World Book Day is a celebration of authors, illustrators, books and, most importantly, reading.

In fact it is the biggest celebration of its kind, designated by UNESCO as a worldwide celebration of books and reading, and marked in over 100 countries all over the world.

Once again Tenby Museum and Art Gallery is playing its part in these national celebrations by opening its fantastic research library to the public on Thursday, March 6.

From 10 am to 4 pm, the library is open without an appointment and, with the assistance of museum staff and volunteers, visitors will have the chance to browse the collection of books.

And what a collection it is. There are books on snails, saints and sculpture; there are works on butterflies, birds and boats; there are tomes on tales, traditions and trains; there are pages dedicated to the various histories of the town; there are beautifully illustrated books detailing geology, archaeology and conchology; there are books on art, artists and arithmetic.

The library runs the alphabet of fascinating subjects. There are rare books by John Speed and Charles Norris, Edward Laws and Richard Fenton, Giraldus Cambrensis and Robert Recorde, the Tenby born mathematician whom we can proudly claim invented the equals (=) sign in his work The Whetstone of Witte - there is a copy of that in the museum library too!