Pembroke College Library, Oxford

Pembroke College Library, Oxford Updates, news and information about the McGowin Library at Pembroke College, Oxford.

It's been great having the British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies in College this week. We updated our exhbition...
09/01/2025

It's been great having the British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies in College this week. We updated our exhbition for them today, to show some of the treasures of the archive, and some of our Johnson books, showing how Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson has had an afterlife since it was first published. There's also one of Johnson's own school books! Outside the Pichette until 5.30pm today, then again until the end of the conference tomorrow.

Hope you have a great day whether you're celebrating or not, and we're looking forward to seeing everyone in 2025!
25/12/2024

Hope you have a great day whether you're celebrating or not, and we're looking forward to seeing everyone in 2025!

Last one! Z is for...Zoology!I know we had a fabulous animal yesterday, but we couldn't resist this letter from Anton Do...
24/12/2024

Last one! Z is for...

Zoology!

I know we had a fabulous animal yesterday, but we couldn't resist this letter from Anton Dohrn, prominent German Darwinist and the founder and first director of the first marine-biological and zoological research station in the world, the Stazione Zoologica in Naples, Italy. He wrote to Bartholomew Price, who was Master 1892-1897. Price appears to have been active in promoting Dohrn’s work in Oxford and in securing him a DCL as well as hosting him when he visited Oxford.

The Stazione, now named after Dohrn, still exists, and have an excellent website, all about their work in the Bay of Naples, so do go and have a look!

Nearly there, folks. Today, Y is for...Y!Okay, we're cheating just a little, as Y is a shelfmark both in the main librar...
23/12/2024

Nearly there, folks. Today, Y is for...

Y!

Okay, we're cheating just a little, as Y is a shelfmark both in the main library and in our special collections. We've chosen these 4 books from Y to represent the collection. They're all by Heinrich Schliemann, a 19th century archaeologist, and, most famously, excavator of Troy.

The books were all published by John Murray in London between 1876 and 1888, and are publications of Schliemann's excavations. Tiryns and Mycenae are on the Greek mainland - in Greek legend, Mycenae is the home of the Greek commander, Agamemnon, while Tiryns is a nearby hill fort. The other two books are both about Troy - Ilios is an alternatively name for the city, which is on the coast of what is now Turkey.

The books are all illustrated throughout with diagrams and pictures from the excavations. Y used to be our Archaeology section, so although we don't have most of the books any more, these lovely things were obviously thought worth keeping.

X is for...Xenophon.Not a name that trips off most people's tongues, but an important Greek author. He was a contemporar...
22/12/2024

X is for...

Xenophon.

Not a name that trips off most people's tongues, but an important Greek author. He was a contemporary of Plato, student of Socrates, a general, philosopher and historian. This book gathers together some of his writings, together with the rhetoric of Isocrates, presumably to prepare young men both "en paix & en guerre".

This copy was printed in Paris in 1568, but the binding is much more recent. Together with the impressive gold edging to the pages, it was probably paid for by Luigi Carlo Maria Giuseppe principe di Borbone delle Due Sicilie, who also held the title of Conte di Aquila amongst many (many) others.

A younger son, he had a title but little responsibility, and was known as a collector, naturalist and artist. After falling out with his nephew, King Francis II of Sicily, he was exiled to France, and died in Paris. The binding of this book reflects his royal status, and even the silk bookmark has survived. The crest on the inside of the cover has the castle of the Spanish kingdom of Castile, as Charles III of Spain was one of his great-grandparents. The book is part of our Chandler collection, and while it shows few signs of being read, the shininess of the gold tells us that it was always kept in good condition.

W is for...Wightwick!It might not be a familiar name, but it should be, as the Wightwick family were one of the first be...
21/12/2024

W is for...

Wightwick!

It might not be a familiar name, but it should be, as the Wightwick family were one of the first benefactors of the College. Richard Wightwick (the OG) was a local rector who added money to Thomas Teasdale's benefaction, enabling Broadgates Hall to become Pembroke College.

After that, for some centuries, relatives of Wightwick had preferential entry to Pembroke, so we have Henry (Master, not pictured) and Charles (Fellow) who held posts. The family house was at Wombridge, and we received a lot of contents from the house into the library and archive in the 18th century. As well as books, we have portraits of Samuel, Hancox and Stubbs Wightwick.

But our favourite is this wonderful photograph of Miss Joan Wightwick, great niece of Charles, holding a flintlock musket!

It's our last day of opening before the Vacation, but rather than go with the obvious, V is for...Victor!No, not the NAT...
20/12/2024

It's our last day of opening before the Vacation, but rather than go with the obvious, V is for...

Victor!

No, not the NATO alphabet. This Victor is Victor Strigel, who was a Lutheran theologian and reformer. He was a follower of Philipp Melancthon, following him into exile and ending up as a professor at the University of Jena.

We have a nice, three volume printed copy of his work from 1581, but we also have a rather more unusual copy of his works. It comes in the form of a thick book with a picture of Luther on the front. There is a very short introduction to a work of Luther at the front of the book, but most of it is taken up with a copy of 'In Erotemata Dialecticae Philip. Melanchthonis Hypomnemata Victorini Strigelij', printed in 1566. The manuscript must have been copied out from the printed book at a later date, as the writer has copied the colophon (publication information), which is identical to the print version.

It's unclear why someone would do this for such a long work, and how the work about Luther became attached to the front. But it seems clear that whoever bound them together expected that putting Luther on the front of the book would help it to sell better than a picture of Victor Strigel would! So hopefully we're making up a little now for his not getting the credit before.

T is for...Tankards!The College archive contains a surprising number of tankards, often given to Pembroke by students, a...
19/12/2024

T is for...

Tankards!

The College archive contains a surprising number of tankards, often given to Pembroke by students, and commemorating all sorts of things.

In the pictures, we have the oldest one in our collection (1852), one made to commemorate the Whiff Race (a single-seater boat race), and one given to the Teasel Club by their first Lady Member, Marianne Talbot.

As well as receiving tankards, we know that the College has given them away too. We have a letter from PCBC to their Cambridge counterparts, commemorating the meeting of the two in a heat for the Ladies' Plate at Henley in 1930. We lost!

S is for...Spines!We may have mentioned this before, but in early libraries, the books weren't stored with their spines ...
18/12/2024

S is for...

Spines!

We may have mentioned this before, but in early libraries, the books weren't stored with their spines facing out. They might have been chained (you can still find the clasp for the chain on lots of our books), and the edges of the pages were outermost, often with the contents written on them. Or they might have been stored flat, or even stood on their ends in a chest (with the title on the top or bottom of the page edges).

When books did start to be stored spine-out, it was a great chance for book binders to show off their work, and for owners to show off the sorts of fabulous bindings that they could afford.

Nowadays, spines are more functional than decorative, which we can't help feeling is a bit of a shame. While there's something satisfying about a well-ordered bookcase, it would be great to have something prettier to look at when shelving!

R is for...Riley!Athelstan Riley attended Pembroke in 1877, and went on to spend extended periods of time in the Middle ...
17/12/2024

R is for...

Riley!

Athelstan Riley attended Pembroke in 1877, and went on to spend extended periods of time in the Middle East, as well as being a successful hymn writer. During that time, he bought a number of Syriac manuscripts, which are now part of the library's collection. We already saw the 'elephant' folio earlier in the year as part of 400 Things, but we have a range of mansucripts from various dates and in various conditions.

They are all bound and have bookplates from La Manoir de la Trinite in Jersey, where Riley settled with his wife, Andalucia Molesworth, shortly before the second world war. They stayed on the island through the Occupation, and Riley died shortly after the island was liberated.

Perhaps most importantly, though, is that the Archivist, a keen gerbil-fancier, has named her two gerbils Athelstan and Molesworth after these Pembroke donors! Here, you can see them with their Christmas tree last year.

Q is for...Queens!While anyone who's been in Pembroke's Hall knows that Queen Anne gazes down on the diners, did you kno...
16/12/2024

Q is for...

Queens!

While anyone who's been in Pembroke's Hall knows that Queen Anne gazes down on the diners, did you know that we also have a connection to Queen Elizabeth I? It's in a leasefrom 1584 for an estate that Pembroke later owned, so came to us through their papers. The royal seal is showing its age a little now, but the document itself is still looking great.

Fortunately, the seal from Queen Anne is in much better condition, despite the minor breakage. In 1713, the Queen granted the funds from a canonry at Gloucester Cathedral to the College, which was used to maintain the Mastership. This came to an end in 1937, when Lord Nuffield (see under "N is for Nuffield") endowed the position. There's certainly no mistaking the original grant for anything but a Royal document! Look out for the thistle in the bottom right hand corner, as this was issued after the Treaty of Union with Scotland.

P is for...Pastedowns!A pastedown is usually stuck to the inside of the front or back cover of a book, often to cover th...
15/12/2024

P is for...

Pastedowns!

A pastedown is usually stuck to the inside of the front or back cover of a book, often to cover the inside edges of the cover's binding. They can be almost anything and in the past, it wasn't uncommon to use old manuscripts or waste from printed books. Pembroke has got a small selection of manuscript pastedowns, mostly 13th and 14th century, as well as a large number of books with printed pastedowns.

As you can see from the pictures, pastedowns were used in large and small books. Sometimes a single set of books will have a range of material used for pastedowns (picture 3), and sometimes a single manuscript is used over multiple books (picture 4). We have one example (picture 5) where a book has a manuscript pastedown, while the fly leaf comes from an earlier printed book.

But my favourite is Picture 6, where we have both a full manuscript (MS3) and manuscript pastedown (U.10.f) of the Sententiae of Peter Lombard. The two manuscripts are both from the 13th century, but are different sizes, and clearly MS3 had a better fate than the manuscript that ended up cut down for U.10.f!

O is for...Oars!These are, of course, extremely important here at Pembroke, and they come in all shapes and sizes. You'l...
14/12/2024

O is for...

Oars!

These are, of course, extremely important here at Pembroke, and they come in all shapes and sizes. You'll find blades in the Ward Perkins room, and we have quite a few full-sized oars in the library and archive Stack. As well as historic blades, we have two from Pembroke's historic double headship in 2003.

However, my absolute favourite is this oar-shaped pen that was produced for PCBC in around 1909. Future College merchandise idea, perhaps?

N is for...Nuffield!In 1937, the same year that Nuffield College itself was founded, Lord Nuffield (picture 1) gave £50,...
13/12/2024

N is for...

Nuffield!

In 1937, the same year that Nuffield College itself was founded, Lord Nuffield (picture 1) gave £50,000 to Pembroke to endow the Mastership, as well as providing “grants to enable poor and deserving students to reside as Undergraduate members of the College, special regard being had to the needs of those who desire to study medicine”. Later, in 1946, he gaave a further £10,000 to endow two scholarships in medicine and make improvements to the kitchens.

He also endowed a Professorship in Anaesthetics, which remains attached to Pembroke. Previous holders include Prof. Irene Tracey, the current Vice Chancellor. The first holder of the post, Robert Macintosh, is shown in picture 2 with Lord Nuffield, and in picture 3 with his wife and their dog.

Today, M is for...Marginalia!People have always written in books, since there have been books, and they still do it toda...
12/12/2024

Today, M is for...

Marginalia!

People have always written in books, since there have been books, and they still do it today (you know who you are).

They write their names or comments on the text in the front, underline bits of the text as they go, or use the empty space to compose works of their own.

And sometimes, you really need a pointing nose to tell you what the important part of the text is. Even if that pointer is on top of your head.

Images are from our printed books, and from our manuscript of Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica (12th/13th century).

I is for...Incunabula!An incunabulum is a book printed before 1500, and Pembroke is extremely fortunate to have a large ...
09/12/2024

I is for...

Incunabula!

An incunabulum is a book printed before 1500, and Pembroke is extremely fortunate to have a large collection of them, mostly thanks to the Chandler collection. There are 114 in total, with the earliest being from 1469, as we saw under 'A'. Most of the collection was printed in Italy, with a few outliers from France and Germany. And yes, most of them are about Aristotle!

We have a good reminder in the Chandler collection that early books were bought without covers, so that the new owner could bind them as they wanted. These two books are both part of the same edition, printed by the famous Venetian printer Aldus Manutius between 1495 and 1497. One set has been neatly trimmed and bound in gold-tooled leather. The other is still in what was probably meant to be temporary binding, as sold by the printer. I don't think a modern reader would be impressed by the untrimmed version, but for collectors and librarians, it's fascinating to see the contrast.

(N.B. We're going to cheat a little to make our alphabet fit into Advent, and follow the printers' practice of making I and J interchangeable, so the next letter will be K!)

H is for...Heraldry!There are crests, shields and armorial symbols all over College, and at one point, there were plans ...
08/12/2024

H is for...

Heraldry!

There are crests, shields and armorial symbols all over College, and at one point, there were plans to paint the College Coat of Arms on the North wall of the hall, above the gallery.

We have the sketches by Gabriel Bunny, which he made for the the then-Bursar, Lionel Salt in the 1920s. Although the paintings themselves never materialised, we do have this rather wonderful picture from Tatler in 1951, showing that at one point, at least temporarily, the Arms went up on the wall.

G is for...The GAB! All Pembrokians are familiar with the GAB, so we thought you might enjoy these pictures from its ear...
07/12/2024

G is for...

The GAB!

All Pembrokians are familiar with the GAB, so we thought you might enjoy these pictures from its early days. Very early days, in fact, as we have some great photos of the construction stages, as well as Sir Roger Bannister standing by the river with the GAB in the background.

The rather lovely painting is by Lady Moira Bannister.

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St Aldates
Oxford
OX11DW

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