[Illustration: PLAN OF BODLEIAN READING ROOMS AND PICTURE GALLERY] THE BODLEIAN LIBRARY AT OXFORD BRIEFLY DESCRIBED BY FALCONER MADAN, M.A. HONORARY FELLOW OF BRASENOSE COLLEGE, OXFORD, LATE BODLEY’S LIBRARIAN [Illustration] DUCKWORTH & CO. 3 HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN _First published 1919_ PREFACE The present volume is a short description of a great library, and forms part of a series of treatises on educational subjects which may, it is hoped, constitute some vindication of a classical and liberal education. The author trusts that this sketch of the history and contents of the Bodleian, which ranks first among the institutions of the University, may be of use to encourage the “studies of good learning,” and thereby to carry forward in some measure the ideals of Oxford. The chief difficulty has been to compress the subject within the necessary limits of the series, but the list of authorities on p. 64 will indicate sources of further information. Permission to make use of the plan which forms the frontispiece was courteously granted by Dr. Cowley, the present Librarian of the Bodleian. _November, 1919._ LIST OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. LIBRARIES AND THEIR KINDS 7 II. SIR THOMAS BODLEY AND HIS FOUNDATION, 1598-1613 14 III. THE BODLEIAN LIBRARY, 1613-1860 23 IV. THE BODLEIAN LIBRARY IN MODERN TIMES 34 V. THE MANUSCRIPT AND OTHER TREASURES OF THE LIBRARY 43 VI. METHODS AND MATERIALS OF MODERN STUDY 57 INDEX 65 ILLUSTRATION PLAN OF BODLEIAN READING ROOMS AND PICTURE GALLERY BODLEIAN LIBRARY (THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD) NOTICE TO READERS (_All readers must at their first coming be entered in the Admission Registers and make the usual declaration._) The Bodleian Library was founded in 1602, and for size and importance (together) ranks first among University libraries, second among English-speaking peoples, and about eighth in the world. Readers are therefore requested to use it, not for trivial purposes, but for _study_ and _research_.