I went yesterday to the British Library near St Pancras railway station following seeing a segment about their latest exhibition on the previous week's "Culture Show" on BBC2.
In one room (albeit a very large one!) the British Library has gathered what the curator deems to be the most important volumes of science fiction from the first century AD to modern day and collected them with brief synopses into categories such as alternate histories of our planet, utopian societies, alternate realities, parallel universes, iconic monsters and robots, and visions of other worlds.
Dotted around these exhibits are a few other curiosities such as a TARDIS, a toy Dalek and a model Robbie the Robot... but the most interesting is a 'steampunk' sculpture of K-9 (Doctor Who's robot dog).
There is for sale in the museum shop a plethora of key science fiction texts, exhibition fridge magnets, badges, postcards and most importantly Mike Ashley's book to accompany the exhibition.
The exhibition runs from 20th May 2011 to 25th September 2011 and is certainly worth a visit if you are a science fiction fan. Although not that interactive apart from a few audio clips, there is plenty to read on the captions which will keep you informed and entertained for an hour or two.
Below are the exhibition's flyer and a few postcard images...
