London 2018: British Library, Carreras Cigarette Factory, Camden

When planning our daily itinerary for our 3 week stay in London, we tried to group together major attractions that are in the same general vicinity and plan a walking route between them.  Anything else of interest that we happened to see on the way would be bonus.  One of these days involved taking the tube to the British Library and then walking north to tour the markets in the district of Camden, stopping briefly to admire the architecture and design of the former Carreras Cigarette Factory.

The British Library is the national library of the U.K. and the largest library in the world with over 170 million catalogued items from many countries and in multiple languages.  Established in 1973, it is a major research library, with items in numerous languages and in many formats, both print and digital, including books, manuscripts, journals, newspapers, magazines, sound and music recordings, videos, play-scripts, patents, databases, maps, stamps, prints, and drawings.  Approaching the library, we came across a lovely entrance gate with the words “BRITISH LIBRARY” repeatedly emblazoned upon it.  The gate was designed by stone letter carver and type-face designer David Kindersley and his wife Lida.  In the courtyard outside the library sits of giant bronze sculpture called “Newton After William Blake”, created by Eduardo Paolozzi in 1995.  It depicts the sculptor himself playing the role of Sir Isaac Newton as he measures the universe with his dividers.  The work is a homage to William Blake’s 1795 print titled “Newton: Personification of Man Limited By Reason”, which shows Newton sitting on a mossy rock, measuring with a set of dividers or compasses.  Inside the main lobby of the library is Bill Woodrow’s 1997 bronze sculpture called “Sitting on History”.  The piece depicts a book whose pages are opened to form a bench, with a ball and chain attached to one end, inferring that the book is the "captor of information from which we cannot escape".  We only spotted the “book bench” as we were leaving the building and even took photos while sitting on it.  Unfortunately we did not even notice the ball and the chain, thus missing the whole point of the sculpture.  It was not until later when I saw images of the work on the internet that I saw the work as it was intended.

The reading rooms and stacks of the British Library are only available to researchers with a permanent address who apply for a “reader’s pass”.   Luckily the Sir John Riblat Gallery which contains the “Treasures of the British Library” is open to the general public, although no photographs are allowed.  You can find photos of many of the items from the catalogue on their website.  The large, light-and-temperature-controlled space holds a most impressive collection of works including complete first editions of all major bibles including the Wycliffe Bible, the first printed in vernacular English (1380), the Gutenberg Bible (1454), which was the first one printed in quantity using a printing press, the Tyndale Bible (1525), that resulted in author William Tyndale being burnt at the stake for heresy by King Henry VIII, and the King James (1611), a new translation commissioned by King James I.  There were also first additions of well-known or acclaimed novels, such as Ian Fleming’s “In Living Daylights”, P.G. Wodehouse’s “Aunts Aren’t Gentlemen”, George Elliot’s “Mill in the Floss” and Thomas Hardy’s “Tess of d’Uberville”.  For me, one of the most beautiful items on display was the 1916 book binding or cover by Sylvia Pye, made from green-dyed goat skin, white vellum and gold inlay of Art Nouveau styled designs.

I found it very interesting to see the first edition of the initial publication of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, for which no author’s name was provided.  At the time, publishers did not think that a woman author writing about such a dark subject would be marketable.  In subsequent printings, she was listed as “Mrs. Shelley” which I guess was a bit better but still referred to her relationship to her husband as opposed to her own given name.  One of the most ornate manuscripts on display was the “Golden Haggadah”, created in Catalonia around 1320.  Colourful illustrations on gilded surfaces provide a running commentary of the Torah, depicting  Genesis, Exodus and Midrash.  I was impressed by the tiny cursive script of Elizabeth Barret Browning as she wrote out her famous sonnet “How Do I Love Thee?” and intrigued by the humorous hand-drawn water-coloured maps by Lilian Lancaster which provide an accurate outline of a country or set of countries, and then fills in the interior with a whimsical drawing.  Her map of Scotland depicts Dick Whittington dancing with his cat, while her map of Spain and Portugal show a matador fighting a bull, which is a reference to the turbulent political situation in the area in the 19 Century.

The British Library’s treasures include not only ancient masterpieces such as the first folio consisting of almost the entire collection (36/37) of William Shakespeare’s plays, collated and published in 1623, seven years after his death.  It also boasts handwritten song lyrics, letters and postcards from the Beatles, including the lyrics to the songs Strawberry Fields, In My Life and the lesser known “She Said, She Said”, whose first line “I know what it’s like to be dead” was inspired by Peter Fonda.  The most impressive treasures in the collection are two copies of the Magna Carta, which warrant a separate room for display and a short animated video explaining how the document came to be signed.  In the lobby just outside the Treasures Gallery can be found the library’s collection of old stamps, sorted by country.  We bought a few souvenirs from the extensive shop in the library, including a mystery novel, an Oyster (transit) card holder and a couple of leather bookmarks with pithy sayings such as “Never judge a book by its movie” and “There’s no friend as loyal as a book”.

Following our visit to the British Library, we walked towards the district of Camden.  En route, we spotted the Greek-revival styled St. Pancras New Church from across the street.  On its front lawn were two giant bronze sculptures by David Breuer-Weil that I wanted to get a closer look at.  The first is called “Brothers” (2016), depicting two separate but joined humanoid figures physically attached at the top of their heads, symbolically representing a “joining of the minds”.   The work also suggests the aspects of good and evil present in each of us.   The second sculpture is of what looks like a man whose head and shoulders are buried in the ground, with only his torso and legs sticking up in the air.  The piece is called “Alien” (2013) with the initial intention of the sculptor being that this is a humanoid shaped extraterrestrial taking part in an alien invasion.  I relate more to his second interpretation, in that this is a tribute to his grandfather who was a refugee fleeing the Nazis from Vienna to England where he was labeled an “Enemy Alien”.  In this case, the word alien takes on an entirely different meaning.  Breuer-Weil’s grandfather’s name Ernst is inscribed on the sculpture.  In terms of architecture, part of the St Pancras New Church is modeled after the Erechtheum temple in the Acropolis in Athens, featuring a row of pillars shaped as female forms or caryatids.  While the caryatids in Greece are arm-less, the ones here hold either an extinguished torch or an empty jug, both common symbols found in burial sites.

We passed by a few more buildings, eateries and street art of interest as we continued our walk towards Camden, including some sights that reminded us of experiences we had from the previous days of our trip.  The building housing the St. Pancras International train station is so majestic that it could easily be mistaken for a government building or a church.  Another pretty building was the Euston Fire Station, initially built in 1901 and later extended.  It is considered a heritage site today but still seems to be a working station as there was a fire truck parked in front of it.  Through the door of the Band of Burgers restaurant (nicknamed BoB), the colourful mural of the four Beatles striding along was reminiscent of our Beatles walking tour to Abbey Road Studios where we (and hundreds of other tourists) re-enacted the famous Zebra Walk crossing.  We also found street art and recognized some of the artists from our graffiti walk in Shoreditch, including Cityzen Kane’s face sculptures.  One particularly poignant piece depicted the word “LIFE” in large block letters, but on closer inspection, you see that it is ironically created by pasting together small plastic toy guns.

About a 15 minute walk north-west of the British library is the location of the former Carreras Cigarette Factory.  Once owned by the Carreras Tobacco Company, the large Art Deco Building opened in the 1920s and was noted for its 20th Century Egyptian Revival Architecture that was popular at that time.  The ornamentation, which was inspired by the 1922 discovery of King Tut’s tomb as well as the popularity of Egyptian cigarettes, included Egyptian-styled lettering of the company name,  columns with Egyptian-styled capitals decorated in bright hues of Egyptian shades of blue, red and green in a lotus motif.  A pair of 8 ½ foot high bronze sculptures of black cats on either side of the front stairs represent Bastet (or Bast), the Egyptian Cat-Goddess of Warfare.  The circular reliefs of a black cat with yellow eyes and black pupils situated between the columns on the building façade reflect the logo of Carreras’ Craven A Virginia cigarettes.  When Carreras Cigarettes merged with Rothman and moved locations in 1959, the building was renamed Greater London House by the new owners and the Egyptian designs were removed.  Luckily in 1996, much of the building exterior was restored to its original splendor including the creation of replica black cat sculptures.  Today the building houses offices for various organizations but unfortunately, the interiors of this building remain completely modernized.

Camden is a district in north-west London that is known for a series of separate but adjoining markets including the Inverness Street Market, which sells fruits and vegetables, the Camden Lock Village, Camden Lock and Stables Markets, which sell vintage clothing, jewelry, arts and crafts as well as gifts and souvenirs.  The Stables Market is also known for its stalls that sell furniture.  Well-known personalities who lived in Camden include poet Dylan Thomas, actor Freddie Highmore and singer Amy Winehouse.  Prior to reaching the larger markets, we walked along Camden High Street and experienced the wild and wacky shopfronts that featured kitschy and colourful giant forms used to highlight what the stores sold or reflect the name of the store.  These giant shapes included running shoes, boots, an Indian elephant head, a Chinese dragon, a scorpion, a “dark angel” and more.  This was a really fun street to walk along as music blared from some of the shops.

The Camden Lock Market consists of a three-storey indoor building plus outdoor stalls lining the canal which offer crafts as well as books, second-hand clothing, jewelery, and souvenirs.  There are fast food booths and a few restaurants, bars and cafes, selling burgers, and a variety of ethnic foods including Japanese, Mexican, Middle Eastern, Indian, Mediterranean, French, and Argentinian fare.  On a hot sunny day, we eagerly bought a small jug of freshly squeezed orange juice to cool us off while we wandered around.  In terms of crafts, I particularly liked the creative alien creatures made out of wrapped coloured string that are designed and hand-crafted by Thomas Michael of  Demorriors Deviant Art.

Camden Lock Market and Village are situated by the north-east arm of the Regent’s Canal and probably named after the Hampstead Road Locks, a pair of twin, manually operated locks which the London Waterbus traverses through.  Walking further along the canal, you come across Pirate Castle, a multi-use venue for water-based activities including kayaking, canoeing and water boat rides, as well as rooms that can be rented for meetings or events.  Across from this venue on Oval Road is graffiti stencil by Banksy of a cute little girl in pigtails holding a lollipop in one hand while subversively pulling a wagon with a rocket launcher sitting upon it.  While I recently attended a gallery exhibition of Banksy's work, street art resonates so much more when it is found in situ, out in the open where it was originally intended.

The Stables Market is a network of stable blocks, horse tunnels, tack rooms, saddlers’ workshops and a horse hospital on the former historic site of Pickford Stables, which held between 400-800 horses in the 1920s.  It was converted into Camden’s largest market space, offering a variety of food, fashion, household goods, ethnically-influenced items, antiques, decorative arts and hand-made crafts, vintage clothing at RetroWorld and Time Tunnel Vintage, as well as sub-culture (goth) items at Black Rose, including coffin-shaped handbags.  There are both permanent and temporary stalls built into the tunnels, yards and large arches within railway viaducts, but representation from big chain stores is not allowed.  I purchased a pretty little “bracelet watch” for £8 that was held together by a bunch of thick coloured threads tied in knots.  I knew that it was quite flimsy and would not last very long, but decided that it would be a fun souvenir while it did.  Sadly, by the time of this writing (several months later), I had already broken it.

It was fun wandering through the tunnels and along the cobblestone streets where the yellow bricked buildings reminded me of the Distillery District in Toronto.  There are several cool sculptures located in the Stables Market including a life-sized bronze statue of Amy Winehouse, created in 2014 by British sculptor Scott Eaton as a tribute to the singer who died in 2011.  Camden was her old stomping grounds during the latter part of her life.  There are two gigantic futuristic-looking metal sculptures flanking the entrance to Cyberdog, a “trance music, cyber clothing and accessories” retail store that specializes in bright florescent dance clothing with imbedded electronic flashing lights, cyber-styled neon vinyl and rubber clothing, t-shirts, dance and club wear, and accessories including eyewear, makeup, handbags, wallets, hats, shoes, jewelry and more.  There was a large sculpture of Deadpool positioned in front of Millennia, which specializes in Sci-Fi, Comics, TV, Movie and Gaming merchandise.  Inside the shop were giant replicas of the Hulk and Ironman, which made us think of our visit to Madame Tussauds.  The products included action figures and other items from the Marvel, DC, Star Wars, Star Trek, Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings universes, as well as TV shows such as Big Bang Theory and games such as Assassin’s Creed and Minecraft.

While in the Camden area, we had lunch at Poppies Fish & Chips, a traditional fish and chips shop harking back to 1952, which is still decorated with 1950s memorabilia from the childhood of owner Pat “Pop” Newland.  Poppies offers authentic styled fish, caught and delivered daily and uses only sustainable seafood.  We started with some nice, sharp-tasting ginger beer and then shared a plate of haddock and chips, as well as the hot seafood platter, which included breaded cod nuggets, scampi, calamari rings and whitebait.  Rich also wanted to try the mushy peas, which were better and a more appetizing colour of green than what you could get back home in Toronto, but was still not my cup of tea.  While I found the fries too thick (my common beef throughout Europe), the rest of the seafood was delicious and perfectly breaded or battered.