Special Collections
Brief details of the EFL's special collections are listed below. Please note that access is restricted to 9.00 am - 5 pm, Monday to Friday and, in the case of the Wilfred Owen Collection, only by prior arrangement with the Librarian.
The Wilfred Owen Collection
The collection was presented to the English Faculty in 1975 by Mrs Harold Owen and consists of Owen's own library, together with manuscripts, photographs, letters and an almost complete set of The Hydra, the Journal of the Craiglockhart War Hospital. Much of the collection has been digitised and can be viewed via the Wilfred Owen Multimedia Digital Archive. For access to the Owen collection, please apply in advance to the Librarian.
One of our Owen manuscripts is currently being exhibited in the new Treasures of the Bodleian exhibition. See the Treasures of the Bodleian exhibition website for further information.
Icelandic Collections
Books and journals relating to the study of Old Norse-Icelandic language and literature are held in the Turville-Petre Room. Books at shelfmark CJ may be borrowed.
The core lending collection has benefited by the addition of: the personal library of the late Professor E.O.G. (Gabriel) Turville-Petre (1908-1978), Professor of Ancient Icelandic Literature & Antiquities, Oxford University, 1953-1975; the W.P. Ker (1855-1923) Collection, comprising approximately 700 volumes (including some important antiquarian material) on permanent loan from All Souls; the York Powell Collection, approximately 1200 volumes from the libraries of Gudbrandur Vigfusson (1827-1889) and Frederick York Powell (1850-1904) (including many rare items from the eighteenth and nineteeth centuries, Scandanavian and German editions and critical works) on permanent loan from Christ Church.
See also: EGIL (Electronic Gateway for Icelandic Literature).
The Meyerstein Collection
The collection consists of the literary works and papers of E.H.W. Meyerstein (1889-1952).
The Napier Collection
The Old and Middle English sections of the library were based on Professor A.S. Napier's (1853-1916) personal library, which was acquired in 1916. The Napier pamphlets include many scarce late 19th and early 20th century academic dissertations on Old and Middle English philology.
Oxford University was a partner in the RSLP 19th Century Pamphlets Project, which funded the cataloguing of the Napier pamphlets. Click here for further details.
Pre-1850 Collection
The library possesses 251 volumes listed in Pollard and Redgrave's Short Title Catalogue 1475-1640 and approximately 9,000 pre-1850 volumes in total. These are held on closed access in the Rare Book Room.
The library also has books donated by a number of distinguished scholars such as J.R.R. Tolkien, Dame Helen Gardner and N.R. Ker.
- Wilfred Owen (1893 -1918) Image © Wilfred Owen Estate
- Ian Hislop viewing papers from the Owen collection