Bodleian Libraries

The Bodleian Libraries of the University of Oxford form the largest university library system in the United Kingdom. They include the principal University library-the Bodleian Library-which has been a library of legal deposit for 400 years; major research libraries; and libraries attached to faculties, departments and other institutions of the University. The combined library collections number more than 11 million printed items, in addition to 30,000 e-journals and vast quantities of materials in other formats. The Old Bodleian is also a major visitor attraction, drawing over 300,000 visitors a year. More information about the Bodleian Libraries and their activities can be found at http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/

Bodleian Libraries

Series in this collection

All episodes

Title	Description	People	Date
Writing The Hobbit: a perilous quest	In this talk Stuart Lee will look at the various texts we may call The Hobbit. Starting with the 1937 edition (on display) he will look at the changes enforced on Tolkien after he had finished The Lord of the Rings and how he coped with these.	Stuart Lee	3 June, 2015
Love's Labour's Lost	Emma Smith continues her Approaching Shakespeare series with a lecture on the play Love's Labour's Lost.	Emma Smith	27 May, 2015
New Sappho and new libraries	Fourth Lunchtime lecture accompanying the exhibition Marks of Genius: Masterpieces from the Collections of the Bodleian Libraries. With Dr Dirk Obbink.	Dirk Obbink	19 May, 2015
Four centuries of Chinese book collecting	Third Lunchtime lecture accompanying the exhibition Marks of Genius: Masterpieces from the Collections of the Bodleian Libraries. With Mr David Helliwell.	David Helliwell	19 May, 2015
The Trade in Printed Books: an ingenious innovation that changed the Western World	Second in the Marks of Genius series, with Dr Christina Dondi	Christina Dondi	19 May, 2015
Abridging Histories: Capt. James Cook and the Voyages of Reading (1784-)	Professor Michael Suarez, in the Lyell Lectures 2015, urges scholars to remember the books that most readers encountered: the cheaper abridged versions of popular novels and accounts such as Cook's voyages.	Michael Suarez	18 May, 2015
Naming Names: Underwriting Patronage in Tonson's Caesar (1712)	Professor Michael Suarez, in the Lyell Lectures 2015, locates the visual sources of a famous illustrated edition of Caesar's works and comments on the social and political significance of the subscription plate book.	Michael Suarez	18 May, 2015
Singular Multiples: Comprehending the General Evening Post (1754-86)	Professor Michael Suarez continues the Lyell Lectures 2015, showing that archival evidence is necessary to understand the history of newspapers	Michael Suarez	18 May, 2015
Proliferating Images: Diagrams of the Slave Ship Brookes (1789)	Professor Michael Suarez traces the transatlantic journey of a famous image deployed against the slave trade.	Michael Suarez	18 May, 2015
True Colours: A Natural History of Louis Renard's Poissons (1719)	Professor Michael Suarez continues the Lyell Lectures 2015, asking what role colour plays in bibliographical description?	Michael Suarez	18 May, 2015
Graham Greene and Josephine Reid	Adam Smyth talks to Balliol College, Oxford archivist Anna Sander about an exciting new archive of letters relating to Graham Greene and his secretary, Josephine Reid.	Adam Smyth, Anna Sander	13 May, 2015
Engraved Throughout: Pine's Horace (1733) as a Bibliographical Object	Professor Michael Suarez gives the first Lyell Lecture of 2015.	Michael Suarez	8 May, 2015
Oxford Figures: 800 Years of the Mathematical Sciences	Professor Robin Wilson, author of Alice's Adventures in Numberland, gives a talk on the history of studying Mathematics at Oxford, which is as old as the University itself.	Robin Wilson	6 May, 2015
The Lives of Harold Macmillan and Roy Jenkins	Political biographers D R Thorpe and John Campbell speak about their subjects' careers culminating in the role of Chancellor of the University of Oxford. The discussion was chaired by Lord Patten of Barnes.	D R Thorpe, John Campbell, Chris Patten	14 November, 2014
Conscription and Conscientious Objection	In this short talk Professor Martin Ceadel, Fellow and Tutor in Politics, New College, Oxford discusses the issue of military conscription and conscientious objection during the first world war.	Martin Ceadel	12 November, 2014
The Problem with Propaganda	Dr Adrian Gregory, Fellow and Tutor in History, Pembroke College, Oxford discusses the use of propaganda by all sides during the first world war.	Adrian Gregory	12 November, 2014
The Meaning of 1914	A conversation between Professor Sir Hew Strachan and Professor Margaret MacMillan, chaired by Professor Patricia Clavin.	Hew Strachan, Margaret MacMillan, Patricia Clavin	30 October, 2014
Hand-press printing	A demonstration of and discussion about hand-press printing with the Bodleian's Dr Paul Nash.	Paul Nash, Adam Smyth	25 September, 2014
Love and Math	A public lecture given by Edward Frenkel, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley, talking around his best-selling book "Love and Math" followed by a conversation with Marcus du Sautoy and Q&A.	Edward Frenkel, Marcus du Sautoy	12 July, 2014
Scribal correction and literary craft: English manuscripts 1375-1510	Adam Smyth talks to Professor Daniel Wakelin about his new book on cultures of correction in later medieval manuscripts.	Daniel Wakelin, Adam Smyth	8 July, 2014
'Almost Identical': Copying Books in England, 1600-1900	Henry Woudhuysen joins Adam Smyth to discuss the history of facsimiles.	Henry Woudhuysen, Adam Smyth	19 June, 2014
Pax Canadiana: Canada, the Commonwealth, and the End of Empire	Dr McKercher is Royal Bank of Canada Visiting Scholar at the Bodleian Library. His research explores Canadian reactions to the demise of the British imperial order, looking at Canadian foreign relations beyond the North Atlantic.	Asa McKercher, Richard Ovenden, Margaret MacMillan	13 June, 2014
Self-publishing in 18th-century Paris and London	Marie-Claude Felton, a Royal Bank of Canada-Bodleian Visiting Scholar in 2013-14, describes her research on the legal and business history of self-publishing in the eighteenth century.	Marie-Claude Felton	5 June, 2014
Self-publishing in 18th-century Paris and London	Marie-Claude Felton, Royal Bank of Canada-Bodleian Visiting Scholar, gives a talk for the Bodleian Library BODcasts series	Marie-Claude Felton	5 June, 2014
Ether and Wireless: an Old Medium into New Media	Jaume Navarro (Byrne-Bussey Marconi Fellow, 2013) talks about the influence of the idea of the 'ether', an all-pervading substance, in the history of wireless communication.	Jaume Navarro, Guglielmo Marconi	15 May, 2014
How to make your own eyeglasses for about one pound: an Oxford technology created to benefit the developing World	Professor Joshua Silver talks about his invention of the self adjusting spectacles.	Joshua Silver	27 March, 2014
The History of Oxford University Press	Adam Smyth is joined by Professor Ian Gadd to discuss his just-published collection on the history of OUP.	Adam Smyth, Ian Gadd	17 March, 2014
Bibliography in Bits	Adam Smyth talks to Professor Will Noel about the potentials of digital technology for the study of manuscripts.	Will Noel, Adam Smyth	23 February, 2014
Lord Nuffield's Legacy to Oxford	Dr Eric Sidebottom, Retired University Lecturer in Experimental Pathology, gives a lunch time talk to accompany the exhibition 'Great Medical Discoveries: 800 Years of Oxford Innovation'.	Eric Sidebottom	7 February, 2014
Early modern plays in bits and pieces	Professor Tiffany Stern joins Dr Adam Smyth to discuss her current research on the materiality of the early modern play text. What happens to our thinking about plays when prologues, epilogues and songs become mobile pieces, detached from the whole?	Tiffany Stern, Adam Smyth	3 February, 2014
Oxford Medical Firsts: Celebrating 800 Years of Oxford Medicine.	Conrad Keating, Writer-In-Residence, The Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine, Oxford, gives a lecture about the remarkable contribution Oxford has made to the art and science of medicine.	Conrad Keating	28 November, 2013
Embodying song in Early Modern England	Katherine Larson (University of Toronto) gives a talk on music in Early Modern England accompanied by Lutenist Matthew Faulk	Katherine Larson, Matthew Faulk	26 November, 2013
Wolves and Winter: Old Norse Myths and Children's Literature	Dr Carolyne Larrington, Supernumerary Fellow and Tutor in English, St John's College, gives a talk to accompany the exhibition 'Magical Books: From The Middle Ages to Middle Earth'.	Carolyne Larrington	23 October, 2013
Love and Sex in Victorian Fiction	Victorian fiction is commonly thought of as treating love sentimentally and lacking all reference to sex. In this talk drawing on material from a book he is writing, Dr David Grylls, Fellow of Kellogg College, will contest such a view.	David Grylls	4 October, 2013
Stoicism and its Legacy	A lecture given by Dr John Sellars, lecturer in Philosophy, Birkbeck, University of London, about Stoicism to accompany the display at the Bodleian Library.	John Sellars	6 June, 2013
Once and Future Arthurs - Arthurian Literature for Children	Anna Caughey gives a lecture at the Bodleian Library looking at the varying spectrum of literature about King Arthur written for children.	Anna Caughey	6 June, 2013
Richard Wagner: 200 Today	Lecturer and conductor Dr Paul Coones delivers a lecture celebrating the 200th birthday of Richard Wagner. The talk is preceded by Siegried's Horn Call played by Sophie Dillon and includes the rarely performed Kinder-Katechismus zu Kosel's Geburtstag.	Paul Coones	22 May, 2013
The Hobbit at the Bodleian: World Book Day 2010	Judith Priestman, curator of literary manuscripts at the Bodleian library, discusses the World Book Day 2010 Tolkien exhibition, at which a selection of J.R.R. Tolkien's original artwork for The Hobbit, was on display to the public.	Judith Priestman	22 May, 2013
Dr Lawrence Goldman introduces the commemoration, 'Jim Callaghan Remembered'	Dr Lawrence Goldman, editor of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, introduces and chairs the seminar to commemorate the centenary of Jim Callaghan's birth.	Lawrence Goldman	10 May, 2013
Audiotour 19: Conclusions	Part nineteen of the Oxford Union Library Tour.	Olivia Cross	2 May, 2013
Audiotour 18: Carving part two	Part eighteen of the Oxford Union Library Tour.	Olivia Cross	2 May, 2013
Audiotour 17: Carving part one	Part seventeen of the Oxford Union Library Tour.	Olivia Cross	2 May, 2013
Audiotour 16: Ceiling	Part sixteen of the Oxford Union Library Tour.	Olivia Cross	2 May, 2013
Audiotour 15: Fireplace	Part fifteen of the Oxford Union Library Tour.	Olivia Cross	2 May, 2013
Audiotour 14: Mural 10	Part fourteen of the Oxford Union Library Tour.	Olivia Cross	2 May, 2013
Audiotour 13: Mural 9	Part thirteen of the Oxford Union Library Tour.	Olivia Cross	2 May, 2013
Audiotour 12: Mural 8	Part twelve of the Oxford Union Library Tour.	Olivia Cross	2 May, 2013
Audiotour 11: Mural 7	Part eleven of the Oxford Union Library Tour.	Olivia Cross	2 May, 2013
Audiotour 10: Mural 6	Part ten of the Oxford Union Library Tour.	Olivia Cross	2 May, 2013
Audiotour 09: Mural 5	Part nine of the Oxford Union Library Tour.	Olivia Cross	2 May, 2013
Audiotour 08: Mural 4	Part eight of the Oxford Union Library Tour.	Olivia Cross	2 May, 2013
Audiotour 07: Mural 3	Part seven of the Oxford Union Library Tour.	Olivia Cross	2 May, 2013
Audiotour 06: Mural 2	Part six of the Oxford Union Library Tour.	Olivia Cross	2 May, 2013
Audiotour 05: Mural 1	Part five of the Oxford Union Library Tour.	Olivia Cross	2 May, 2013
Audiotour 04: Looking at Each Mural	Part four of the Oxford Union Library Tour.	Olivia Cross	2 May, 2013
Audiotour 03: Deterioration and Restoration	Part three of the Oxford Union Library Tour.	Olivia Cross	2 May, 2013
Audiotour 02: History of the Murals	Part two of the Oxford Union Library.	Olivia Cross	2 May, 2013
Audiotour 01: Introduction	Part one of the tour of the Oxford Union Library.	Olivia Cross	2 May, 2013
Andrew Smith MP pays tribute to Jim Callaghan	Member of Parliament for Oxford East, Andrew Smith gives his view of Jim Callaghan.	Andrew Smith	23 April, 2013
Michael Callaghan remembers his father Jim Callaghan	Jim Callaghan's son Michael gives a talk about his memories of his fathers political life.	Michael Callaghan	23 April, 2013
Margaret Jay, Baroness Jay of Paddington remembers her father, Jim Callaghan	The daughter of Jim Callaghan, Margaret Jay, gives the closing speech for the event.	Margaret Jay	23 April, 2013
Lord Owen remembers Jim Callaghan	British politician Lord Owen talks about his experiences of Jim Callaghan.	David Owen	23 April, 2013
Lord Morgan remembers Jim Callaghan	Historian and author Lord Morgan speaks about the Jim Callaghan papers deposited in the Bodleian.	Kenneth Morgan	23 April, 2013
Lord Donoughue remembers Jim Callaghan	British politician, businessman and author Baron Donoughue of Ashton speaks about his view as special advisor to Jim Callaghan.	Bernard Donoughue	23 April, 2013
Xu Bing: The Kind of Artist I Am	Chinese Artist Xu Bing gives a talk on the subject of his art and the kind of artist he is.	Xu Bing	22 April, 2013
Marconi and the Broadcasting Option: Annual Byrne-Bussey Marconi Lecture	Held on Marconi day, 20th April, Gabriele Balbi (University of Lugano) gives a talk about Marconi, co-inventor of the radio.	Gabriele Balbi	22 April, 2013
Roy Strong talks to Brian Sewell: Self-portrait as a Young Man	Art critic Brian Sewell talks to Sir Roy Strong as part of the Times Literary Festival 2013.	Brian Sewell, Roy Strong	15 April, 2013
Image Matching on Printed Images in Bodleian Collections	Giles Bergel and Andrew Zisserman from the Broadside Ballad Connections project demonstrate new image matching software that allows researchers to track images across early forms of printed literature. Visit http://ballads.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/.	Giles Bergel, Andrew Zisserman, Relja Arandjelovic	13 December, 2012
Dickens' Railways	Professor Stphen Gill, Lincoln College, gives a talk about the influence the Railways had on Charles Dickens' literature.	Stephen Gill	26 October, 2012
The Romance of the Middle Ages	Dr Nicholas Perkins talks about how romance functions as a genre in the middle ages, especially about how gifts and tokens were exchanged as signs of fidelity, specifically in Sir Orfeo, Sir Gawain, and King Horn.	Nicholas Perkins	21 June, 2012
Jane Austen's Manuscripts Explored	Professor Kathyrn Sutherland from the University of Oxford talks around the manuscripts of Jane Austen, what we can learn from them about her family life but also her writing style and techniques.	Kathryn Sutherland	8 June, 2012
The Watsons: Jane Austen Practising	Professor Kathryn Sutherland from the University of Oxford talks about some of Jane Austen's manuscripts from the novel 'The Watsons' and what we can learn about her from these.	Kathryn Sutherland	8 June, 2012
Wireless Communications during the Titanic Disaster	Michael Hughes (Bodleian Libraries) gives a talk about the final wireless communications from the Titanic.	Michael Hughes	22 May, 2012
The Bodleian Library and the Scientific Revolution	Dr Poole presents the Bodleian and the seventeenth-century Scientific Revolution in terms of its contributions to Oxford and to British science in the period.	William Poole	8 May, 2012
Shakespeare and Medieval Romance	Professor Helen Cooper, University of Cambridge, speaks about the continuities between the Romance of the middle ages and Shakespeare's plays. She looks at textual features from his plays (including King Lear) which may indicate his influences.	Helen Cooper	12 April, 2012
The Birth of Romance in England	Dr Laura Ashe delivers a lecture on the birth of romance in England in the 12th Century, part of a series of lectures to accompany The Romance of the Middle Ages exhibition at the Bodleian Library.	Laura Ashe	23 February, 2012
The Role of Open Access in Maximising The Impact of Biomedical Research	Sir Mark Walport, Director of the Wellcome Trust, gives a lecture on scholarship, publishing and the dissemination of research designed to stimulate debate in Oxford on the issues surrounding changes in scholarly communications.	Sir Mark Walport	26 April, 2011
Brought to Book: Book History and the Idea of Literature	Professor Paul Eggert, University of New South Wales, gives the 17th Annual D.F. McKenzie lecture on the subject of books and gives a case study of Henry Lawson, Australian author of Where the Billy Boils.	Paul Eggert	9 March, 2011
Mary Shelley - Journal of Sorrow	Part of the Shelley's Ghost Exhibition. In the months immediately following Shelley's death Mary lived at Albaro on the outskirts of Genoa. Her only regular companions were her young son, Percy Florence, and the journal she began on 2 October 1822.	Nouran Koriem	2 December, 2010
Mary Shelley - Journal of Sorrow	Part of the Shelley's Ghost Exhibition. In the months immediately following Shelley's death Mary lived at Albaro on the outskirts of Genoa. Her only regular companions were her young son, Percy Florence, and the journal she began on 2 October 1822.	Nouran Koriem	2 December, 2010
William Godwin- Letter to Mary Shelley	Part of the Shelley's Ghost Exhibition. This is the letter Godwin wrote to Mary after hearing of Shelley's death.	Hoare Nairne	2 December, 2010
William Godwin- Letter to Mary Shelley	Part of the Shelley's Ghost Exhibition. This is the letter Godwin wrote to Mary after hearing of Shelley's death.	Hoare Nairne	2 December, 2010
Percy Bysshe Shelley - Letter to Mary Shelley	Part of the Shelley's Ghost Exhibition. 'Everybody is in despair and every thing in confusion' writes Shelley in his last letter to Mary. He was in Pisa to discuss a new journal, The Liberal, with Leigh Hunt and Lord Byron.	Henry Cockburn	2 December, 2010
Percy Bysshe Shelley - Letter to Mary Shelley	Part of the Shelley's Ghost Exhibition. 'Everybody is in despair and every thing in confusion' writes Shelley in his last letter to Mary. He was in Pisa to discuss a new journal, The Liberal, with Leigh Hunt and Lord Byron.	Henry Cockburn	2 December, 2010
Percy Bysshe Shelley - Adonais. An Elegy on the Death of John Keats	Part of the Shelley's Ghost Exhibition. This great elegy was prompted by the news of the death of John Keats in Rome, and by Shelley's belief that Keats's illness was caused by the hostile notices his work had been given in the Quarterly Review.	Jordan Saxby	2 December, 2010
Percy Bysshe Shelley - Adonais. An Elegy on the Death of John Keats	Part of the Shelley's Ghost Exhibition. This great elegy was prompted by the news of the death of John Keats in Rome, and by Shelley's belief that Keats's illness was caused by the hostile notices his work had been given in the Quarterly Review.	Jordan Saxby	2 December, 2010
Percy Bysshe Shelley - Opening lines of 'The Triumph of Life'	Part of the Shelley's Ghost Exhibition. Shelley worked on 'The Triumph of Life', a dark and visionary poem, while living at the Villa Magni.	Hoare Nairne	2 December, 2010
Percy Bysshe Shelley - Opening lines of 'The Triumph of Life'	Part of the Shelley's Ghost Exhibition. Shelley worked on 'The Triumph of Life', a dark and visionary poem, while living at the Villa Magni.	Hoare Nairne	2 December, 2010
Percy Bysshe Shelley - Dedication fair copy of 'With a guitar. To Jane'	Part of the Shelley's Ghost Exhibition. Shelley presented this light-hearted poem, copied out in his best hand, with the guitar he gave to Jane Williams in 1822.	Jordan Saxby	2 December, 2010
Percy Bysshe Shelley - Dedication fair copy of 'With a guitar. To Jane'	Part of the Shelley's Ghost Exhibition. Shelley presented this light-hearted poem, copied out in his best hand, with the guitar he gave to Jane Williams in 1822.	Jordan Saxby	2 December, 2010
Percy Bysshe Shelley - Fair copy of Ode to the West Wind	Part of the Shelly's Ghost Exhibition. Shelley's best-known poem was written in Florence in late 1819.	Christopher Adams	2 December, 2010
Percy Bysshe Shelley - Fair copy of Ode to the West Wind	Part of the Shelly's Ghost Exhibition. Shelley's best-known poem was written in Florence in late 1819.	Christopher Adams	2 December, 2010
Percy Bysshe Shelley - Draft of 'Ozymandias'	Part of the Shelley's Ghost Exhibition. 'Ozymandias' is the Greek name for Ramses II, who ruled Egypt for sixty-seven years from 1279 to 1213 BC.	Christopher Adams	2 December, 2010
Percy Bysshe Shelley - Draft of 'Ozymandias'	Part of the Shelley's Ghost Exhibition. 'Ozymandias' is the Greek name for Ramses II, who ruled Egypt for sixty-seven years from 1279 to 1213 BC.	Christopher Adams	2 December, 2010
Mary Shelley (with Percy Bysshe Shelley) - Draft of Frankenstein	Mary Shelley drafted Frankenstein in two tall notebooks. The first notebook was probably purchased in Geneva, the second several months later in England.	Christopher Adams	2 December, 2010
Mary Shelley (with Percy Bysshe Shelley) - Draft of Frankenstein	Mary Shelley drafted Frankenstein in two tall notebooks. The first notebook was probably purchased in Geneva, the second several months later in England.	Christopher Adams	2 December, 2010
Harriet Shelley - Letter to Eliza Westbrook, Shelley and her parents	Part of the Shelley's Ghost Exhibition. Harriet Shelley drowned herself in December 1816, aged twenty-one. Her body was recovered from the Serpentine on 10 December, and an inquest into the death of one 'Harriet Smith' was held the following day.	Hannah Morrell	2 December, 2010
Harriet Shelley - Letter to Eliza Westbrook, Shelley and her parents	Part of the Shelley's Ghost Exhibition. Harriet Shelley drowned herself in December 1816, aged twenty-one. Her body was recovered from the Serpentine on 10 December, and an inquest into the death of one 'Harriet Smith' was held the following day.	Hannah Morrell	2 December, 2010
Mary Shelley - Letter to Percy Bysshe Shelley	Part of the Shelley's Ghost Exhibition. Shelley and Mary arrived back in London to face the almost universal disapproval of family and friends, and severe money problems.	Nouran Koriem	2 December, 2010
Mary Shelley - Letter to Percy Bysshe Shelley	Part of the Shelley's Ghost Exhibition. Shelley and Mary arrived back in London to face the almost universal disapproval of family and friends, and severe money problems.	Nouran Koriem	2 December, 2010

Related