A new volume of Christ Church Library Newsletter has just been published. The journal is available in hard-copy and online. This is an academic publication primarily documenting and interpreting aspects of the collection at Christ Church, but not only. All aspects of descriptive and historical bibliography come within its scope, including the history of the production, distribution and reception of books, provenance, the history of collecting and of libraries, paper, printing, binding and conservation.
The latest issue consists of 48 pages of articles and studies on a wide range of topics, highlighting the depth and variety of very recent research conducted on the Christ Church collections.
Volume 12, Issue 1 (2020-2021) includes new research on the provenance of of 'the John Salusbury manuscripts' (MS 183 and MS 184) and the dating of Alessandro Scarlatti's operatic masterpiece, Flavio Cuniberto (Mus 989). It also welcomes Gabriel Sewell, the new College Librarian, in a short interview with the Editor. This issue contains a much needed survey of the extensive collection of manuscripts by Tristram Sugge, and an in-depth study of two unrelated texts in MS 193. It also provides new insights into Lord Portal's archive at Christ Church, it dwells on recent conservation work on von Breydenbach's Peregrinatio in Terram Sanctam, and it highlights the very little known, but extremely important connection between William Wake and Nikolaos Mavrocordatos, as it surfaces from correspondence preserved at Christ Church Library. Finally, this issue also draws attention to the latest book by Judith Curthoys, The Story of the Land and Livings of Christ Church, Oxford, it briefly describes Henry Sydall's 1534 Antwerp Bible, an item newly acquired for Special Collections, and discusses in detail a series of rare Bibles with surprising provenance, while briefly mentioning the 1676 Bodleian Book Auction.
Dr Cristina Neagu
Keeper of Special Collections
* To access all issues of the journal, please go to Publications - Christ Church Library Newsletter
* For other news related to Special Collections, please go the library Exhibitions and Research
