Oxford Libraries Architecture

Geoffrey Tyack, Dan Paton

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English

Bodleian Library
26 June 2025

Public buildings: civic, commercial, industrial; History of architecture

The libraries of the University of Oxford and its colleges are among the most splendid, but also the least-known, buildings in the city. Spanning over 800 years of architectural design and taste, nowhere else boasts such a wealth of libraries in so compact an area.

While for centuries, Oxford's libraries were repositories of knowledge in the form of manuscripts and printed books, to be consulted only by scholars, today they serve both the advancement of learning and the teaching needs of thousands of undergraduate and postgraduate students. Over the years, Oxford's libraries attracted wealthy donors, some of whom, like John Radcliffe, gave generously to the provision of impressive and architecturally innovative buildings to house the books. These buildings are still among the most impressive features of Oxford's architectural landscape, helping to define its visual identity. Architectural styles range from medieval wooden stalls to the asymmetrical stainless steel and glass of the twentieth-first century, and notable architects include Sir Christopher Wren, Nicholas Hawksmoor, Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, Sir Edwin Lutyens, Arne Jacobsen and Zaha Hadid.

With exquisite, specially commissioned photography, this profusely illustrated book invites readers through the doors of over fifty beautiful and iconic libraries, revealing how they are steeped in history, learning and cultural change.

By: Geoffrey Tyack
Illustrated by: Dan Paton
Imprint: Bodleian Library
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 259mm, Width: 237mm,
ISBN: 9781851246052
ISBN 10: 1851246053
Pages: 336
Publication Date: 26 June 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Preface Foreword Introduction All Souls College Balliol College Art, Archaeology and Ancient World Library Bodleian Old Library Brasenose College Campion Hall Christ Church Corpus Christi College English Faculty Library and Law Library Exeter College Harris Manchester College Hertford College Jesus College Keble College Lady Margaret Hall Lincoln College Magdalen College Mansfield College Merton College New College Oriel College Oxford Brookes University Library Oxford Union Library Pembroke College

Geoffrey Tyack is an emeritus Fellow of Kellogg College, University of Oxford. Dan Paton is a commercial photographer specialising in architecture, lighting, interiors and the built environment, as well as portrait, PR, and event photography.

Reviews for Oxford Libraries Architecture

This book is full of magic. -- Richard Lofthouse * Off the Shelf * THIS is a sumptuous book, full of insight and lavishly illustrated with brilliantly evocative photographs by Dan Paton. I have rarely seen library interiors, usually fusty, brown shadowed places, look so fresh and engaging. Geoffrey Tyack’s text, as one would expect from an Oxford academic, is meticulous in its scholarship, but effortlessly accessible, with passages of delight in the buildings he is describing. -- Timothy Mowl