The Bodleian Libraries (BODcasts)
by Oxford University
The Bodleian Libraries at the University of Oxford is the largest university library system in the United Kingdom. It includes the principal University library - the Bodleian Library - which has been a legal deposit library for 400 years; as well as 28 other libraries across Oxford including major research libraries and faculty, department and institute libraries. Together, the Libraries hold more than 12 million printed items, over 80,000 e-journals and outstanding special collections including rare books and manuscripts, classical papyri, maps, music, art and printed ephemera. Members of the public can explore the collections via the Bodleian’s online image portal at digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk or by visiting the exhibition galleries in the Bodleian's Weston Library. For more information, visit www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk.
Episodes
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ARCHiOX - Seeing the Unseen in Oxford University Collections
Experts discuss how the latest 3D recording technology has supported their research by revealing near-invisible markings from originals held at Oxford University Institutions The very latest in 3D recording technology has revealed near-invisible markings from originals held at Oxford University...
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Reading in the Woods - Dating the Undatable: from blocks to prints
Elizabeth Savage and Ed Potten. A conversation reflecting on the techniques for ascribing dates to woodblocks and prints.
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Reading in the Woods - First Impressions: Woodblocks used for printing
Andrew Honey and Alexandra Franklin Discovering and re-discovering the uses of wooden printing blocks within a library.
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Reading in the Woods - Conserving the Wooden Library
Madeleine Katkov, Alex Walker and Nicole Gilroy Exploring the conservation of the fabric and content of Bodley’s Library.
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Modernist Photobooks, Propaganda and the Everyday
Associate Professor Donna West Brett gives a lecture on the collection of photobooks donated to the Bodleian Library in 2020 by Sir Charles Chadwyck-Healey. Conveying meaning through photos alone, the photobook is a radical format that enabled the widespread dissemination of modernist aesthetics....
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Exploring Chaucer Here and Now
In this webinar, Professor Marion Turner introduces some of the themes of Chaucer Here and Now, the exhibition currently on view at the Weston Library. Focusing on manuscripts and printed books from the fifteenth century to the twenty-first, Professor Marion Turner discusses some of the ways in...
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'The hooly blisful martir for to seke' Manuscripts with Chaucer’s pilgrims
Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales tell the story of pilgrims 'from every shires ende / Of Engelond to Caunterbury they wende’. Experience these journeys, both real and imagined, through medieval manuscripts from the Bodleian collection live under the visualiser. Dr Alison Ray, archivist at St Peter’s...
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We Rise (Together): Taking and Making Space for BIPOC Book Arts Creatives, Cultures, and Histories
Tia Blassingame introduced her work leading the Book/Print Artist/Scholar of Color Collective (aka Book/Print Collective) and shared methods for supporting and empowering BIPOC book and print artists In this lecture, Tia Blassingame introduced her work leading the Book/Print Artist/Scholar of…
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The Dancing Master in Context: Playford’s publishing and music-making in 17th century England
In this session, we explore what Playford’s publishing activities can tell us about how music was incorporated into different social environments in seventeenth-century English society and the role music played in peoples lives. Although The Dancing Master was one of John Playford’s best-known…
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A dance band for Playford?
This talk will consider how and why the frontispiece to this edition was different from those in earlier editions and place the image in relation to other images of ballroom dance bands before and after 1728. The music publisher John Playford built his success on the publication in 1651 of the...
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Persian lacquered bookbinding: A journey through its layers and conservation challenges
Conservation Scientist Prof. Dr. Mandana Barkeshli looks at lacquered bookbindings made by Persian artisans in the 16th to 19th centuries. Persian artisans are known for their contributions to the field of bookbinding, with the lacquered bookbinding technique being one of their notable...
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Analysis of Pigments on Painted Byzantine and Japanese Manuscripts
An introduction to the analysis of painted Byzantine and Japanese manuscripts by the Bodleian Libraries' new Heritage Scientist. The post of Heritage Scientist at the Bodleian Libraries was re-instated at the beginning of 2023, enabling the analysis of manuscripts in the library’s collection. The...
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Daniel Meadows - 50 years of The Free Photographic Omnibus
Daniel Meadows is a pioneer of contemporary British documentary practice. A photographer, documentarian and digital storyteller. He returns to the Bodleian library to muse on his life and archive and the power of photography. Photographer Daniel Meadows is a pioneer of contemporary British...
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Queer Bibliography: A Discussion
What is queer bibliography? How does it intersect with other critical bibliographies, (feminist, Black and liberation bibliography)? How does it relate to traditional bibliographic practice? What opportunities might queer methods and approaches provide? Following the inaugural symposium Queer...
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The New Nature of the Book: Publishing and Printing in the Post-Digital Era
In this lecture, Matthew Kirschenbaum considers textual stability, a concern of publishers and readers since before the advent of printing, in the post-digital era. Books are not dead as was once feared. But they are not the same either. With digital processes and workflows now thoroughly...
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What is Photography For?
Social documentary photographer Jim Mortram and photographer and publisher Craig Atkinson ponder why should we care about photography? Why take photographs? Why preserve them. Why should we care about photography? Why take photographs? Why preserve them? Social documentary photographer Jim…
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Making wood type then and now
Thomas Gravemaker explores the history of wood type printing as well as his own recent manufacture using digital design and a CNC router. Wood type has a history as long as printing itself. Thomas Gravemaker, Printer in Residence at the Bodleian Bibliographical Press during March 2023, tells the...
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Modern Times: Photography in Britain 1800–1850
Geoffrey Batchen explores the first fifty years of photography in Britain. The announcement of photography’s invention in January 1839, first in Paris and then in London, introduced a new power into British life. This new power—derived from photography’s capacity to automatically capture the…
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ARCHiOX - Seeing the Unseen in Bodleian Collections
A research collaboration between the Bodleian Libraries and the Factum Foundation The Factum Foundation for Digital Technology in Conservation is a not-for-profit organisation, founded by Adam Lowe in 2009 in Madrid. The Foundation was established to demonstrate the importance of documenting,...
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Unveiling the invisible belt: the shareholders of the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company, 1897–1901
Drawing on a detailed survey of shareholders of the Marconi in 1897 and 1900, this lecture will trace an overall profile of the diverse categories of investors who dared to back this venture through it's experimental phase to becoming commercially viable. What were the economics of radio’s...
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Making machines: Mary Shelley and Ada Lovelace
Join our experts in conversation as they consider the thinking of two great 19th century women writers exploring the boundary between human and machine Using the notebooks of Sir Humphry Davy, an influence on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, and the surviving manuscripts of the novel itself…
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Meet the pigments: the art and science of early English decoration
Discover how cutting-edge scientific techniques are transforming our understanding of medieval manuscripts, and how book production began to recover under King Alfred and his successors
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North Sea Crossings: inside the exhibition
Discover the treasures that illustrate how exchanges between England and the Netherlands have shaped literature, book production and institutions such as the Bodleian itself, on either side of the North Sea.
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Meet the Manuscripts: the Renaissance reform of the book
Dr Martin Holford and Dr David Rundle explore how the Italian Renaissance led to major changes in how manuscripts were made, written and decorated in England.
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Meet the Maps: Unconventional Views of Oxford
Focusing on four very different maps of Oxford - each of the maps has its own tale to tell, some showing Oxford as it was; others showing Oxford as it might have been; and others how Oxford never was. This webinar will be focus on four very different maps of Oxford from the standpoint of why…
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MS Ashmole 1504
Dating from around 1520 and probably conceived as a pattern book, this manuscript is best described as a 'herbal and bestiary' and contains images of flora and fauna together with stylised, floriated ornaments and coloured alphabets. MS Ashmole 1504, which can best be described as a 'herbal and...
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Meet the Manuscripts: Correcting Christmas Carols
In the 3rd talk in our Meet the Manuscripts series, you will learn how singers lived with change in their favourite songs, and hear carols of the Middle Ages both familiar and new. Have you ever come close to fisticuffs with a friend over the tune to which ‘O little town of Bethlehem’ should be...
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Meet the Manuscripts: Uncomfortable English Manuscripts
In this lecture, we look at some beautiful, austere, and distinctively uncomfortable manuscripts and learn how the Middle Ages shaped the way we read today both in print and on screen. Medieval manuscripts written in early English are familiar and yet foreign to us, not only for their language…
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Meet the Manuscripts: Meet the Fragments
Exploring their physical function in manuscripts – and the bad things that can happen when they are removed for study – as well as showing what they can contribute to book history. Leafing through a manuscript, it’s easy to ignore the fragments of other books that were often used to strengthen…
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Roots to Seeds: the evolution of plant science
Join Professor Stephen Harris (Curator of Roots to Seeds at the Bodleian Library) and Dr Chris Thorogood, (Oxford Botanic Garden and Harcourt Arboretum) as they discuss the past, present and future of botanical research and teaching. Discover how the herbarium of Bobart the Elder, John Sibthorp's...
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Body of evidence
In this online event, Ana Paula Cordeiro, the creator of Body of Evidence, speaks from the workshop in New York City where she produced it. She will be joined in conversation by Merve Emre, Associate Professor of American Literature. Body of Evidence (2020) is an artist's book that examines the...
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Singing together; apart: drama and medieval chant
As both audience members and actors, you will learn to sing the classic Easter sequence hymn 'Victimae paschali laudes' ('Praises to the paschal victim') and see how it formed part of a medieval play. Gregorian chant is an ancient communal song tradition, much loved for its calming, meditative…
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Meet the Manuscripts: hidden treasures of medieval illumination
Matthew Holford, Tolkien Curator of Medieval Manuscripts, and Martin Kauffmann, Head of Early and Rare Collections, in conversation about the artists, patrons and significance of three extraordinary manuscripts. Some of the greatest treasures of medieval painting are not displayed on museum walls...
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Singing Together; Apart: Gregorian Chant Workshop for Candlemas
Building on the repertoire from our previous workshop, we will add further pieces for Candlemas where everybody is invited to join in by singing the communal response Gregorian chant is an ancient communal song tradition with its roots in the medieval Church, but its calming, meditative effect…
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Meet the Manuscripts: judging a book by its cover
The covers can tell us as much about a book as its contents. This workshop explores the secrets which bookbindings reveal about the uses and histories of medieval manuscripts.
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Singing Together; Apart: Gregorian Chant Workshop – Song of Simeon
In this online choir workshop you will learn to sing along with a simple voice part from the Candlemas Nunc Dimittis and see the 15th-century manuscript from the Cistercian nunnery of Medingen where the music is preserved in the Bodleian Libraries A Gregorian chant workshop based on the...
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Reynard the Fox
In this BodCast from the Friends of the Bodleian, Professor Dame Marina Warner interviews Anne Louise Avery, writer and art historian, on the subject of Avery's recent book, Reynard the Fox https://bodleianshop.co.uk/products/reynard-the-fox Based on William Caxton's bestselling 1481 English...
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Jewish Treasures from Oxford Libraries
Join Rebecca Abrams in conversation with Samuel Fanous to discuss her riveting and beautiful new book, edited with César Merchan-Hamann, Jewish Treasures from Oxford Libraries. You can purchase the book https://bodleianshop.co.uk/products/jewish-treasures
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Trinity: A Real Life Spy Story
Frank Close tells the story of Klaus Fuchs and the Bodleian Library. Trinity was the codename for the test explosion of the atomic bomb in New Mexico on 16 July 1945. In this talk, Frank Close tells the story of the bomb's metaphorical father, Rudolf Peierls (Prof Close's one time mentor in...
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Pieces of Gold: Piecing together a mutilated Timurid masterpiece
Shiva Mihan, Harvard Art Museums and Bahari Visiting Fellow at the Bodleian Libraries, gives a talk on her work in Persian arts. Manuscripts produced in the 15th century under Timurid patrons are among the most exquisite examples of Persian arts of the book. Codices containing sumptuous...
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Accumulating narrative: Meaning and mutation in letterpress printing
David Armes (Red Plate Press), the Bodleian’s Printer in Residence 2019-20, describes artists and ideas that influence his work, asking how meaning can mutate through the process of production. And, what impact the physicality of materials has, and how we can read narratives created through...
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Islamic manuscripts and bindings as a window on East-West relations
The making, use and trade of manuscripts was an important part of Islamic culture, the technical developments influenced the making of books in the west from the later medieval period onward. When dominance of powers shifted, the perception of the Islamic manuscript tradition also changed. While...
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2020 Colin Ford Lecture
Professor Larry Schaaf delivers the 2020 Colin Ford Lecture, providing a fascinating insight into his work on The William Henry Fox Talbot Catalogue Raisonne. There are approximately 25,000 Fox Talbot prints known worldwide, these range from crude experiments through to highly accomplished works…
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Defying Hitler: The White Rose Resistance Group
Dr Alexandra Lloyd, Lecturer in German, Magdalen College and St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford, gives a talk on the White Rose Resistance Group. In 1943 five students and a professor at the University of Munich were arrested, tried, and executed. They were members of The White Rose (Die Weiße...
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Leonardo's thoughts on mechanics and useful inventions
6,000 surviving notes and drawings reveal Leonardo da Vinci’s way of thinking. This talk focuses on Leonardo’s second book, On Mechanics, and explores how he later applied mechanical laws to studies for 'useful inventions'.
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Particles in space
Join Dr Donal Hill for a tour of the invisible, as he describes how particle detectors measure 3D information to help uncover the secrets of tiny fundamental particles.
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Getting to the heart of cardiac disease: a multi-disciplinary effort to image the heart in 3D
Discover how researchers are using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to acquire images that show how the heart works on both a whole organ and cellular level. With Dr Kerstin Timm and Dr Justin Lau.
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Plans and elevation: the development of architectural drawings
Dr Karl Kinsella introduces a 12th-century manuscript which explores the mystical visions of the prophet Ezekiel and contains some of the earliest architectural drawings in existence.
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Parallel lines down the centuries
For 21 centuries, mathematicians worried about a fundamental assumption made by Euclid of Alexandria: that parallel lines must meet at infinity. Could geometry ‘work’ without this assumption? The answer caused mathematicians to reassess the nature of mathematics itself.
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Decay and closure of libraries - The Lyell Lectures 2019 (6)
Professor Richard Sharpe, Lyell Reader in Bibliography 2018-2019 gives the sixth and final lecture in the 2019 Lyell series. Part of the series; Libraries and books in medieval England: the role of libraries in a changing book economy. The histories of libraries in medieval England offer an…
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About this show
The Bodleian Libraries at the University of Oxford is the largest university library system in the United Kingdom. It includes the principal University library - the Bodleian Library - which has been a legal deposit library for 400 years; as well as 28 other libraries across Oxford including major research libraries and faculty, department and institute libraries. Together, the Libraries hold more than 12 million printed items, over 80,000 e-journals and outstanding special collections including rare books and manuscripts, classical papyri, maps, music, art and printed ephemera. Members of the public can explore the collections via the Bodleian’s online image portal at digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk or by visiting the exhibition galleries in the Bodleian's Weston Library. For more information, visit www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk.
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