page_title: Bodleian Library
section_title: Later 17th and 18th centuries
hierarchical_section_title: Bodleian Library / History / Later 17th and 18th centuries
caption_attribution_description: English: England, 1843 circa, printed 1843 circa Photographs Talbotype Image: 7 1/4 x 8 3/4; Mount: 20 x16; Mat: 20 x 16 The Marjorie and Leonard Vernon Collection, gift of The Annenberg Foundation, acquired from Carol Vernon and Robert Turbin (M.2008.40.905) Photography
context_page_description: The Bodleian Library is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. With over 12 million items, it is the second-largest library in Britain after the British Library. Under the Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003 it is one of six legal deposit libraries for works published in the United Kingdom, and under Irish law it is entitled to request a copy of each book published in the Republic of Ireland. Known to Oxford scholars as "Bodley" or "the Bod", it operates principally as a reference library and, in general, documents may not be removed from the reading rooms.
  In 2000, a number of libraries within the University of Oxford were brought together for administrative purposes under the aegis of what was initially known as Oxford University Library Services, and since 2010 as the Bodleian Libraries, of which the Bodleian Library is the largest component.
  All colleges of the University of Oxford have their own libraries, which in a number of cases were established well before the foundation of the Bodleian, and all of which remain entirely independent of the Bodleian.
context_section_description: The agreement with the Stationers' Company meant that the growth of stock was constant and there were also a number of large bequests and acquisitions for other reasons. Until the establishment of the British Museum in 1753 the Bodleian was effectively the national library of England. By then the Bodleian, Cambridge University Library and the Royal Library were the most extensive book collections in England and Wales.
  The astronomer Thomas Hornsby observed the transit of Venus from the Tower of the Five Orders in 1769.
  A large collection of medieval Italian manuscripts was bought from Matteo Luigi Canonici in 1817. In 1829, the library bought the collection of Rabbi David Oppenheim, adding to its Hebrew collection.
caption: The Tower of the Five Orders photographed by Henry Fox Talbot, c. 1843/46
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