Beowulf 1000: A celebration of a heroic poem is at the Sir John Ritblat Gallery of the British Library through January 31.

Accompanying the Beowulf manuscript will be; Seamus Heaney’s typewritten drafts of his translation of Beowulf, with the author’s annotations, and one or more of Michael Foreman’s original illustrations for Michael Morpurgo’s children’s version of the poem.

The story tells of the valour and great deeds of the warrior Beowulf as he struggles with the vile monster Grendel and other supernatural beasts. It remains immensely popular to this day, regularly retold in modern translation, in films, on stage or in comic books. At the same time it exists as a literary masterpiece that gives real insight into the life and social structures of the early medieval world.