The British Library’s collections on Flickr Commons offer access to millions of public domain images, which we encourage you to explore and re-use. The release of these collections into the public domain represent the Library's desire to improve knowledge of and about them, to enable novel and unexpected ways of using them, and to begin working with researchers to explore and interpret large scale digital collections.

The first set we have added come from a British Library Labs project dubbed the Mechanical Curator, which located more than a million images from within our digitised collection of over 65,000 books from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. Over time more public domain collections will be added.

These resources will allow you to investigate the key themes of Dickens's novels alongside original source material from the British Library. Literary manuscripts, newspapers, letters, workhouse menus and many more fascinating collection items will help students open up the social, cultural and political context in which Dickens was writing. This website includes performances by Simon Callow and discussions by Professor of English, John Mullan, filmed at the Charles Dickens Museum, London.

Discovering Literature brings to life the social, political and cultural context in which key works of literature were written. Enjoy digitised treasures from our collection, newly commissioned articles, short documentary films and teachers’ notes.

Explore the ways in which key 20th-century authors experimented with new forms and themes to capture the fast-changing world around them.

The Food Stories interactive, designed primarily for KS3 and KS4 citizenship and geography students, traces the amazing changes that have taken place in the UK's food culture over the last century. Play with colourful animations and listen to audio interviews from the British Library Sound Archive to investigate the ways in which food relates to identity, cultural diversity, the environment, technology, farming, shopping, travel and much more.

Supported by over 500 historical sources from across Europe, this resource examines key themes in the history of World War One. Explore a wealth of original source material, over 50 newly-commissioned articles written by historians, teachers' notes and more to discover how war affected people on different sides of the conflict.

Collection items featured on this site have been contributed by Europeana 1914-1918 institutions.

The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and one of the world’s greatest libraries. We hold over 13 million books, 920,000 journal and newspaper titles, 57 million patents and 3 million sound recordings. Open to everyone, the Library also offers exhibitions, events and a Treasures Gallery that displays over 200 items, including The Lindisfarne Gospel, Leonardo da Vinci’s notebook, Shakespeare’s First Folio, lyrics by The Beatles and the world’s earliest dated printed book, Diamond Sutra.

The expeditions of James Cook shaped Europe’s knowledge of the world, and had far-reaching consequences for the people of the lands they touched. Explore the stories, art and maps of the artists and scientists who were on board the ships. Our digital collection items include drawings by the Polynesian high priest and navigator Tupaia, who accompanied Cook to New Zealand and Australia.

You’ll also find modern-day responses to the expeditions from people of the communities Cook encountered, documented and learned from. These reflect the different perspectives that exist on the legacy of the voyages and their impact.

The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and one of the world’s greatest libraries. We hold over 13 million books, 920,000 journal and newspaper titles, 57 million patents and 3 million sound recordings. Open to everyone, the Library also offers exhibitions, events and a Treasures Gallery that displays over 200 items, including The Lindisfarne Gospel, Leonardo da Vinci’s notebook, Shakespeare’s First Folio, lyrics by The Beatles and the world’s earliest dated printed book, Diamond Sutra.