Treasures of the Bodleian, a major exhibition highlighting the rarest documents owned by the library, has just opened.
Treasures of the Bodleian, a major exhibition highlighting the rarest documents owned by the library, has just opened.
Highlights of the exhibition include the 14th-century manuscript, Marco Polo’s travels, an illuminated Hebrew Bible from 1476, the Laxton Map of the sole surviving open-field system in Britain, Shakespeare’s First Folio from 1623, and part of Jane Austen’s first draft of her novel The Watsons.
The exhibition also features twentieth-century items such as telegrams from the Titanic and the handwritten original of Wilfred Owen’s Anthem for Dead Youth (1917).
The chance to see so many unique documents is a draw for Oxford students.
Corpus Christi historian Joe Rolleston said, “I’m definitely planning on going. It’s almost surprising that something like the Magna Carta or Shakespeare’s First Folio, which are so influential and important that they’re almost legendary, actually exist. The possibility of actually seeing these things is incredibly exciting. For me it’s a dream come true!”
The items on display in the library will be complemented by a website launched in mid-October. Extra items online will include Handel’s conducting copy of Messiah and the only surviving poem by John Donne in his handwriting, with podcasts and video presentations bringing texts to life.
Bodleian Librarian Sarah Thomas said, “We want our collections to be accessible to the public, for people to come and see them, admire, inspect and get close to them.”
Fred de Fossard, a Magdalen fresher, commented, “The sheer diversity of the exhibits being shown is what strikes me. It really helps to cement Oxford’s position not only in British history, but as a cornerstone of Western culture. I don’t think you could see the original foundations of the British constitution, the first concept of zero, or handwritten originals of modernism together in any other place. This will definitely be one of the first things I visit at Oxford.”
The exhibition will run until 23rd December. Admission is free.
