Visiting the British Museum, on Great Russell Street in London, former site also of the British Library (Reading Room), was an eye-opening experience. Seeing various treasures of British culture and royalty was something of an honor, of course; however, seeing the treasures of other cultures and their royalty was of another order, for many of the latter treasures had either been paid for minimally money-wise, or not paid for at all, except at cost of blood in one war or another.

I believe at the time I visited that museum, in Autumn 1981, I saw, among many items, the Elgin Marbles, the Rosetta Stone, and the limestone or marble gates from a great city, perhaps from old Assyria. The Elgin Marbles came from the Parthenon and other buildings on the Acropolis in Greece. Their ownership is still in dispute, because Greece wants them back. The Rosetta Stone, which was found in Egypt in 1799 by a French military officer, and deciphered in the 19th century, relates three ancient languages, two of them Egyptian, the other classical Greek. Egypt still has claims on the Rosetta Stone, too.

It is also possible I viewed the British Crown Jewels that day, though I see in checking now that they are lodged at present in the Tower of London Museum. I may have also visited that latter museum on a separate day, but can’t say for sure, because it seems I saw the Crown Jewels in 1981. I do know I also saw ancient swords and other ancient military hardware at the British Museum, and exquisite pottery and jewelry, as well.

The British Museum was first donated to by Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753) in his will (71,000 items, including 40,000 books), and royally founded by King George II the year of Sir Hans’s death.

The British Museum Reading Room was equally impressive. It was there that Sir Winston Churchill, George Orwell, Karl Marx, Virginia Woolf, and many, many additional historic personalities of note, spent time. Though created post-Shakespeare, the reading room also had key Shakespeare folio editions, and perhaps, though I can’t say this for sure, a sample of his handwriting. I may have speculated, too, how nice it would be for my own works to be included among those authors’ works, in such an august assemblage of books and writings.

As I passed out of the British Museum and Reading Room’s doors, I shot a photo of people in that doorway. One young man was exiting, another one entering, and two guards were just outside the doorway, backs to camera. As I’d entered the building earlier, or perhaps just after I exited it, I shot a photo of a guard smoking a cigarette, with pigeons walking about, and a black lady in the distance, seated and feeding the pigeons. The columns were impressive, to the right of them. It appeared the guard had just caught sight of me, and was pausing in mid-step, as he inspected the pigeon crossing my path (if I’d continued toward him and the woman). However, I either entered the building then, or headed away from it. I do know I shot another photo looking at the entryway from a distance, making three shots I fired off in that area.

In the 1990s, I began donating my own books to the British Library, which may have moved to its new building at St. Pancras by then. I’ve now at least 13 books of mine and my group’s included in its collections, and counting. I’ve always sent those books to a BL staffer named Tim, and he’s always courteous and helpful in handling my donations.

In more recent years, some of my journal articles have also been included and catalogued in the British Library mainly because they were published in leading British photo journals. I’ve also written for British Heritage Magazine on a large number of subjects, but it is based in Virginia, I believe, and my reviews for British Heritage are not catalogued similarly in the British Library.