The Bodleian Libraries offer a range of exhibitions and events throughout the year.

MAIN EXHIBITIONS

NOW
Love and Devotion: From Persia and Beyond 

29 Nov 2012 - 28 April 2013

Celebrate the beauty of Persian manuscripts, and the stories of human and divine love they tell, in this captivating exhibition featuring more than sixty visually stunning Persian manuscript from the library’s collection. They will include rare examples of 13th- to 18th-century Persian, Mughal Indian and Ottoman Turkish illustrated manuscripts. These magnificently illustrated works come from one of the richest periods in the history of the book and give a fascinating insight into the great artistic and literary culture of Persia and its timeless stories.

There will also be a series of lunchtime lectures accompanying the exhibition. For more details please visit our Forthcoming Events page.

The exhibition is also available online in a series of image galleries. 

TEMPORARY DISPLAYS 

Early English Childhood

The history of children entered a new era between about 1300 and 1500. Illuminated manuscripts began to feature historic children, such as Christ and the young Virgin Mary, and children of the period playing various kinds of games. More literature was written for children, ranging from Latin schoolbooks to Chaucer’s Astrolabe, courtesy books and the humorous story The Friar and the Boy. The Bodleian Library has rich holdings in these areas, a selection of which will be on display in the Proscholium. 

There will also be a lunchtime lecture by Professor Nicholas Orme accompanying the display on 23 January. For more details and how to book please visit our Forthcoming Events page.

FORTHCOMING

Mexico: from picture to print

The first printing press in the Americas began operating in what would become Mexico City in 1540, a good hundred years before the English colonies in the Americas. This display showcases a number of early printed books from Mexico, including volumes in indigenous languages such as Nahuatl and Zapotec. The books reflect the history of printing in the New World, as well as exploring themes of travel and discovery. The centrepiece of the exhibition, however, will not be a printed book. The Codex Mendoza, commissioned by Antonio de Mendoza, first Viceroy of Mexico 1535−1550, is one of the treasures of the Bodleian. As well as copies of a lost chronicle of the Aztec lords of Tenochtitlan, and an ancient Tribute Roll, this fascinating manuscript depicts Aztec life from birth to death in traditional Aztec pictograms, with annotations in Spanish made by a Nahuatl-speaking Spanish priest.

There will also be a lunchtime lecture accompanying the display on 14 March. For more details please visit our Forthcoming Events page.

ONE-DAY DISPLAY 

World Book Day: Shirley Hughes at the Bodleian

7 March 2013

10.00 – 16.00 Divinity School  

To celebrate the acquisition of the Shirley Hughes archive, the Bodleian will mark World Book Day 2013 with a small display of original drawings and manuscripts featuring Alfie, Dogger and other favourites by this much loved children’s author and illustrator. Shirley Hughes, an award-winning children’s author and illustrator, deposited her collection of original artwork with the Bodleian Library in September 2012. It contains sketches and paintings from many of her works including the Alfie and My Naughty Little Sister collections, Dogger, and Ella’s Big Chance. It was when Ms Hughes was studying at Oxford’s Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art that she was encouraged to work in the format for which she became famous.

There will also be a lunchtime lecture accompanying the display. For more details please visit our Forthcoming Events page.