Bodleian LibraryBesprekingen

The catalog of an exhibition that I'd certainly have liked to see, a selection of books, manuscripts, and ephemera relating to the Bodleian Library, with specific emphasis on gifts from the library's friends. A wonderful collection

The Contents page lists eleven chapter headings yet only one, the first, has the correct page number. Why don't publishers check these things?

These are the very words of the bookseller, Church Green Books, from whom I acquired this jolly good book: 'Bound in vellum with false raised bands, a little dust soiled but overall a sound, clean binding. Presentation bookplate bearing the inscription "A copy of the last book produced under my management. Presented to F.S. Thornton by Henry Frowde, April 1913".Previous owner's name ticket on front pastedown, otherwise a clean copy. xii, 175 pp. Contains the life of Thomas Bodley by himself, extracts from his will, a letter to the Vice Chancellor of the University and other writings including the Order for the Memorial service'. Lots of the library management advice still applies.

Very interesting postcards with explanation

'The John Johnson Collection: catalogue of an exhibition' (Bodleian Library, 1971) is fascinating. I had forgotten that in the 1930s some ephemera was discarded by the Bodleian. On page 12 of the catalogue there is a reference to a statement in the Bodleian Library Record for October 1938. These words appear under the heading Elimination: 'When a valueless item offends in both these respects (bulk and the time taken in revising catalogue entries), it is only reasonable to grant to the Library authorities the power to 'liquidate' it'. The good news is that some of this ephemera came back through acquisition of the John Johnson Collection. One item I feel I must see is a Spurs v Pompey football programme for the 19th March 1928 match. I am intrigued by the tantalising caption: 'Fred Perry's cartoon on the front of this Official Programme proved a little unfortunate, for Portsmouth, in danger of relegation, beat Tottenham by three goals to nil' (page 59).

I came across a most unusual book. It had no author, editor, or translator, but it did have notes and an index of nearly 30 pages. The Book Lovers’ Anthology found its way to publication when compiled by the Bodliean Library at the University of Oxford. So we have no plot, no pictures, no characters – except for the thoughts and fancies of many noteworthy literary figures dating back to the ancient Greeks. Therefore, all I can do is offer some tempting tidbits to make you smile, laugh, and occasionally groan.

In a letter to Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert Southey wrote, “Talk of the happiness of getting a great prize in the lottery! What is that to opening a box of books! The joy upon lifting up the cover must be something like what we shall feel when Peter the Porter opens the doors upstairs, and says, ‘Please do walk in, sir.’ That I shall never be paid for my time and labour according to the current value of time and labour, is tolerably certain; but if anyone should offer me £10,000 to forgo that labour, I should bid him and his money go to the devil, for twice the sum could not purchase me half the enjoyment. It will be a great delight to me in the next world, to take a fly and visit these old worthies, who are my only society here, and to tell them what excellent company I found them here at the lakes of Cumberland, two centuries after they had been dead and turned to dust. In plain truth, I exist more among the dead than the living, and think more about them, and, perhaps, feel more about them” (4).

Not all the contributors are well-known. C.C. Colton, and English Vicar, wrote, “We should choose our books as we would our companions, for their sterling and intrinsic merit” (6). From this side of the pond, Washington Irving wrote in his Sketch Book, “The scholar only knows how dear these silent, yet eloquent, companions of pure thoughts and innocent hours become in the season of adversity” (9). Ralph Waldo Emerson notes, “It is remarkable, the character of the pleasure we derive from the best books. They impress us with the conviction that one nature wrote, and the same reads. We read the verses of one of the great English poets, of Chaucer, of Marvell, of Dryden, with the most modern joy – with a pleasure, I mean, which is in great part caused by the abstraction of all time from their verses. There is some awe mixed with the joy of our surprise, when this poet, who lived in some past world, two or three hundred years ago, says that which lies close to my own soul, that which I also had wellnigh thought and said” (26).

Robert Lowe, Lord Sherbrooke spoke at the Croyden Science and Art Schools in 1869. He exhorted the students to, “Cultivate above all things a taste for reading. There is no pleasure so cheap, so innocent, and so remunerative as the real, hearty pleasure and taste for reading. It does not come to everyone naturally. Some people take to it naturally, and others do not, but I advise you to cultivate it, and endeavor to promote it in your minds. In order to do that, you should read what amuses you and pleases you. You should not begin with difficult works, because, if you do, you find the pursuit dry and tiresome. I would even say to you, read novels, read frivolous books, read anything that will amuse you and give you a taste for reading” (35). I have given this exact same advice to my students, who – in increasing numbers – do not read.

So thank you Emerson, and Voltaire, Jane Austen, George Eliot, Samuel Johnson, Shakespeare, Dickens, Swift, Laurence Sterne, Milton, Tennyson, Thackery, and many dozens more. The Book Lovers’ Anthology: A Compendium of Writing about Books, Readers & Libraries compiled by the Bodliean Library in Oxford, England should not be read like a novel. Browse through and zero in on a favorite writer. Open the volume to random pages and find all the wonders and delights of reading and books you share with these giants of literature. 5 stars.

--Chiron, 5/10/15

An interesting overview of the sorts of postcards available from the First World War. Some are quite brutal and graphic. I couldn't image them being sent home from the front lines. Others quite humorous. An important collection.

A collection of writings for and against the Slave Trade at the time when it was a major part of British trade, this book shows how the slave trade debate foreshadows our way of creating national discussion about important issues through newspaper articles, pamphlets and speeches. The book demonstrates how our political and religious speakers, along with ordinary tradesmen or the concerned public discussed issues such as the precedent for slavery in religious history, ways to make the slave trade 'fair', and how the slave trade underpinned or undermined British economy, national standing next to France and the men of our Navy and merchant ships. Understandably, the anti-slavery articles far outweigh the pro-slavery articles, and the whole collection represents a toe dipped in the complex reasoning that underpinned years of discussion, limits and legislations that preceded the abolition of the slave-trade.

The real draw of the book is the personal aspect, the inhumanities suffered by people involved in the trade, primarily slaves, but also those free white people who were involved with and damaged by the slave trade. The other human aspect is that of the campaigners who worked on, wrote about and debated the issues with compassion and diligence, sometimes without ever seeing the results themselves.

Not an easy read, but a fascinating one. An invaluable insight for anyone interested in or studying this subject.

It is really impossible to rate something like this. I picked it up long ago at a book sale in a town that had a lot of military families. It even includes sightseeing tips: "There is tiger and elephant hunting in the high plateaus, and sunning and bathing at the quiet white-sand beaches along the country's thousand miles of coastline."

The cover alone is priceless. And I guess, almost 50 years later, some of those tourist attractions are open again, so maybe I can put this to good use someday.

A hand-written note on the inside says "Dec 62".

This is a cute little book I purchased at Oxford University in the gift shop. It is historical in its reflections of what makes a good wife. Although not it's intentions, it is humourous as it starkly contrasts today's average wife and the unrealistic expectations of women in the 1930s - 50s. However also makes me wonder what it would have been like in the days when men were truly masculine and women were truly feminine.

It was great to be there and be part of this quatercentenary. It is all encapsulated in the title page - wordy title, long sub-title, lovely logo by David Gentleman, loads of different fonts, scholar in his heaven.