Christ Church Library is a Georgian building that forms the south side of

Peckwater Quadrangle The Peckwater Quadrangle (known as "Peck" to students) is one of the Quadrangle (architecture), quadrangles of Christ Church, Oxford, Christ Church, Oxford, England. It is a Grade I listed building. Christ Church Library is on the south side of ...

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church (, the temple or house, ''wikt:aedes, ædes'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by Henry V ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. To the east is Canterbury Quadrangle. The library houses the college's modern

lending library A lending library is a library from which books and other media are lent out. The major classifications are endowed libraries, institutional libraries (the most diverse), public libraries, and subscription libraries. It may also refer to a librar ...

and early printed books on two floors.

History

The first library at Christ Church was established in 1562 in what had been the refectory of St Frideswide's Priory. The books, of which around 140 remain in the library, were originally chained to wooden lecterns. A new library was designed in the eighteenth century, with the intention of attracting aristocratic students to the college by equalling the great classical library buildings of

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

and

Trinity College, Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Univ ...

. The most likely candidate for the architect is Dr George Clarke of All Souls; the master mason was William Townsend/Townesend. Building work started in 1717 and was only completed in 1772. The books were housed on the first floor to avoid damp and flooding, while the ground floor was designed as an open

loggia In architecture, a loggia ( , usually , ) is a covered exterior Long gallery, gallery or corridor, often on an upper level, sometimes on the ground level of a building. The corridor is open to the elements because its outer wall is only parti ...

. However, a bequest of paintings from General John Guise during the protracted construction of the library led to the enclosure of the ground floor to display them. The Christ Church Picture Gallery has since moved to a separate, modernist, building. The collections incorporate substantial bequests of books from, amongst others, Robert Burton;

Henry Aldrich Henry Aldrich (15 January 1648 – 14 December 1710) was an English theologian, philosopher, architect, and composer. Life Aldrich was educated at Westminster School under Dr Richard Busby. In 1662, he entered Christ Church, Oxford, and in 1 ...

, Dean of Christ Church; William Stratford, a canon of the cathedral;

William Wake William Wake (26 January 165724 January 1737) was a minister in the Church of England and Archbishop of Canterbury from 1716 to his death. Life Wake was born in Blandford Forum Blandford Forum ( ) is a market town in Dorset, England, o ...

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...

; and Charles Boyle, 4th Earl of Orrery.

Collections

Christ Church Library contains one of the largest collections of early printed books in Oxford outside the

Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1602 by Sir Thomas Bodley, it is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second-largest library in ...

. The library was described in 1946 as 'a heterogeneous collection of about 100,000 works' and this is the figure which has generally been quoted since. For comparison, the modern collection holds around 72,000 books .

Exhibitions

The library also hosts exhibitions; these have ranged from the art and photography of

Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet, mathematician, photographer and reluctant Anglicanism, Anglican deacon. His most notable works are ''Alice ...

(curated by Edward Wakeling, Allan Chapman, Janet McMullin and Cristina Neagu) to a commemoration of

Johann Joachim Winckelmann Johann Joachim Winckelmann ( ; ; 9 December 17178 June 1768) was a German art historian and archaeologist. He was a pioneering Hellenism (neoclassicism), Hellenist who first articulated the differences between Ancient Greek art, Greek, Helleni ...

(curated by Amy Smith, Katherine Harloe and Cristina Neagu).

References

Bibliography

* Christ Church Library
Books and articles about the Library

External links

Christ Church Library

Outline of the collections in ''Handbuch deutscher historischer Buchbestände in Europa''
{{coord , 51.7510, -1.2549, type:edu_region:GB, display=title 1562 establishments in England 1717 establishments in England

Library A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...

Libraries of the University of Oxford Buildings and structures completed in 1772 Library buildings completed in the 18th century