The earliest important imprints we have acquired for the library this year are three 16th- and early 17th-century volumes, by a priest and scholar whose erudition was much admired by Pope Clement VIII. Thomas Stapleton (1535–98), one of our college’s foremost theologians, was possibly named after St Thomas More—who was martyred under Henry VIII for refusing to avow royal over spiritual supremacy; More was executed just days before Stapleton’s birth. From Winchester ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ, Stapleton proceeded to ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ, where he was elected a fellow on 18 January 1553; five years later, in 1558, he was ordained a priest under Mary I. But within a couple of years, he had been forced to flee to the Low Countries, following Elizabeth I’s accession.

And, of course—we have been acquiring some remarkable modern books and archival documents too. 

Nicola Howell Hawley, endpapers illustration to Andrew Caldecott’s Simul (2024)
²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Library, Oxford, NC/CAL

²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Library and Archives, Oxford

The two principal passions in the life of William Somervile (1675–1742) appear to have been hunting and poetry, which together combined in his most celebrated work, the four-volume hunting georgic poem The Chace (1735). Somervile was schooled in Stratford-upon-Avon, and thereafter Winchester ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ, before proceeding to ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ, where he later became a fellow. ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Library’s holdings of his works are extensive, varied, and remarkable.

²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Library, Oxford, NB.66.33

²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Library and Archives, Oxford