The History of Marginalia: curator's pick

In the third episode of our three-part series on the history of marginalia, Des Cowley (Principal Librarian of History of the Book and Arts) and Anna Welch (Senior Librarian of History of the Book and Arts) discuss Anna's favourite example of marginalia in the Library's collection, a book from 1648 that includes a very special inscription. 

What is marginalia?

At the heart of it, marginalia are anything written around the edges of the page in a book. The video above looks at sentimental inscriptions from the past and how they can still resonate with people today.

More to explore

• Watch the first episode of this series, The History of Marginalia: medieval manuscripts. 
• Watch the second episode of this series, The History of Marginalia: censorship.
• Take a closer look at the collection item featured in this video.
• Learn more about the Library's Rare Books Collection.