Bodleian Library Souvenir Guide

by Geoffrey Tyack

One of the oldest libraries in Britain, the Bodleian Library has been in continuous use since its founding in 1602 by Sir Thomas Bodley. This richly illustrated guidebook is perfect for architectural aficionados or those planning a trip. A short introduction that gives the story of the library’s founding is followed by a succinct guide to the buildings found there, from Duke Humfrey’s Library to the Divinity School, Convocation House, Schools Quadrangle, Clarendon Building, and Radcliffe Camera.
           
Bodleian Library Souvenir Guide covers more than four centuries of the library’s most celebrated architecture, taking a look back at the contributions of famous architects like Sir Christopher Wren and Nicholas Hawksmoor. In addition to the buildings themselves, the book illustrates some of the Bodleian’s most exquisite stonemasonry and statuary found there. It also provides translations to the intriguing Latin inscriptions that adorn many of the buildings and mark key moments in the library’s history. The book is brought up-to-date with a description of subsequent renovations, including the addition of the state-of-the-art Weston Library to house the library’s special collections.

Genres: Nonfiction

56 pages, Paperback

First published November 15, 2014

Reviews

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite a neat little guide, and gorgeous pictures since you can't take any when you go on a tour. It's interesting to see how the library kept on expanding as the demand to store more books just kept on growing. Can't we all bookworms relate?
I felt it focused quite a lot on the architecture, which is probably fine for people interested in such details, but it got a little heavy for me.

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

This visitor's guide is worth it for the photographs alone. The detailed descriptions of the architecture make me wish I was back at the Bodleian taking the tour again so I could catch what I missed.

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Bodleian Library is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, and is housed at the University of Oxford. It was established in 1602 and holds over 13 million printed items! At the rate of one book per day, it would take a reader 600 lifetimes to completely read the collection. While visiting Oxford, we got to spend time in the Divinity School room of the Bodleian Library - which was used for the filming location of the dancing lesson in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire! This book had a lot of information about the many buildings that house the library, most interestingly the Radcliffe Camera.