THE 45KM LONG NEWSPAPER COLLECTION AT THE BRITISH LIBRARY

Picture: guldfisken

I look fascinated around me and all I can see is paper. Thousands of yellowy pages from all over the world are bound in enormous dusty old books, stored in some tall wood shelves behind me. The Athletic record, weekly journal of 1886; Good news, the amusing journal of 1893; the Daily Mirror of 1907. Walking among the narrow corridors, I feel that modern history hides in the irregular outline of those rare and smelly volumes.

At a time when most of the news is digital, I’m visiting the temple of paper-journalism, the Newspaper department of the British Library in Colindale.

Everything that has been published in the United Kingdom, in the former colonies and Commonwealth from the early 17th century until now, is classified by year or title in 45 km of shelves distributed on the six floors of this large brick building in North London.

Stored in the national archives collections, over 693,000 bound volumes and more than 400,000 reels of microfilms of British and overseas publications are ready to be consulted.

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