The Bodleian Library in Oxford, whose world famous collection of books, manuscripts and artifacts has up to now only been open to scholars, is about to open its doors to all comers thanks to a major cash donation.The 5 million pounds being given by Julian Blackwell of the academic bookshop chain of the same name will allow the library to build a new hall to open access to the collection and put much of it on permanent public view for the first time.“The Bodleian is unique. It not only has the largest and most important University collections in the world, but it is leading the development of cutting-edge information services which are so vital to academic research,” Blackwell said .“I am proud that my personal Trust can support the Bodleian and thereby enable its neighbor, Blackwell’s, to be a shared destiny lifetime partner,” he added.Among the items in the priceless collection are the earliest complete book written in the English language and dating from 890 AD, one of only eight surviving Gutenberg Bibles and Shakespeare’s First Folio. It also holds the original manuscripts of many book classics including Frankenstein and a map given to the king and queen of Spain which was probably used in discussions with Christopher Columbus before his 1492 voyage to discover the New World.Founded in 1602, the Bodleian holds more than 9 million volumes as well as artifacts such as a chair made for Francis Drake from the beams of the Golden Hind in which he circumnavigated the globe between 1577 and 1580.The Bodleian is the biggest university library in Britain and second in size in the country only to the British Library. Scholars come from all over the world to study the collection which is held in vaults on more than 120 miles of shelves.Only on very rare occasions are items put on public display, such as last December when the library put four 13th century copies of the Magna Carta on view for just six hours.Scholars wanting to study items in the collection are required to take an oath that they will not remove or damage any document or light a fire in the library.
