collection, and then we saw examples.  One such example was an office record with a decorative and practical look.  It had a spring back, marble pages, and if you rip out a page it leaves an opening.  Quite noticeable.  Another example was of a leather bound book that was rebound but used the original leather pieces.  Life the leather, reline the book, add new leather, put in the old, and set it.  Here they left the original innards, some manuscript notes that were in both front and back covers, and the work was from 1649.  If a work needed sewing, there are many different types of Japanese paper, including shusi and kuzu-shi.  

A nice entrance.

Our second guide was Chris of the PACCAR finishing department.  It takes years to learn this skill, of which much patience is involved and much knowledge of heating elements, leather/cloth reaction, and type face mishaps.  Their job is no freehand, but rather comes with specific instructions for typefact and gold from the others.  They use a stone to heat the type and a souffle looking item to cool it, so that the type doesn't punch through the leather.  Gold foil melts easiest but the spine must be washed first and then clamped down.  Gold leaf is used for leather and gold foil for cloth, which is interesting.  It has to be cut to size, the gold is cut on a cushion, and then pasted with an eggwhite glue to the area of the book.  The tools used vary by style and as Chris has worked at more decorative places before, he is quite good here.  Francis, a conservator, was very nice as well.  I asked if the Illuminated Manuscripts with gold gilded pages come here and indeed they do.  I am not sure what the process involves, but I imagine it is more time taking then other areas, however they told me that the works pretty much keep them selves up.  

That's gold foil.  On K's finger.

And don't worry, I am doing research in here.  I tried to see a document from the British Library(featured in their display Crime Fiction A-Z) today, but the readers card process was a little more technical then I anticipated.  Turns out, my drivers license does not have my current house address and I need to return later this week if I am to learn nothing about the display.  On the upside, I have an appointment scheduled with the Westminster Reference Library for tomorrow to discuss their huge Sherlock Holme s collection.  I am very happy about this.

In the evening, I hopped on a tube to Euston, a train to Watford Junction, and a "knight" bus to the Warned Brothers Harry Potter J&K stages.  Let me tell you, I haven't been able to afford going to Harry Potter World, but I know this was ten times better.  I can't wait to upload photos, as there are at least a thousand, but it was fantastic.  I went with a great bunch- thank you, you know who you are- and had the experience of a lifetime.  I was able to sit in/on Hagrid's motorcycle, walk acrros the bridge of Lupin(my favourite character) and Harry in that touching scene,, pose with chess pices that were larger than me, see the special effects of the cratures(oh yes, Aragog too), and drink Butterbeert with a souvenir cup to boot!  I think I will be reliving moments of this for a long time.  If you can g, do so.  Spend the money, it is highly worth it.  Make sure to have some time, bring some friends and just take it all in.  I did and it is the best night of the trip, I think this is safe to say.  And, as you have read by now, I have done quite a bit.  

LH & I, stealing a ride in Hagrid's motorcycle!

British studies: Day 6

Today was a day filled with magical wonder.  We entered King's Cross today.  I have been waiting to see Platform 9 3/4 for 7 years.  No big deal, right?  Well today I adorned my Harry Potter/Game of Thrones hybrid shirt and my hufflepuff hat and threw a trolley at a wall(okay so it wasn't quite like that, it was actually part of a trolley already in the wall, but still!)  The little shop was amazing!  I bought a souvenir magnet, I am saving a larger purchase for Warner Brothers.

I forgot my luggage!

By afternoon, we went to the British Library and had a guided tour by Kevin Mehmet, an Independence Day and American enthusiast.  Turns out there are those who are just as fascinated with how the other half lives!  He was quite funny and the British Library was quite impressive.  I want to spent more time with their displays, which contain Beowulf and a copy of the Gutenberg Bible, and also see what they could offer me on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

The library has around 1700 staff members and collected all published works that are put out within one month of their publishing.  To prove this, we not only saw a scale model(which showed us the library is "built like a ship") but also saw the large glass encasement that runs from the ceiling through the underground.  It is in a cooled, controlled environment, and even has several evacuation procedures.  They are interested in research and digitization, offering patrons hands-on opportunities with rare books only if they have an academic reference.  If not, the work is digitally sent.  Their librarians ask for one hour and ten minutes for retrieval.  Digitization is still unknown to some and unagreed upon at the national bibliography.  They have a 65 million pixel camera.  In 1961 the preservation of the book was ideal and in 1998 the library opened to the public.  It has four founding fathers(Banks, Cotton, Glenville, and Sloane) of which Sloane was the curator for most of the collection.  The British Library has a collection of 35 million and 60% holds.  There are 200 million items in the city linked to them and they personally have 8 miles of shelving with 8000 copies a week received.  To register as a reader, you need an address and a few pieces of ID.  Fun fact, you can request something from ILL here and retrieve it in the states.  The process to send these book around looks simple(add two tags to the book for marking and placement, bar-code the basket, and push the basket it) but there is a more complex working inside.  It is about a mile long.  They even have 1962 Vogue bound.  The books here are as St. Paul's and the Bod, organized by size first to maximize space, and all are cataloged.  There is a huge foreign language section, with each their own language assistant.  Their largest book is the Klencke Atlas but the Australians just acquired a book 6 inches larger, just bumping their record.  It is a restricted item that was given to them by a wealthy donor and made in the 1660s.  It has its original binding.  It requires 6 handlers and is 6'1".  In the spree of Independence enthusiasm, we learned that they have a copy of the Magna Carta that they allowed to be let in D.C in 1976 for the 200 year commemoration.  It was placed in the library(in DC) next to the Bill of Rights.  It was a wonderful tour.

From there, after a small bus mishap of having a malfunctioning Oyster card, I found myself going up Black Friars stop to The Globe.  For  £5, I stood as a groundling would and saw the best Shakespeare I will ever see.  Today the Globe played a comedy called The Tempest with Colin Morgan as Ariel.  The use of the stage was amazing.  Nor only were the costumes epic and the acting greater than great, but they use parts of the stage I would have never thought of.  The spirits, Ariel included, were climbing on and out of parts of the stage- over the exit doors, into the exit arches, on the pillars that hold the roof, and throughout the audience.  There were to be no pictures taken and none of this online, but there is a scene in which the men have a sea feast before them and as they are about to dig in it burst into flames!  I was five bodies away and could feel the heat- but just as soon as it came, it burnt and flipped over and was burnt and then quickly flew into the floor below so that Colin Morgan could emerge as Ariel 2.0.  This Ariel had a scalier body, a dinosaur-like head/helmet that was long, and walked on these sort of stilts with t-rex toes&feet at the end.  Behind him were two other spirits who controlled the motion of his wings- which were unattached- and enfolded around him or expanded for emphasis or turned as he haunted the gluttonous men.  It was stunning.  This showing was the last until August, so I am super stoked I got to go.  Today was the highlight of a lifetime and I surely won't forget it.  

Exuent Globe.