Look At These Amazing Books

Can you imagine what it was like to live through the Second World War or to be one of the first British people to visit China?

Well, earlier this year the British Library ran a competition to find the most unusual and interesting books hidden away in libraries across the country. Stories of life on the Home Front and very early explorers were just two of the winning treasures.

Take a look at these wonderful pictures from the books...

One of the winners is a fabulous book from a Dorset* library showing exactly what it was like for ordinary people on the 'Home Front' during World War Two (1939-1945).

Here's one of the pages showing some of the things people in a village called Charmouth got up to.

History teachers can explain how life was for the men, women and children who stayed at home during the War but it's hard to imagine what it was really like then, more than 60 years ago.

The book is full of beautifully drawn pictures that help you imagine you were there.

As well as pictures of everyday life the book shows enemy airmen, the arrival of the American army in Britain and even an exploding cow! (The cow accidentally stepped on a mine by the coast in Charmouth.)

Many children had to leave big cities during the war because of the threat of enemy bombs and were moved to safer places in the countryside.

They were called evacuees. They were looked after by families in places like Dorset until it was safe for them to go back to their real families.

Here's a picture of some of the Charmouth evacuees.

Can you imagine having to leave home like these children because your house might be be bombed? (And there's that poor cow drifting off in a cloud!)

Some of the children were very poor - their clothes were old and full of lice.

Here's one lady spending an afternoon delousing boys' socks - she's putting them next to a fire so the lice die and drop off in the heat - yuk!

It was difficult for both the evacuees and the people who looked after them. This woman is looking after a baby but no-one knows where its mother is - she could have been killed by an enemy bomb.

Another of the winning books, this time from Belfast Central Library in Northern Ireland, contains drawings of the first embassy visit to China from Britain, which happened back in 1793, more than 200 years ago.

An 'embassy' visit is an official visit to a foreign country. It was led by a man called Lord Macartney. He met the Chinese Emperor Qianlong and saw what happened inside his palace.

The picture above is of someone 'kowtowing' to the emperor. Kowtowing is bowing down really low and touching your head on the floor.

To kowtow was a mark of respect, showing that you accepted the emperor as your king.

Before Lord Macartney's visit most people in Britain wouldn't have known that much about China. They would have been amazed to see the pictures in this book, showing the different costumes, hair styles and buildings they had there.

Here you can see the long flowing robes that the Chinese Emperor wore.

Although everyone was supposed to kowtow to Emperor Qianlong, Lord Macartney refused to do it, because he didn't want to accept the emperor as his king. The picture shows someone else kowtowing.

All of the competition winners will have their special books digitised by the British Library. This means experts will take very high quality photos of individual pages from the books. They'll then put them online with a special web widget called 'Turning the Pages'. We'll all be able to read the words and see the pics in detail on a website.

More and more historic and important books and papers are being digitised so that people all over the world can see and learn from them.

What would you digitise if you had the choice? Would it be the latest Harry Potter book or perhaps photos of your neighbourhood, so people in the future can see what your town was like? Let us know what you think, we love to hear from you.

And what do you think might be hidden away in your local library? Perhaps there are some hidden treasures there too - it could be worth a good look!

Perhaps you'll find something as amazing as this picture from Lord Macartney's trip to China.

Thanks to our friends at the British Library for sending us the great pictures for this story. All pictures © individual libraries.

* Dorset Library Service in partnership with Dorset History Centre and Dorset School Library Service to be exact!