Pictures of glamorous holidays next to ‘likes’ from friends may seem like the stuff of Facebook and Instagram, but the craze predates social media by 400 years.

The British Library is to display its collection of alba amicorum, or ‘friendship books’, in which wealthy people boasted about their wide social circle.

The pictures are pasted rather than posted - illustrations of parties and feasts, or foreign travel, with Venice particularly popular.

Going to Venice was “the thing to do” in Shakespearean times, according to Alexandra Ault, curator of Western manuscripts. She likened the illustrations of Venetian gondolas to “that image of knees on a sunlounger” which appears on most social media feeds as a subtle way of bragging about a holiday.

The earliest books in the Library's collection date from around 1605. Men and women carried the books around with them as they travelled, and friends were invited to write messages.

Some copied snippets of music, writing “listen to this and think of me”. Others wrote: “You are my really good friend,” or, “I’m giving you this picture as a testament to our friendship”. If someone encountered a ‘celebrity’ of the day they would get an autograph - one book in the collection, belonging to a Scottish man named Thomas Cuming, included the signature of Charles I.