The Shaping Scholarship project has newly identified a book once owned by John Dee among the earliest gifts to the Bodleian Library. His distinctive ownership inscription was immediately recognised by CELL PhD student Samantha Brown.
When Thomas Bodley re-founded Oxford University’s library in 1598, he knew he would need the help of a “great store of honourable friends” for the project to be a success. The early Bodleian Library had many colonial connections, and the public database of the early donations to the Library (c. 1600–1620) which we are producing for this project will help further research in this area.
One rich example of the Bodleian’s acquisition of books produced outside of Europe is provided by the donation of £20 (nearly £3000 today) in 1607 from Katherine Sandys née Bulkeley. Katherine was a shrewd businesswoman and the fourth wife of Edwin Sandys: a prominent MP, religious writer, and coloniser.
In this first post we’ll be introducing the broad aims of the project and the team behind it.
Getting to grips with the the record of the thousands of gifts to the library between 1602 and 1688.