Dr Radcliffe′s Library – The Story of the Radcliffe Camera in Oxford - Hardcover

Hebron, Stephen

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1851244298 ISBN 13: 9781851244294

Publisher: The Bodleian Library, 2014

Synopsis

The Radcliffe Camera is one of the most celebrated buildings in Oxford. Instantly recognizable, its great dome rises amid the Gothic spires of the University. Through early maps, plans and drawings, portraits, engravings and photographs this book tells the fascinating story of its creation, which took more than thirty years, and describes its subsequent place within Oxford University.

Dr John Radcliffe was the most successful physician of his day. On his death in 1713 he directed that part of his large fortune should be used to build a library on a site at the heart of Oxford, between the University Church of St Mary’s and the Bodleian. Early designs were made by the brilliant architect Nicholas Hawksmoor, who outlined the shape so familiar today: a great rotunda surmounted by Oxford’s only dome.

It would take decades to acquire and clear the site, and after Hawksmoor’s death in 1736 the project was taken over by the Scottish architect James Gibbs, who refined the designs and supervised the construction of ‘Dr Radcliffe’s Library’, creating, in the process, an architectural masterpiece and Britain’s first circular library.

About this title

About the Author

Stephen Hebron has published widely in the field of British romanticism, and curated a series of exhibitions at the Wordsworht Trust in Cumbria, England. His previous publications include John Keats: A Poet and His Manuscripts (The British Library, 2009).

Edition details

• Publisher: The Bodleian Library
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1851244298
• ISBN 13: 9781851244294
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 104