Use BBC.com or the new BBC App to listen to BBC podcasts, Radio 4 and the World Service outside the UK.

Find out how to listen to other BBC stations

Early Versions

Important manuscripts in the British Library

World Service,8 episodes

Episodes

ListGrid

Beowulf
The history of the epic Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf
02 Feb 1995,13 mins
Codex Sinaiticus
The text of Codex Sinaiticus, a hand-written ancient copy of the Greek Bible
10 Feb 1995,13 mins
The Lindisfarne Gospels
The history of one of the most beautiful medieval books in Britain
14 Feb 1995,13 mins
Leonardo da Vinci
Why were Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks written backwards?
17 Feb 1995,13 mins
Diamond Sutra
The remarkable discovery of the world's earliest printed book
17 Feb 1995,13 mins
The Tracking Satyrs
The recovery and restoration of Sophocles' lost play The Tracking Satyrs
28 Feb 1995,13 mins
Sumer Is Icumen In
How did a secular song end up being written and preserved by medieval monks?
11 Dec 1995,11 mins
Elizabeth I
Why didn't Queen Elizabeth l marry? A handwritten speech offers clues as to why
22 Dec 1995,12 mins