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 …
Caring for Collections
The Week 7 seminar, in which books are stored, relics are lost, and stairs are climbed.
Codicology in the Weston: A whodunit through the Ages
Rebecca Schleuss, MSt Modern Langauges This sunny afternoon the History of the Book seminar met in the Weston Library’s lecture theatre to explore another important aspect of medieval manuscripts: their materiality. When you mostly work with editions of texts, it is easy to detach them from their physical containers and forget about their materiality. Andrew …
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 …
Digital Tools for History of the Book: Image Matching
By Tianyi Liu (MSt in Modern Languages) On 8 November 2023, as a prelude to the launch of the e-ilustrace database of early printed Czech books (https://e-ilustrace.cz/en/), Dr Giles Bergel treated the History of the Book class to a fascinating session on image matching technology. Giles Bergel trained as book historian and now works in …
Illuminating the Past: Czech Printed Images during the Reformation (c. 1450-1550) and the ‘e-ilustrace’ Database
A Presentation by Veronika Sladká One hundred years before Martin Luther’s arrival, the Reformation had already established itself in One hundred years before Martin Luther’s arrival, the Reformation had already established itself in Bohemia, resulting in a significant aversion towards sacred images. Nevertheless, bibliographical records suggest that around 6,000 printed images had been disseminated through …
Palaeography 101: Understanding, Dismantling and Deciphering the Codex
by Imogen Lewis (MSt. Modern Languages) Palaeography. Now halfway through Michaelmas term, History of the Book students may just about be able to spell the term – but do we really know what it means? Having stroked many a book, discovered the secrets contained within their binding, and even learned to painstakingly typeset our own, …
Sola Scriptura, sed quomodo scriptum?
The Presentation of Holy Texts Wilfried Kuugauraq Zibell, MSt. Yiddish Studies In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. – John 1:1 (KJV) The relationship between the written word and religion is, for the Abrahamic faiths and the regions where they have historically predominated, inextricable. The …
Transkribus – a Personal Report
by Henrike Lähnemann For the Digital Community of Practice organised by Emma Huber biweekly in the Taylorian Library, I had promised to speak on Transkribus on Thursday 2 November 2023 but have got a date clash; hence this short report which is meant to be supplemented by two practical demonstrations: by Karen Wenzel on transcribing …
Georges de Peyrebrune in the Taylorian
The Taylor Institution’s collection of Georges de Peyrebrune’s Works, a unique collection in the UK. by Marie Martine, DPhil in Modern Languages (German and French) I came across Georges de Peyrebrune during the first year of my DPhil as I was looking for women writers in contact with naturalist literary circles in end-of-nineteenth-century France. I …
Faust in Oxford
by Jed Surio (MSt in Modern Languages) Evanghélia Stead ‘Goethe’s Faust I outlined. Moritz Retzsch’s prints in circulation’ (open access available via Brill). The seminar consisted of two sessions with Evanghelia Stead: on 25 October 2023 a lecture followed by a show-and-tell session making use of the vast material on ‘Faust’ and ‘Werther’ brought together …