Thursday, 10 June 2010
Oriel's Library, circa 1329
In reading about Oriel I came across this interesting little anecdote about how the college library worked in the early 1300's—this was before even the heyday of chained libraries. (And obviously way before this picture of the Senior Library today was taken!)
Each year, at the Feast of All Souls, in presence of the Provost or his viceregent and of the whole college, an inspection of the college books was to be held; each Scholar was to choose a book most appropriate to his studies, which he might keep until the following All Souls' Day, when the process would be repeated. After the fashion of the Middle Age, it seemed to be assumed that the number of books and Scholars should correspond. In the event of there being more books than Scholars, it was provided that the excess should be disposed of in some way. Books in those days were too precious to be allowed to lie idle on shelves.
—"Oriel College" by David Watson Rannie, p. 14
Imagine that: studying at Oxford University—an even rarer privilege back then than it is today—and your resources are comprised of a single book for the whole year! The number of scholars, moreover, was actually determined on a one-to-one basis by the number of books they had!
I can't imagine studying with only one book for a whole year, but it is interesting to imagine what it must have been like back then.
