20 years ago today, in 1997, Huw Millington created his first LEGO set guide online, laying the foundation for what would become Brickset’s database. The database is arguably the most complete, thorough data archive on all things LEGO available online today, and has certainly come a long way.
Initially just an online copy of a LEGO catalog, the database has grown and evolved to include sets, prices, pieces, colors, photos and more. Brickset posted a look back at various versions of the database over time, which is worth a read and a good chuckle, if you remember what old HTML web pages used to look like (shudder). If you want to know more about Brickset’s past, check out this article Huw wrote in 2014: Brickset through the ages.

TBB has a great relationship with Brickset, and we’re honored to have Huw and his assistants as part of the LEGO community. So how does one properly express gratitude to such an amazing site? Through poetry, of course, and by borrowing heavily from fellow brit and poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s famous sonnet:

How do I love thee, Brickset database? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height of a 2×4 brick.
My searches can reach, and find that part that clicks
For the means of winning the set collection race.
I love thee to the level of every day’s
Most quiet need, by sun and moonlight.
I love thee freely, as I look up a set price.
I love thee purely, your color chart I praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs without thee, and with my dark age.
I love thee with a love never to lose
With my lost parts. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my AFOL life; an idea of Huw’s,
I shall but love thee database until death.