Welcome to the Taylor Institution Library! The Taylor Institution is the University of Oxford’s library for Modern Foreign Languages. It was funded by Sir Robert Taylor in a codicil to his will in 1788. Due to his will being contested, the University didn’t have access to the funds until 1834, when it was also considering …
Hans Sachs in Oxford 4: The Edition
By Henrike Lähnemann Preface to the Edition 2024 marks the 500th anniversary of Hans Sachs publishing in quick succession four prose dialogues which became bestsellers, particularly the first one where he has his alter ego, Hans the cobbler, debate a pompous priest – and win the day, of course. That the Taylorian was aware of …
Hans Sachs Edition 3: The Pamphlets in Oxford
By Philip Flacke The Reformation in sixteenth-century Germany was a matter of public debate to a scale that had never been seen before. It was carried by a generation, born between 1470 and 1500, whom Thomas Kaufmann has recently characterised as ‘printing natives’ in analogy to the digital natives of today.1 These women and men …
Hans Sachs in Oxford 2: English Reformation Dialogues
By Jacob Ridley When the nine-year-old Edward VI came to the throne of England in January 1547, the floodgates of English Protestant print opened. His father Henry VIII had declared an independent Church of England in 1534, rejecting the authority of the Pope, but Henry remained theologically conservative and enforced heresy laws against the more …
Hans Sachs in Oxford 1: Historical Context
By Thomas Wood Situated on the river Pegnitz in the heart of the Holy Roman Empire, the Nuremberg of Hans Sachs was a thriving Free City that acted in 1524 as a site of both Imperial power and religious conflict. In the late Middle Ages and into the sixteenth century, Nuremberg had been a prosperous …
History of the Book meets Palaeography!
Of making many books there may be no end, but studying the boundless treasure of manuscripts held in the Weston Library is anything but a weariness of the flesh. That was, at least, the experience of the MML History of the Book students on Wednesday of 2nd week as they ventured up to the Horton …
In the beginning was the book
by Charlie Burrows (MSt. Modern Languages) Over the holidays, this year’s History of the Book class was set the simple but daunting task of choosing a book to present to the class during their first session of Michaelmas Term. Students might have been lured into thinking this to be an easy task when compared to …
Of a Certain Type: Dialogues and Dancing Death in the Bodleian Bibliographical Press
By Molly Bray (MSt in Medieval Studies) For our first session as book-historians-in-training, we asked the question, ‘what is a book?’ Is it the form, the function? Now, for our second session, we get to see and, indeed, operate the mechanics that make one. Held behind a large wooden door and the once-accurate waymarker of …
Information session: MSt in Modern Languages at the University of Oxford
Are you interested in the study of Modern Languages on an advanced degree level? Would you like to be part of a large research community spanning seven languages, with research interests ranging from Medieval Studies all the way to Contemporary Literature Studies? Would you like to spend 9 months at one of the oldest universities …
Hans Sachs in Oxford
On the 500th anniversary of their first publication, the first of the four hilarious, successful and witty Reformation Dialogues by Hans Sachs is reissued in a new edition. This includes a new English translation, a historical introduction, linguistic footnotes, and also the 15th century Dutch and English translations. The launch event comes in three parts, …
10 rules for an Oxford internship you’d regret not knowing
Oxford, more than many other cities, is like a game. To merely observe is fascinating. As an Oxford intern you will get the chance to play a little yourself. You won’t have to know all the rules and moves since there’ll be lots of kind players to help you and time to learn as you …