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

In common with their well-heeled contemporaries, many 19th-century English clergy took advantage of more settled political conditions and improved methods of transport to travel to Italy, both with an eye for classical tourism and for health reasons to escape the more deleterious effects of a British winter. They did not always have a good press. A clergy correspondent writing to the Bishop of London in 1847 opined that ‘men driven from England in debt or in disgrace are encouraged to seek, and actually do find employment as ministers of English congregations abroad’.  

Frontispiece portrait of Walter Augustus Shirley
²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Library, Oxford, RS5414

²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Library and Archives, Oxford

I recently re-encountered a little octavo textbook in physics published in 1690, the Synopsis physicæ by a ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ man, Francis Willis. The author was from Thame, where his father—who had also attended the college—as the rector ran the local grammar school, an institution then under the college’s supervision. His textbook in physics is evidently the product of his reading and thinking for the MA, often the period in which students turned towards more in-depth study of, especially, natural philosophy.  

A tornado, in Ralph Bohun’s A Discourse concerning the Origine and Properties of Wind (1671)
²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Library, Oxford, BT3.248.11(2), p. 19

²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Library and Archives, Oxford

The fragments in ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Library which are the focus of this note are two large vellum leaves of Imperial size, three sides of which are printed, the fourth blank, and it was on this blank page that John Russell wrote his name in 1472. The discoloration at the edges shows that they were once pastedown; they may originally have been flyleaves; in either case, the verso was the natural place for an inscription.

²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Library, Oxford, LPF3/2, f. 47 [detail]

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

Recently I acquired for ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Library’s collections a first edition copy of The Collector, the debut novel by ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ alumnus John Fowles (1926–2005), which sixty years ago in 1963 launched his spectacular career as a writer. First published in May 1963 by Jonathan Cape of London, the copy I acquired bears the iconic original dustjacket with a ³Ù°ù´Ç³¾±è±ð-±ô’œi±ô design by Tom Adams (1926–2019), who also created the artwork for paperback editions of Agatha Christie’s novels. Moreover, this particular copy was signed by Fowles.

John Fowles, The Collector (London: Jonathan Cape, 1963), dustjacket
²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Library, Oxford, NC/FOW

²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Library and Archives, Oxford

What is the history of two copies (BT3.204.15 and BT3.204.16) of the same text held at ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Library—an English translation of José de Acosta’s The Naturall and Morall Historie of the East and West Indies, first published in 1604?  The readership, marginalia, binding, and provenance of these two copies are not only unique, but also provide insight into the history of ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ, that of its alumni, and the development of its extensive library over the centuries.

²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Library, Oxford, BT3.204.16, title page [detail]

²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Library and Archives, Oxford

Specimens of British Minerals was written by the mineralogist and antiquary, Sir Philip Rashleigh. Published in two parts in 1797 and 1802, the ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Library copy contains both of these parts bound together to form one volume. Although in a relatively unassuming binding, its author, provenance, and contents are significant both historically and bibliographically.

²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Library, Oxford, NB.190.10

²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Library and Archives, Oxford

²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Library holds a 1588 edition of the renowned treatise on witchcraft, the Malleus Maleficarum or â€˜Hammer of Witches’, the archetypal misogynistic text which advocated the persecution and torture of witches as heretics in secular courts.

²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Library, Oxford, BT3.259.6

²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Library and Archives, Oxford

After over four centuries of neglect and disregard, Anglo-Saxon language, lore, and literature saw a renaissance in the 16th century. This is usually associated with the Reformation, and more specifically with the dissolution of the monasteries through which a number of Anglo-Saxon manuscripts from the monastic libraries came into the hands of interested antiquarians bent on preserving ancient knowledge and art.

²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Library, Oxford, NB.187.17

²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Library and Archives, Oxford