9781851242528
Distributed for Bodleian Library Publishing
Bodleianalia
Curious Facts about Britain’s Oldest University Library
Which is the smallest book in the Bodleian Library? How many miles of shelving are there in its Book Storage Facility? What is fasciculing? Who complained when their secret pen name was revealed in the library’s catalog? Why did the library refuse to lend a book to King Charles I? The answers to these questions are just a few of the remarkable bits of bibliophile trivia uncovered by Claire Cock-Starkey and Violet Moller in this intriguing collection of curious facts about one of Britain’s oldest university library.
With more than twelve million items and many priceless treasures, including the Gutenberg Bible, Shakespeare’s First Folio, five thirteenth-century copies of Magna Carta, and Tolkien’s original watercolors for The Hobbit, the Bodleian also boasts many strange events and eccentric characters through the ages that contributed to its world-class renown today. From deep within the archives, Cock-Starkey and Moller have compiled a great many lesser-known facts about the Bodleian Library’s fascinating history, organizing them into easily browsable lists, factoids, and statistics.
With more than twelve million items and many priceless treasures, including the Gutenberg Bible, Shakespeare’s First Folio, five thirteenth-century copies of Magna Carta, and Tolkien’s original watercolors for The Hobbit, the Bodleian also boasts many strange events and eccentric characters through the ages that contributed to its world-class renown today. From deep within the archives, Cock-Starkey and Moller have compiled a great many lesser-known facts about the Bodleian Library’s fascinating history, organizing them into easily browsable lists, factoids, and statistics.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Duke Humfrey’s Library, Arts End & Selden End
Prime Ministers’ Papers
The Highwayman and the Library
Bodley’s Librarians
A Memorial Concerning the State of the Bodleian Library
The Bodleian Oath
Fire Prevention
Reader Numbers
Shelfmarks Explained
The Nine Muses of the Clarendon Building
Bodleian Libraries by Size of Collection
Legal Deposit Libraries
Impressions of the Eighteenth-Century Bodleian
Bodleian Treasures: Codex Mendoza
Opie Collection
Thomas Bodley’s Stipulations
The Bodleian in Fiction
Bodley’s Will
Early Donations to the Library
Bodleian Treasures: The Gutenberg Bible
Journals, Newspapers and Magazines
Thomas James’s Register
Bodleian Treasures: The First Trade Agreement between Japan and England
The First Shelfmarks
The Frieze
A Year in the Bodleian in Numbers
Georgian Collection
Bodleian Treasures: Shakespeare’s First Folio
Books in Other Languages
Cleaning Rota for 1904
Bodleian Treasures: Don Quixote
The Bodleian in Film and Television
The Book Storage Facility
Bodleian Treasures: The Bay Psalm Book
Cataloguing Carroll
Bodleian Superlatives
Weekly Tasks from 1919
Catalogues
Conserving Books
The Divinity School
Size of the Collection
The Transit of Venus
The Rawlinson Collection
Inscriptions and Statues of Note
Traditional Subjects
Gough Collection
Bodleian Treasures: Tolkien’s Illustrations
Opening Hours
Bodleian Treasures: Jane Austen’s Early Writings
The Curators
Library Firsts
Most Popular Electronic Journals
Bodleian Treasures: St Dunstan’s Classbook
The Bodleian during the Civil War
Harding Collection
Bodleian Treasures: Magna Carta
Bodleian Libraries Online
Some Benefactions of Note
Banquets at the Bodleian
Staff Numbers
Bodleian Treasures: Wind of Change Speech
Laudian Collection
Collection of Curiosities
The Douce Collection
Bodley Boys
The Radcliffe Camera
The Tanner Collection
The Bodleian during World War I
Friends of the Bodleian
Bodleian Treasures: Pliny’s Naturalis Historia
The New Bodleian
Book Classification
John Johnson Collection of Printed Ephemera
The Weston Library
The Bodleian in World War II
Vetera Shelfmarks
Book Sizes
Bodleian Chair
Phi Collection
First Female Employee
Closing Routine
Duke Humfrey’s Night
Impressions of the Nineteenth-Century Bodleian
Digitization
Artefacts Found during New Bodleian Demolition
The Bodleian Pin Collection
Some Shelfmarks of Note
Incunabula
The Library Today in Numbers
Bodleian Treasures: Handel’s Messiah
The Tower of the Five Orders
The Picture Gallery
Bodleian Treasures: Boccaccio’s Decameron
Library Spaces
The Bodley Medal
The ‘No-Lending’ Rule
Institutional Repository
Fasciculing
Early Book Conservation
Bodleian Treasures: The Gough Map
The Great Gates
Monthly Tasks 1919
The Gladstone Link
The 12 Millionth Book
Bodleian Treasures: Vernon Manuscript
Exhibitions and Engagement
Colour-Coding Books
Heating (or Lack Thereof) in the Library
Colours for Binding Fifteenth-Century Books
Fetching Books in 1926
The Conveyor
Sanskrit
Thomas Bodley in His Own Words
Bodleian Library Timeline of Key Events
Further Reading
Index
Duke Humfrey’s Library, Arts End & Selden End
Prime Ministers’ Papers
The Highwayman and the Library
Bodley’s Librarians
A Memorial Concerning the State of the Bodleian Library
The Bodleian Oath
Fire Prevention
Reader Numbers
Shelfmarks Explained
The Nine Muses of the Clarendon Building
Bodleian Libraries by Size of Collection
Legal Deposit Libraries
Impressions of the Eighteenth-Century Bodleian
Bodleian Treasures: Codex Mendoza
Opie Collection
Thomas Bodley’s Stipulations
The Bodleian in Fiction
Bodley’s Will
Early Donations to the Library
Bodleian Treasures: The Gutenberg Bible
Journals, Newspapers and Magazines
Thomas James’s Register
Bodleian Treasures: The First Trade Agreement between Japan and England
The First Shelfmarks
The Frieze
A Year in the Bodleian in Numbers
Georgian Collection
Bodleian Treasures: Shakespeare’s First Folio
Books in Other Languages
Cleaning Rota for 1904
Bodleian Treasures: Don Quixote
The Bodleian in Film and Television
The Book Storage Facility
Bodleian Treasures: The Bay Psalm Book
Cataloguing Carroll
Bodleian Superlatives
Weekly Tasks from 1919
Catalogues
Conserving Books
The Divinity School
Size of the Collection
The Transit of Venus
The Rawlinson Collection
Inscriptions and Statues of Note
Traditional Subjects
Gough Collection
Bodleian Treasures: Tolkien’s Illustrations
Opening Hours
Bodleian Treasures: Jane Austen’s Early Writings
The Curators
Library Firsts
Most Popular Electronic Journals
Bodleian Treasures: St Dunstan’s Classbook
The Bodleian during the Civil War
Harding Collection
Bodleian Treasures: Magna Carta
Bodleian Libraries Online
Some Benefactions of Note
Banquets at the Bodleian
Staff Numbers
Bodleian Treasures: Wind of Change Speech
Laudian Collection
Collection of Curiosities
The Douce Collection
Bodley Boys
The Radcliffe Camera
The Tanner Collection
The Bodleian during World War I
Friends of the Bodleian
Bodleian Treasures: Pliny’s Naturalis Historia
The New Bodleian
Book Classification
John Johnson Collection of Printed Ephemera
The Weston Library
The Bodleian in World War II
Vetera Shelfmarks
Book Sizes
Bodleian Chair
Phi Collection
First Female Employee
Closing Routine
Duke Humfrey’s Night
Impressions of the Nineteenth-Century Bodleian
Digitization
Artefacts Found during New Bodleian Demolition
The Bodleian Pin Collection
Some Shelfmarks of Note
Incunabula
The Library Today in Numbers
Bodleian Treasures: Handel’s Messiah
The Tower of the Five Orders
The Picture Gallery
Bodleian Treasures: Boccaccio’s Decameron
Library Spaces
The Bodley Medal
The ‘No-Lending’ Rule
Institutional Repository
Fasciculing
Early Book Conservation
Bodleian Treasures: The Gough Map
The Great Gates
Monthly Tasks 1919
The Gladstone Link
The 12 Millionth Book
Bodleian Treasures: Vernon Manuscript
Exhibitions and Engagement
Colour-Coding Books
Heating (or Lack Thereof) in the Library
Colours for Binding Fifteenth-Century Books
Fetching Books in 1926
The Conveyor
Sanskrit
Thomas Bodley in His Own Words
Bodleian Library Timeline of Key Events
Further Reading
Index