. Historic bindings in the Bodleian Library, Oxford : with reproductions of twenty-four of the finest bindings. e made to discourse for awhile upon that pleasant conversation we infer that theworthy doctor regarded this subject from an historicas well as from an artistic point of view: by sodoing he testified to the intimate relationship betweenart and history, and to the helpfulness of the one in interpretingthe other. Indeed it may be taken for granted that every beautifulobject has a story worth knowing, and there is of necessity a closeconnexion between the history of a li
. Historic bindings in the Bodleian Library, Oxford : with reproductions of twenty-four of the finest bindings. e made to discourse for awhile upon that pleasant conversation we infer that theworthy doctor regarded this subject from an historicas well as from an artistic point of view: by sodoing he testified to the intimate relationship betweenart and history, and to the helpfulness of the one in interpretingthe other. Indeed it may be taken for granted that every beautifulobject has a story worth knowing, and there is of necessity a closeconnexion between the history of a library and the books it the case of an ancient institution like the Bodleian the connexionis both close and interesting; as intimate as that of the binding tothe book. To quote the words of a celebrated living statesman, The binding of a book is the dress with which it walks out intothe world. The paper, type, and ink are the body in which its soulis domiciled, and these three, soul, body, and habiliments are atriad, which ought to be adjusted to one another by the laws ofharmony and good TLbe precursors of tbe Bobleian. eneath the Oxford of to-day repose the remains of acity of the past, monastic rather than collegiate;a city with buildings and institutions rivalingthose of modern Oxford in extent and in Frideswides nunnery, now Christ Church, wasthe nucleus around which the schools, both secular and claustral, of this monastic centre gradually gathered, until theydeveloped into an university wherein colleges occupied the place ofabbeys and friaries. Later the walled city, dominated by a feudal B X INTRODUCTION. castle, gave place to the ungated streets and broad highways ofa modern town. The outward aspect of Oxford was changed; theculture remained and remains. Monasteries and schools almost of necessity imply libraries;indeed in the Benedictine and Franciscan cloisters most of thelearning and culture which survived the night of the dark ages, an
Size: 1576px × 1585px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookidhi, booksubjectbookbinding
