A LENGTHY TASK

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 3, Issue 717, 18 December 1933, Page 7

A LENGTHY TASK

OXFORD BOOKS TW;0 HUNDRED YEARS SPENT IN COMPILING A LIST. ! . i ALL NOW CATALOGUED. (Oxford University is on thie point of completing' a work which it has been vainly attempting to aecomplish for the last 200 years. The gre'ater part of the task involved in compiling a catalogue of all the books. an Oxford puhlished blefore 1641, and not in the Bodleian Library, has be:en • finished, says the Christian Science Monitor. The catalogue cont'ains about 50,000 names, and it is hoped that editorial work preliminary to publieation will begih soon. This editorial work is expected to require ahout four yiears. For the first time in history it will be possible to see at, a glance what boolcs are to be found in the libraries of the various colleges. It is estimated that in Oxford there are about 3,000,000 books and 60,000 manscripts. Some 1,500,000 of the printed books are in the Bodleian, but the resources of the colleges are practically unlcnown: Thus it liappens that ,a.t present a scholar may have .to write to twienty or more librarians before he finds wh'ether any college library possesses any particular hook. The authori'ties regard the completion of the catalogue as a work of immense importance, which will graatly facilitate studies in the university. It is described as "one of the ©reatest efforts ever made towards library co-operation." In 1925 Professor Morison, Harmsworth Professor of American History, said that among the difficulties to learning in Oxford "must be counted the libraries. They are hopslessly uncoordinated, and so dec'entralised that it talces years to learn what books on one's own subjeet may be there." The First Plan. The first scheme for such a catalogu2 as is now in hand was evolved in 1738, but evoked no response. In 1794 the Bodleian cupators made a personal appeal, which was so far successful as to impel five colleges to send in lists of their books during the next seven years. A further scheme was hrought forward in 1850, when some progress is alleged to have been made. In 1911 another attempt to bring order into the literary chaos failed. The present triumphant movemsnt was initiated in 1929, when the Oxford Bibliographical Society published a list of early printed books in Magdalen College Library. Then the various colleges began to co-operate, choosing the date 1641 as ending the period immediately before the great flood of Civil War pamphlets. It is thought that these investigations into the rich.es of Oxford College libraries will reveal many unexpected treasures. One of the oldest of these libraries is that of All Souls, which was established by Archbishop Michele in 1443. It contains 40,000 volum.es and 300 MSS. Corpus has a fine collection of Aldines, Oriel is famous for its works on comparative philology and mythology, St. John's for theology and law before 1750, and Wladham for botanical treatises, presented in 1775 by Riehard Wiarner. Most of the other college libraries are rich in one or more special branches of learning.