Day 85 - Discover the treasures of one of the world's oldest libraries

While Phil headed off to the environs of the London area, I travelled with him on the train as far as Oxford. Much-needed hair salon visit for me, but in actuality a chance to squeeze an extra hour out of the day to have a meander around Oxford and see what new discovery was awaiting me.

Today it was the Weston Library. The Weston is part of the Bodleian Library system at Oxford -- the largest library system in the UK. In addition to the 30 major libraries across Oxford, there are other research libraries, and faculty, department and institute libraries. In total, the system houses more than 100 libraries, holding "more than 12 million printed items, over 80,000 e-journals and outstanding special collections including rare books and manuscripts, classical papyri, maps, music, art and printed ephemera."

The beautiful entrance to the Bodleian Library.
Source: www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk

The Weston is across from the old Bodleian Library, which has a fascinating history. You can tour this library, which I had the pleasure of doing one sunny afternoon while Phil was presenting a paper at a conference in one of the Colleges here a few years back. I highly recommend it to all my book lover friends out there (which is almost all of you...like minds and all). I won't get into the history here, so as not to spoil your visit (oh, you will visit). However, if you can't wait to find out more, the Library website offers a video and page detailing the history. And if you want to imagine yourself working in one of the libraries, they even offer live "sound" feeds of the various sites (I suppose so you can listen to find out how often the librarian hisses "shhhhhhhh!" at people).

The Weston Library. Source: www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk

Today as I was passing the Weston Library (the new library built to accommodate the growing Bodleian collection), I noticed a sign for an exhibition called "Designing English." Couldn't resist. However, although the listed times indicated it should be open, the entrance to this exhibition was blocked by one of those red tapes used to gently tell you to "back off." As luck would have it, another exhibition beckoned in a nearby room: Bodleian Treasures. The exhibition of 21 displays pairs up items. Their description explains it best: "Some pairs show the influence of one book on another; some explore a similar theme, evoke a particular period, or provide a visual dimension to the display; others consider the very idea of a ‘treasure’. Rare books are joined together with manuscripts while modern ephemera sit alongside 400-year-old rolls, drawing out themes and unique stories that bring the pairs together." You can view all of them here.

My favourites:

• pages from Handel's Messiah showing his own handwritten score and notes; 
• one of J.R.R. Tolkein's lovingly handwritten Father Christmas stories he wrote each year for his family; 
• absolutely exquisite and intricate handpainted drawings of tropical birds created before the age of photography; and 
• the first folio of Shakespeare's collected works.

So, go grab a cup of tea and a biscuit and allow yourself to go on a tour of this priceless, awe-inducing collection, then let me know which ones were your favourites.