A tiny sample

(Rogers 1991)

This image is thought to have been drawn by St Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury from 960 to 988, who is also the figure kneeling in this picture. He was also a key figure in the "renaissance of English learning" (Rogers 1991). The manuscript containing this drawing was given to the Bodleian in 1601, just before it opened. The top caption attributes it to Dunstan, although the authenticity can not be absolutely proven, and the bottom one says (in Latin), "I pray Thee, Christ, protect me, Dunstan, in Thy mercy and suffer not the dark storms to swallow me" (Hassall 1976).

(de la Mare and Barker-Benfield 1980)

This is a page from the earliest Latin translation of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, from the 12th century.

 (Rogers 1991)

The book containing this painting of Marco Polo leaving Venice combined The Romance of Alexander and Marco Polo's Travels. Created in the 15th century, it was acquired by the Bodleian around 1603-4. The donor is not recorded, so is thought to be Bodley himself. The first owner was Richard Woodville, father of Queen Elizabeth, until his execution in 1469.

 (Rogers 1991)

This was bought by Bodley, "perhaps ultimately through some sailor back from the East" (Rogers 1991), with money given to the library from the Earl of Northumberland the previous year. The writing below the page is that of Bodley recording this in the book, although he wrote is upside down at the back of the book because he did not understand it. In fact, no one at Oxford did and it was left in a cupboard uncatalogued until a Chinese scholar visited Oxford in 1687. However, acquiring material in a wide range of languages was a major priority for Bodley.

(Hassall 1976)

This is from the Ormesby Psalter, one of the most famous English illuminated manuscripts. It is a book of psalms that was extremely popular in the Middle Ages.

REFERENCES

Ormesby Psalter n.d., viewed September 30, 2010, <http://pics.livejournal.com/lapelosa/gallery/00006ypb>

de la Mare AC & Barker-Benfield BC (ed) 1980, Manuscripts at Oxford: an exhibition in memory of Richard William Hunt (1908-1979), Keeper of Western Manuscripts at the Bodleian Library Oxford, 1945-1975, on themes selected and described by some of his friends, Bodleian Library, Oxford.

Hassall AG & WO 1976, Treasures from the Bodleian Library, Gordon Fraser, London.

Rogers D 1991, The Bodleian Library and its Treasures 1320-1700, Aidan Ellis, Oxford.

The Collection

To complement the books I already had from Monash's general collection and offsite store, this week I went to their Rare Books department. I only found two books there that were really relevant to my project, but they were beautifully made books from the early 20th century. Unfortunately they were too tightly bound and fragile to scan or copy. When I originally looked at the catalogue there was a third book, but I found the relevant chapter on Google books. The Librarian had a little laugh about that, but considering that I only had my lunch breaks to read through the material there, the Google books option was much more practical, just not as fun.

Most of the material in Rare Books was about Bodley himself, of which I already have more than enough information. But it also provided some insight into the Bodleian library’s incredible collection. I love the way that poet Henry Vaughn put it in the 17th century - “Thou can’st not die! Here thou art more than safe, where every book is thy large epitaph” (Trecentale Bodleianum 1913). In the wider library, there was certainly no shortage of information to explore a collection that has been in the making for four hundred years.

The catalogue of the Bodleian collection in 1605 was one among the first in the world. It circulated widely, and was very influential. It was around 700 pages, and of course completely handwritten. The main subject concentrations at this time were theology, medicine, law and arts.

From the start, theology was a big priority in the collection. It comprised half of the collection in 1605 and 1612. In fact, there is some speculation that part of the raison d'etre of the library in the first place was as “a weapon in the struggle against Catholicism”. This same article went as far as to say that the library had an “anti-Catholic purpose” (Jackson 1969).

Bodley also had a strong disapproval of what he termed “idle bookes and riffe raffes” which included “plays, fiction and often just books in English” (Vaisey 2000). Amazingly, Shakespeare was included in this. It is thought, though, that James (the first librarian) accepted a lot of material of this persuasion into the collection without Bodley’s knowledge, and kept it out of the catalogue (Jackson 1969). Shakespeare was not officially listed on the catalogue until 1623.

Among the early acquisitions was a copy of Francis Bacon’s Advancement of Learning, presented by the author because of the “ark” he felt Bodley had built to “save learning from the deluge” (Jackson 1969).

Kenneth Graham made the Bodleian his heir after his only son died while a student of Oxford. His widow presented the library with the original manuscript of The Wind in the Willows in 1943. The income and royalties continue to greatly help the library today (The Bodleian Library and its Friends 1969).

When the Bodleian library first opened there were 2,000 books in the collection, but by 1649 this had risen to more than 12,000 (Birrell 1923). It reached one million in 1914 (University of Oxford n.d.).

The collection is not just comprised of books, though. Other items donated in the early years included a crocodile, whale, skull, mummy, skeleton, and, shockingly, the “dried body of a negro boy” (Gibson 1914). This, thankfully, is no longer part of the collection. What is, however, is the collection of hair of famous people such as writers Keats and Mary Shelley (Bennett 2000).

My next post will include scanned pictures of some of the highlights of the Bodleian’s collection.

REFERENCES

History of the Bodleian n.d., University of Oxford, viewed September 4 2010, <http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/docs/historybodleian.pdf>

  Pietas Oxoniensis: in memory of Sir Thomas Bodley, knt; and the foundation of the Bodleian Library 1902, Oxford University Press, Oxford.


The Bodleian Library and its Friends: Catalogue of an Exhibition held 1969-1970 1969, Bodleian Library, Oxford.

The First Printed Catalogue of the Bodleian Library 1605: a facsimile 1986, Clarendon Press, Oxford.

Trecentale Bodleianum: a memorial volume for the three hundredth anniversary of the public funeral of Sir Thomas Bodley 1913, Clarendon Press, Oxford.

Bennett K 2000, ‘Beyond the Book: Cultures of Collecting in Oxford Libraries and Beyond’, Bodleian Library Record, vol. 17, pp. 180-184.

Birrell A 1905, In the name of the Bodleian: and other essays, viewed September 20, 2010, 

<http://books.google.com.au/books?id=LGKdY5W3YKkC&printsec=frontcover&dq=in+the+name+of+the+bodleian&source=bl&ots=vQV6EO6sXj&sig=FwfiHUSzbQD9NXilfDU130xaQ2Y&hl=en&ei=hxijTM6w14HCcfW1Z0B&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBQQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false>

Gibson S 1914, Some Oxford Libraries, Oxford University Press, London.

Jackson SL 1969, 'Bodley and the Bodleian: Collections, Use and Administration', The Library Quarterly, vol. 39, no. 3, pp. 253-270.

Vaisey D 2000, 'The Legacy of Sir Thomas Bodley', Bodleian Library Record, vol. 17, pp. 419-429.

Bodley's Librarians

As another example of Bodley’s continuing influence on his library, to this day the Head Librarian is also called Bodley’s Librarian.

This was not an easy job for the first Librarian, Thomas James, with Bodley looking over his shoulder. Bodley believed that the Librarian should devote all their time and energy to the library, and that “marriage is too full of domestical impeachements” to allow that (Vaisey 2000). James did eventually got him to relent, but the Librarian after James, John Rous, was partly chosen because of his batchelor status, and also because “not being of orders, he was unlikely ever to become a pluralist” (Craster 1954-61).

The requirements for the Librarian, in Bodley’s own words, were that they were “noted and known for a diligent Student … Trusty, Active and Discreet; a Graduat also, and a linguist” (Jackson 1969).

He regarded the role of the Librarian “somewhat as the book selector”, but more so “the registrar of donations, arranger, and cataloguer”, and the servant of patrons “skilled in classical languages and in finding what they wanted; as defender of the holding and furnishings against losses to man or lower forms of life but not a maker of decisions about the collection or premises”. James did all this for little more than a shilling more per week than the average carpenter wage of the time. His starting wage was 8 2/3 shillings per week (Jackson 1969).

Thomas James’ catalogues, published in 1605 and 1620, “became standards by which all others were measured for at least a century”(Vaisey 2000). Below is a scan from the front page of the first edition. I plan to revisit this when I look at the Bodleian’s collection later, but as it is all in Latin, I can only research what is written about it.

Another lasting legacy of James’ was that he gave Bodley the idea to set up a legal deposit agreement with the Stationers’ Company in London for books published in the United Kingdom (Vaisey 2000). This was the first of its kind in the world, but the practice continues today.

The role of Bodley’s Librarian is currently held by Sarah Thomas. She is the first woman and, as an American, the first non-British person in the job.

REFERENCES

‘Bodleian Library’ 2010, Wikipedia, viewed September 4 2010, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodleian_Library>

The First Printed Catalogue of the Bodleian Library 1605: a facsimile 1986, Clarendon Press, Oxford.

Craster E 1954-61, ‘John Rous, Bodley’s Librarian 1620-52’, Bodleian Library Record, vol. 5-6, pp. 130-146.

Jackson SL 1969, ‘Bodley and the Bodleian: Collections, Use and Administration’, The Library Quarterly, vol. 39, no. 3, pp. 253-270.

Vaisey D 2000, ‘The Legacy of Sir Thomas Bodley’, Bodleian Library Record, vol. 17, pp. 419-429.

Sir Thomas Bodley

Sir Thomas Bodley was the son of a Protestant family that had to leave the United Kingdom during the reign of Queen Mary. They returned when Sir Thomas was a teenager, in time for him to attend Oxford.

He graduated with a BA in 1563, in 1564 was appointed Oxford’s first lecturer in Greek, then went on to serve in various other positions including Dean and Garden Master (Clennell 2000).

Bodley was clearly an outstanding scholar, especially in languages. Even before he studied at Oxford he was fluent in Greek, Hebrew and Latin. During further travel in Europe in the 1570s, he acquired Italian, French and Spanish. Indeed, it was this expertise that led to him working for the British Secret Service throughout Europe during this time.

In 1584 Bodley was elected as a Member of Parliament back in England, but was soon back in diplomacy, and in 1588 carried letters written by the Queen herself to royalty in France and Denmark.

Bodley married a wealthy widow, Ann Ball, in 1586. This is where a lot of his money came from, and enabled him to embark on his next project.

He tired of diplomacy and politics by the end of the 16^th century, and decided:

“at the last to set up my Staffe at the Library doore in Oxford; being thoroughly perswaded, that in my solitude and surcease from the Common-wealth affaires, I could not busy my selfe to better purpose, then by reducing that place (which then in every part lay ruined and wast) to the publique use of Students”. (Clennell 2000)

From the time the Bodleian opened, until Bodley’s death in 1613:

“the library was, to an extent perhaps unique among such enterprises, identified with the Founder, with his breadth of vision, encyclopaedic collecting, supervision of the minutest detail of the organisation, his genius for public relations, and the singleminded application of his wealth…”.(Clennell 2000)

Even when he did pass away from a long illness, he still ensured that “his” library would be well provided for into the future. He never had any children, so the Bodleian was really his heir. To quote his will, his major concern was “the perpetuall preservation support and maintenance of the Publique Librarie in ye Universitie of Oxon”, saying that this “dothe greatly surpasse all my other worldly cares”. (Vaisey 2000)

Yet another contribution to the literary world was Bodley’s autobiography. Written in 1609, and published in 1647, it was the first autobiography ever written in English. I was lucky enough to obtain a copy of this from Monash’s offsite store.

I have been doing some research on the Internet, but have found it nowhere near as successful as my first search through the Matheson library. I did find some brief information on the Bodleian Libraries website (see the link to the left). I searched Monash’s electronic holdings of various library journals, but only found one relevant article.

I was quite surprised to also find footage on YouTube. This will come in especially useful when I'm researching the architecture, but here is something else I found.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNUuiVXYpQw 

REFERENCES

Bodley, T, c1906, The Life of Sir Thomas Bodley: written by himself together with the first draft of the statutes of the Public Library at Oxon, Boston, Merrymount Press.

Clennell, WH 2000, ‘Bodley before the Bodleian’, Bodleian Library Record, vol. 17, pp. 371-383.



Gogan M 2006, Bodleian Library - a Virtual Experience', November 9, viewed Sepember 4 2010, <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNUuiVXYpQw>.

Vaisey D 2000, ‘The Legacy of Sir Thomas Bodley’, Bodleian Library Record, vol. 17, pp. 419-429.

In the Beginning

The first library at Oxford University began in 1320, but this was superseded in 1488 by Duke Humfrey’s library, so called because Humfrey, Duke of Gloucester (Henry V’s younger brother), gave a collection of more than 280 manuscripts to them. This library survived until 1550, when King Edward VI passed anti-Catholic legislation, seeing the library purged of what was deemed “necessarily Popish” material (Granniss 1906), or “superstitious books and images” (University of Oxford n.d.).

They could not afford to replace the offending material, so the university basically did without until Sir Thomas Bodley came along in 1598. He started the library with 2500 books, some of which were given by himself and some by other donors. The Bodleian library as it is now was opened in November 1602. I will write more about how Bodley came to be in this position in my next post.

It was first called the Public Library at Oxford on the foundation of Sir Thomas Bodley, but by 1605 had been printed as Bibliotheca Bodleiana and was known just as “Bodley” in the 1660s (Vaisey 2000).

Although it was classed as a “public” library, it was only open to members of the University of Oxford community, Lords of Parliament and their sons, those that had donated to the library, with “any other person, for the furtherance of his studie in whatsoever science … may at any time obteine … freedome of recourse” (Vaisey 2000). They have also never lent out their material. Even King Charles I was refused this privilege in 1645 (University of Oxford n.d.).

A quick note on the spelling of quotes on this blog – these are direct quotes from the 17^th century, so the spelling is different to today. I did double check spelling.

My first stop when starting my research was the catalogue at Monash University, Clayton. Just from here, I found a number of extremely relevant books. Some of these were at the offsite store but, being a staff member, I just ordered them to be delivered to that branch I work at. They arrived within a week.

My best find was that the Matheson library holds paper copies of the Bodleian library’s journal. It was called the Bodleian Quarterly Record from the start in 1914 to 1938, then the Bodleian Library Record from then on. Monash holds all the issues from 1994 to 2003. I spent a very relaxing Saturday afternoon hidden away, flipping through these.

My search through these journals was so successful that most of the information for my first couple of posts is garnered from there. Later, especially when I’m looking at the collection of the Bodleian, I will be concentrating more on books.

REFERENCES

History of the Bodleian n.d., University of Oxford, viewed September 4 2010, <http:www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/docs/historybodleian.pdf>

Granniss, RS, ‘Preface’, in Bodley, T, c1906, The Life of Sir Thomas Bodley: written by himself together with the first draft of the statutes of the Public Library at Oxon, Boston, Merrymount Press, pp. 9-29.

Vaisey D 2000, ‘The Legacy of Sir Thomas Bodley’, Bodleian Library Record, vol. 17, pp. 419-429.

A Lesson Learnt

As soon as I read the description of this assignment, I knew I was going to like it. Research is my thing. So I launched straight in.

Within a week I had a pile of books and journal articles in my lounge room. But I also had a busy job and a few other assignments due earlier to concentrate on.

The next thing I knew I had a weekend to do what were supposed to be three weekly posts, and more information than I even knew to wade through before I could even start them.

I survived, but a definite lesson in research planning was learnt in the process.

Following this will be my first couple of posts detailing my research findings so far, after which they will - all going to my new plan - be every week.

Research Brief

This blog is part of a research project I am doing for a Diploma of Library/ Information Services.

The subject of my research is the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford.

I want to know all about the history of this institution - the founder himself, the librarians, the collection and something about the amazing buildings that this library is housed in. I also want to try to find out how a library that has been around since the early 1600s continues to develop and remain relevant in a constantly changing information landscape.

Over the next few weeks I will be attempting to uncover this information using a variety of resources, including books, journals and electronic resources.

You will see my progess, as it happens, right here.