Bodleian Library, the public library of Oxford University, restored by Sir Thomas Bodley (q.v.) in 1598, his first act being the presentation of a large collection of valuable books, purchased on the Continent at an expense of £10,000. Through his influence and noble example, the library was speedily enriched by numerous other important contributions. Among the earliest subsequent benefactors of the Bodleian Library, which was opened in 1603, with a well-assorted collection of upwards of 2000 volumes, were the Earl of Pembroke, who presented it with 250 volumes of valuable Greek MSS.; Sir Thomas Roe; Sir Kenelm Digby; Robert Burton, author of the Anatomy of Melancholy; and Archbishop Laud, who made it a magnificent donation of 1300 MSS. in more than twenty different languages. Upwards of 8000 volumes of the library of the famous John Selden (q.v.) went to the Bodleian Library. General Fairfax presented the library with many MSS., among which was Roger Dodsworth's collection of 160 volumes on English history. The greatest benefactor in the 18th century was Dr Richard Rawlinson, who, dying in 1755, left his complete collection of books and MSS. to the Bodleian Library. The MSS. amounted to upwards of 4800. George Ballard, who died in the same year (1755), bequeathed to the library 44 MS. volumes of interesting letters, with other valuable MSS. During the present century, the most important bequests have been the collections of Richard Gough, on British Topography and Saxon and Northern Literature; the choicest books from the library of Edmund Malone, the editor of Shakespeare; and the valuable books, prints, drawings, and coins of Francis Douce; also a sum of £40,000, by the Rev. Robert Mason, the interest to be expended on books. By purchase, the library acquired some magnificent collections of Oriental, Greek, Latin, and Hebrew books and MSS. The Bodleian Library is particularly rich in biblical codices, rabbinical literature, and materials for British history. By the Copyright Act it is entitled to a copy of every book printed in the United Kingdom. The number of volumes it possesses is estimated at about 460,000, in addition to between 20,000 and 30,000 in manuscript. The first catalogue of the printed books was published by the first librarian, Dr James, in 1605; the last, nearly two centuries and a half later (in 1843), in 3 vols., by
Dr Bandinel, the eleventh who held the office since the institution of the library. In the interval, several catalogues of various departments of the library were published; and a supplemental volume was added by Dr Bandinel in 1851. By statutes drawn up for the government of the library by Sir Thomas Bodley, it was decreed that the vice-chancellor, the proctors, and the regius professors of divinity, law, medicine, Hebrew, and Greek, should be visitors and curators; a statute passed in 1856 added 'five more residents to be elected by congregation for ten years, if continuing to reside, and to be re-eligible.' The library opens daily at nine o'clock in the morning; from April to July it closes at five; in February, March, August, September, and October at four; and in November, December, and January at three. It is shut during certain holidays, and for visitation purposes, in the aggregate, about 34 days in the year, besides Sundays. Since 1861 the domed Radcliffe Library (now Camera Bodleiana) has served as a reading-room, open all the year from 10 A.M. to 10 P.M. Books neither rare nor valuable may be lent, by vote of Convocation, to persons working in other institutions of the university, and, by the authority of the librarian or curators, to professors of the university of Oxford. The history of the library is very carefully traced in the Rev. W. D. Macray's Annals of the Bodleian Library (1868; 2d ed. 1890).