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

From a glittering Eton career, Ralph Hope (1914–1940) joined ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ, Oxford in 1932. In June 1938, he joined 605 Squadron as a volunteer member of the Auxiliary Air Force based in Castle Bromwich. The Battle of Britain officially lasted from 10 July to 31 October 1940, but Ralph had been on active service since May of that year. He was ‘brought down’ on 14 October, having stayed in his plane until he was over open ground, so as not to endanger the lives of fellow citizens. He thus very definitely gave his life so that others might live.

Ralph Hope’s sheepskin flying mittens
²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Archives, Oxford, NCA JCR/R/HopeR

²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Library and Archives, Oxford

The Amicabilis Concordia, or friendship agreement, is a document renowned these days for the evensongs occasionally held in its name by four colleges dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary; that is ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ, Oxford, King’s ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ, Cambridge, Eton ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ, and Winchester ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ.  The Concordia was sealed on 1 July 1444 as a quadripartite indenture.

The signed and beribboned menu for dinner after the King’s ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ versus ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ football 1924 [detail]
²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Archives, Oxford, NCA JCR/R/Mallett/4b

²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Library and Archives, Oxford

Ongoing collection development activity ensures we do not rest on our laurels, and 2023 saw us procure important antiquarian items that speak to times of religious and political conflict. Chief among them are: a rare copy of An Answere to Maister Juelles Chalenge (1564) by ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Jesuit theologian Thomas Harding (1516–1572), who fled to Louvain for refuge following the accession of Elizabeth I; a donation by a generous alumnus of Miscellanea Spiritualia: or, Devout Essaies (1648) by Benedictine abbot Walter Montagu (1603?–1677), who as a recusant was banished, then later imprisoned in the Tower of London; a copy of a defence of Charles I during the Civil War period, Elenchus Motuum nuperorum in Anglia (1649), by ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ man George Bate (1608–1668), who extraordinarily was chief physician successively to Charles I, Oliver Cromwell, and Charles II; and four books (at auction) by college fellow Thomas Ken (1637–1711), who refused to comply with the attempts of James II to grant the realm religious freedom and suspend enforced conformity to the Church of England.

²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Rowing IV, Cloisters, New College (1909)—showing Ernest Victor Culme-Seymour (second from left)
²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Archives, Oxford, NCA JCR/R/Culme-Seymour/23

²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Library and Archives, Oxford

On Tuesday, 7 March 2023, New College’s Middle Common Room (MCR) celebrated the 60th anniversary of its establishment with an exhibition of significant items from the archives in the Conduit Room, a reception in the Founder’s Library, the distribution of appropriate stash (including some rather natty appropriately branded scarves), speeches from the Warden and the President Emily Jin, and dinner in Hall. The anniversary was worth celebrating because, as in so many areas, New College had rather led the way in recognising and providing for what is now a major and vital part of its community whose genesis is worth exploring.

Plan of the site between Longwall Street and the city wall that became the Sacher Building [detail]
²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Archives, Oxford, NCA BUR/BCF/205

²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Library and Archives, Oxford

The manors of Alton Barnes with Shaw and Alton Priors, now the civil parish of Alton, are in the Vale of Pewsey on the Marlborough Downs in Wiltshire. Alton Priors only came into ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ’s purview relatively recently, in 1912. Alton Barnes with Shaw, on the other hand, has had a much longer association with the college, being one of the first estates to be provided by the Founder for his new foundation in Oxford when it became part of the college’s endowment in 1385. As with many of the college’s estates, the ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ archive is rich with documents recording both the process of it becoming part of that endowment, and also something of the back story of its existence before then.

The earl of Salisbury’s counterseal, used by William Montagu (1328–1397), 2nd earl of Salisbury
²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Archives, Oxford, NCA 10039 [detail]

²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Library and Archives, Oxford

It is a commonplace that many of the coats of arms on display in Oxford colleges commemorate past benefactors. ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ is no exception, and in fact is particularly rich in heraldry that celebrates those who have contributed to its material wellbeing. This has been the case throughout its history, but the purpose of this Note is to take a look at some of the armorial additions that have been made to its fabric since the mid-19th century.

²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Archives, Oxford, NCA 2429

²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Library and Archives, Oxford

Ensuring through collection building that ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Library is a library about as well as for college is one of the librarian’s many rewarding responsibilities. As we seek to enrich our collections and to preserve our institutional history, 2022 has seen important purchases and donations: of books written by alumni past, of items associated with our college and our partner Wykehamist foundation Winchester ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ, as well as of books penned by celebrated fiction writers and poets of ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ presently writing.

Fernando Leal Audirac, The End of the Known World (Milan, 2022)
²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Library, Oxford, NC/SKE Oversize

²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Library and Archives, Oxford

For much of the history of ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ School, dating back to the foundation of ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ itself in 1379, recourse has to be made to the main archive of ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ. What has now been taken into the ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Archive to join the rest of the college’s collection, as of October 2022, is material that largely reflects and recounts the development of the school in the last century or so of its existence.

²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Archives, Oxford, NCA NCS/FB3/2

²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Library and Archives, Oxford

All four of the published books by bishop and biblical critic Robert Lowth (1710–1787) are part of ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Library’s outstanding Keynes Collection, and, amazingly, in multiple editions and reprints, posthumous ones included. There are as many as 31 copies of his grammar, 13 each of De sacra poesi and Isaiah, and four copies of William of Wykeham. But the Keynes Collection contains much more than these and similar books, and one particular if mysterious little gem is an undated letter by J. Sturges addressed to ‘Mr. Cadell, Strand, London’.

²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Archives, Oxford, NCA 803

²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Library and Archives, Oxford