The Building Accounts of Christ Church Library 1716-1779. A transcription with an introduction and indices of donors and craftsmen.
Oxford: For Presentation to the Members of the Roxburghe Club, 1988. One of a small number of copies printed for the Roxburghe Club. This was a Member's Copy reserved for Franklin B. Adams, Jr., and his name is underlined in red on the list of Roxburghe Club Members. Photographically reproduced color frontispiece; five plates illustrated in black and white on both the verso and the recto. Bookplate of Frederick Baldwin Adams, Jr. on front pastedown. Binding extremities worn with a few small bumps to boards, else a fine copy. Red cloth stamped decoratively in gilt with a gilt-lettered red morocco spine. Top edge gilt. Folio. 12], 120 pp. Item #16279
In his preface, J. N. L. Myres, the former librarian of Christ Church, writes, "The Library of Christ Church...is one of the largest and most distinguished, both for its fabric and its contents, of the learned libraries in [England], and indeed in Europe. This volume is not concerned with the Library's contents, outstanding as they are in their range, quality, and variety of interest for scholars in many fields of literary, historical, and artistic learning. It is concerned...with the background to the creation over a great part of the eighteenth century of a splendid building deliberately designed to rival, and indeed surpass, other great academic libraries of the age of such as those of Trinity College, Dublin, Trinity College, Cambridge, and All Souls College here in Oxford. The Building Accounts of our library so carefully kept for the Dean and Chapter in the large folio volume here transcribed...illuminate not merely the progress of the building itself and the activities of members of the House...but also the work of the craftsmen whose varied technical skills made its building and adornment such a triumphant achievement. These accounts thus preserve and present a varied and vivid picture of Oxford life both academic and civic at a time of great building activity in City and University alike."
Price: $250.00