The Beauty of Books

• 1. Ancient Bibles

  30m

  The British Library in London is home to 14 million books, on shelves that stretch over 600km. Extraordinary vessels of ideas and knowledge, they testify to the love affair we have with books. This series explores the enduring appeal and importance of books from a 4th century bible to present day paperbacks.

• 2. Medieval Masterpieces

  30m

  The medieval era was the heyday of illuminated manuscripts. In the 14th and 15th centuries, there was a flowering of religious texts set into beautifully-decorated pages. Among these devotional books were psalters, or books of psalms. Hundreds of these were produced, but the Luttrell Psalter is remarkable for its whimsical, humorous and vivid pictures of rural life and a demonic world that is terrifying and grotesque.

• 3. Illustrated Wonderlands

  30m

  The Victorians were masters of illustrated books, especially for children. Thanks to an emerging middle class readership, new printing technology and a sentimentalised regard for childhood, fairy tales and fantasy fiction containing words and pictures grew into an established genre.

• 4. Paperback Writer

  30m

  The paperback book democratized reading in the 20th century, and printing directly onto the covers became a way of selling a book in the mass market.

Cast

Richard Dormer

Narrator

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Stephen Bayley

Himself - Author & Design Critic

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Rick Gekoski

Himself - Writer & Rare Book Dealer

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Michelle Brown

Herself - University of London

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Christopher de Hamel

Himself - Corpus Christi College Cambridge

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Alison Bailey

Herself - Curator British Library

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Andrew Biswell

Himself - Burgess Biographer

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Alixe Bovey

Herself - University of Kent

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Michael Foreman

Himself - Illustrator

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John Gray

Himself - Designer

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Carolyne Larrington

Herself - St. John's College Oxford

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Patricia Lovett

Herself - Scribe & Illustrator