Literary inspiration for British Library stationery collection

The British Library is launching a range of giftable stationery and accessories for its shop, with designs inspired by Alice in Wonderland, the classic library card, authors Einstein, Hemingway and the famous Bloomsbury Group, and the Grade 1-listed building itself.

Developed by British Library's in-house buying team in conjunction with selected design partners, the brief was to continue its philosophy of providing "quirky gifts for the curious and literary minded".

Keeping bookworms, library devotees and stationery aficionados alike in mind, the shop at St Pancras is offering a host of merchandise. For library lovers, notebooks, socks, coasters and tote bags bearing the nostalgic design of a traditional stamped library card are for sale. Customers can choose from different shades of pastel.

A collection celebrating the Bloomsbury Group, which made its home in the British Library, hopes to tempt the literary set. Items such as card holders, bookmarks, tea towels, cushions and mini jigsaws have been illustrated by a small design studio in Brixton called LucyLovesThis incorporating buildings, parks, quotes, portraits and the British Library façade under the banner of the Group.

It is joined by range of "refined stationery", featuring inspiring quotations from the likes of Albert Einstein, Thomas Jefferson and Ernest Hemingway, and a special Alice in Wonderland collection of various accessories and homeware featuring hand-drawn motifs inspired by alice's adventures designed exclusively for the British Library by London-based graphic designer and illustrator Lucy Depardieu.

Completing the British Library's new wares is a range celebrating the British Library's Grade I listed status, granted by Historic England. Key features of the architecture - Portland Stone staircases, red cladding, and Purbeck Limestone with brass floor detail - adorn an ecclectic mix of products including pocket mirrors. 

Earlier this year, in June 2018, Dame Carol Black was appointed chair of the British Library for a four year term. At the time British Library chief executive Roly Keating heralded "a period of exciting transformative change". 2023 will be the British Library's 50th anniversary year.