A Peak into the Bodleian Libraries

 

Any instance I get to step foot into the Bodleian Library (any building of the many buildings), I feel like it's a special occasion. I have not taken a tour of the Bodleian in many years, probably 6-7 years ago, and I have been really wanting to go back in to breathe in the air of the libraries, to be close to those oldest books of the Duke Humphrey's Library, and enter the Radcliffe Camera again with the most gorgeous dome and classical round architecture amidst reading space and shelves of books. These dreamy locations are really the thing of dreams, my dream anyway.

  

I was not able to get tickets online before the trip, so I had given up hope that we would be able to visit this year. But as providence would had it, we got chatting with a lovely, friendly tour guide and information desk employee of the Bodleian, and learned we might be able to get tickets the day of if we arrived at opening time to collect the few remaining tickets they would make available. So of course we showed up to queue at opening time to get tickets for later that day. Thank you to our new friend at the Bodleian! 

The tour begins in the Divinity School, a gorgeous large room where originally lectures would have been held. It is now used for private events (even weddings), lectures, and preparation on graduation days (getting robed and moving outside to enter the Sheldonian Theatre which is just outside the Christopher Wren door). We moved into the Convocation Room beyond the Divinity School which was used for England's parliament in the 1600s during the reformation.

Then comes the library fun. We pass through the reader gates and climb the stairs up above the Divinity School to the Duke Humphrey's Library, which sits above it. This is the old library, where the books used to be chained to the shelves (thankfully that was removed). It features gallery style double decker layers of shelves, lower and upper reached by a tiny spiral staircase. The one section we were hanging out in housed about 14,000 books. Above our heads the ornately carved and painted square ceiling sections spotlighted many instances of the open book emblem, the coat of arms of the University of Oxford - Dominus Illuminatio Mea. It is taken from the beginning of Psalm 27, and it means "the Lord is my light". 

You might recognize this from several scenes in the Harry Potter films. Honestly though, that's a tiny aspect for me of the excitement. That's what gets the tourist booking tours, but for me, it's all about the books and the history. Bookish history and ancient libraries is completely fascinating to me - I read books about it, watch videos on it, and crave visiting such places as this, which holds such special treasures and history worth preserving. 

After going back downstairs and outside into the old quadrangle and through the walkway leading out to Radcliffe Square, we entered the gates into the inside sidewalk/lawn leading to the Radcliffe Camera. Upon entering the main door, there's a gorgeous floating spiral staircase that hugs the outside walls with wood. Each step closer to the lovely painted ceiling. The awe upon entering the large openness of the lovingly known 'Rad Cam' for a book lover, library lover, Oxford lover, is deep. There was a hushed silence as students worked. Every table and chair I could see were filled, lower and upper levels. I couldn't shake the grin off my face. I could see myself sitting on the upper level with some books at my elbow, working, reading, writing. This was a place for me. My ideal. I would be happy if everyone just left me there and I'd gladly spend the rest of the day right there. 

But, alas, I had to move on. We went to a different staircase that went straight down into the Gladstone Link, an underground section of the Bodleian with huge metal moving shelves that could be crammed together, more seating, and then onward into the space age tunnel (though the whole sections underground are from the early 1900s and used to house a conveyor belt that transported books from one building to another) that connects the Rad Cam to the Old Bodleian and the Weston Library even further away another block away. I love that there is an underground tunnel system connecting the main Bodleian buildings. It's another secret of Oxford that most people don't know about, and it peaks my imagination. Definitely one of the highlights of my visit.