This is a playful and provocative collection of 365 extracts sourced from the British Library's collections. Selected to challenge and inform the reader, each excerpt is accompanied by the unique shelfmark number of the source publication. Encompassing a wide range of great works in literature, poetry, essays and letters, historical and scientific treatises, and including beloved and popular authors as well as controversial writers, each extract will encourage enquiry and stimulate the imagination. Beautifully designed and illustrated with the Library's collections, with one extract for every day of the year, this book can be read as a thought to start the day or can be dipped into for inspiration at random.

Ian Sansom is Director of the Oscar Wilde Centre, Trinity College Dublin. He is the author of more than 14 books and has written on a variety of topics for the Guardian, the TLS and the Irish Times. He is also a regular broadcaster on BBC Radio 4 and Radio 3.