Karl Marx Memorial Library

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  • Address
    37a Clerkenwell Green, Clerkenwell, EC1 0DU
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  • Phone
    7253 1485
  • Website
  • Transport
    underground rail: Farringdon

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Lonely Planet review

Clerkenwell has quite a radical history. An area of Victorian-era slums (the so-called Rookery), it was settled by mainly Italian immigrants in the 19th century. Modern Italy's founding father Garibaldi dropped by in 1836, and during his European exile, Lenin edited 17 editions of the Russian-language Bolshevik newspaper Iskra (Spark) from here in 1902-03.

Copies of the newspaper have been preserved in today's library, along with a host of other socialist literature. Nonmembers are free to look around between and , but you need to become a member (around £10 per year, around £6 day fee but usually valid for up to a week) to use the library or borrow any of its 150,000 books.