#bodley

“ Oxford’s bells chimed seven times. Night didn’t follow twilight as slowly as it would have a few months ago, but the transformation was still lingering. The library staff had turned on the lamps only thirty minutes before, casting small pools of gold in the gray light.

Sir Thomas Bodley, founder of the Bodleian Libraries, was born #onthisday in 1545.

Bodley is credited with rescuing the original university library, which was effectively closed when the Dean of Christ Church removed all books and manuscripts from it in an effort to purge the English Church of all traces of Catholicism in 1550. In 1598, Bodley refurnished the old library to house a new collection of nearly 2,500 books, some of which were given by Bodley himself. A librarian was appointed shortly thereafter, and the library opened to scholars on 8 November 1602.

The Bodleian Library is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, and is now the second largest in Britain with over 12 million printed items. This picture shows the interior of the Duke Humfrey's Library, which is one of the oldest reading rooms in the Bodleian.

Portrait of Sir Thomas Bodley

Interior of Duke Humfrey’s Library

“Turn to me with all your heart.

Do not refuse me because i am dark

and shadowed.”

Sir Thomas Bodley, founder of the Bodleian Libraries, was born #onthisday in 1545.

Bodley is credited with rescuing the original university library, which was effectively closed when the Dean of Christ Church removed all books and manuscripts from it in an effort to purge the English Church of all traces of Catholicism in 1550. In 1598, Bodley refurnished the old library to house a new collection of nearly 2,500 books, some of which were given by Bodley himself. A librarian was appointed shortly thereafter, and the library opened to scholars on 8 November 1602.

The Bodleian Library is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, and is now the second largest in Britain with over 12 million printed items.

Sir Thomas Bodley, founder of the Bodleian Libraries.

The Divinity School, housed within the Bodleian Libraries at the University of Oxford. Built between 1427 and 1483, it is the oldest surviving purpose-built building for university use. The Bodleian's Duke Humfrey's Library is on the first floor above the Divinity School.

The Duke Humfrey's Library is the oldest reading room in the Bodleian Libraries at the University of Oxford. It is named after Humphrey of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Gloucester, a younger son of Henry IV of England.

• like a King he disdains the company of the masses

• His second characteristic is that he seems to have his eyes open when he sleeps.

• His third characteristic is that when the lioness brings forth her cubs, they come into the world dead.

• The nature of the lion is such that he is not enraged by men if he is not harmed by them. [...] The merciful nature of lions is confirmed by multiple examples: they will spare men lying on the ground, and will lead captives whom they meet to their homes. They will attack men rather than women. They will only kill children if they are exceptionally hungry. Equally, they will abstain from eating to excess

• They mate face to face, as do the lynx, camel, elephant and rhinoceros.

• A sick lion will seek out an ape and devour it in order to be cured.