Blazing Bookshelf reader Amanda S. has shared with us some personal photos from her trip to England, home to Shakespeare, Austen, Brontë, Orwell, and so many others.


From the British Library (which is utterly gorgeous), a photo of a painting of the Shire, by JRR Tolkien.

“The world is indeed full of peril and in it there are many dark places.
But still there is much that is fair. And though in all lands, love is now
mingled with grief, it still grows, perhaps, the greater.” 

-Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

And this one... a photo of the ORIGINAL manuscript from JK Rowling's Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. 

For a quote from JK Rowling, however, we had to go to a different book, Harry Pottter and the Chamber of Secrets:

"That's what Hermione does. When in doubt, go to the library." 

One of our favorite things (of many) about the Harry Potter series is the reliance the characters have on books and the library.

Long live the library!