China to dust off classic British editions

Literature lovers in China are in for a treat as some of the British Library’s most iconic books go on display in Beijing for the first time.

Starting on Apr 21, 10 handwritten manuscripts and early editions from some of Britain’s greatest writers will be loaned to the National Library of China as part of a cultural exchange.

Among items on display at “Shakespeare to Sherlock: Treasures of the British Library” will be Charles Dickens’ manuscript for Nicholas Nickleby, Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre and an early quarto edition of Shakespeare’ s Romeo and Juliet, which was once owned by King George III.

The 1598 volume will be shown alongside a Ming Dynasty (1368-1911) copy of The Peony Pavilion by Shakespeare’s Chinese contemporary Tang Xianzu.

Jamie Andrews, head of culture and learning at the British Library, said: “There is something special about seeing an object that is hundreds of years old and it is also an original object in the author’s own handwriting, there is a really special connection to the original moment of creativity and that’s a unique experience.”

Andrews said thousands of items were considered for the exhibition.

“When we started to reduce the number of possibilities to just 10 items, one of the names immediately was Shakespeare. Shakespeare is so important to the British Library, he is a world figure and Shakespeare has resonance in China as well, so we felt he should certainly be there.”

Also in the exhibition are classics that have become popular in China though TV and film adaptations, such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes tale The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter and Ian Fleming’s James Bond story The Living Daylights.

The government-funded exhibition will cost 1.6 million pounds ($2 million) and is part of a cultural exchange program with China that will continue until 2019 and include a pop-up exhibitions in Shanghai, Wuz he ni nZ hejiang province and Hong Kong.