Within The Heart Of A 700-Year-Old Library

It is a bright, sunny day in Oxford as I step off the 8.20 from Paddington. A perfect day for a tour of the venerable university in this ancient English town. But it is not the university that has drawn me here. My quest is The Bodleian library, whose origins lie in fourteenth-century England.

The Bodleian Library was not always known by this name. In about 1320, the first library for Oxford University, funded by Thomas de Cobham, Bishop of Worcester, was born in a room within walking distance of the present-day location of the Bodleian. It still exists and is now used as a meeting room for the University Church of St Mary the Virgin.

In the early 15th century, Humfrey, Duke of Gloucester, younger brother of King Henry V, gifted the university his collection of more than 281 manuscripts. While this may seem like a small number of books for a library, it was overwhelming for that age, and the room housing the library proved inadequate. Between 1444 and 1488, a new library was built above the Divinity School and was named Duke Humfrey&rsquos library after its benefactor. Scenes of the Hogwarts library in the Harry Potter movies were shot in Duke Humfrey&rsquos library.

The Divinity School, a masterpiece of architecture, was built between 1424 and 1488. Richard Winchcombe built the east and west doorways, along with most of the shell of the building, until his death mid-way through the construction. In 1440, Thomas Elkyn, the next master mason, was instructed to discard the elaborate arches and carvings that Winchcombe had used. To this day, the difference in architecture can be seen on the walls built by the two different masons. In 1478, the grand stone vault was built, which is the pride of the building today. The Divinity School was where degrees were awarded until the nineteenth century, based on an oral examination conducted at the west end of the room. In the first Harry Potter movie, scenes of the infirmary at Hogwarts were shot here.

Tragedy struck when King Edward VI made war against &ldquosuperstitious books and images&rdquo as part of his attempt to remove all vestiges of Roman Catholicism from the English church. Also, Richard Cox, Dean of the newly founded Christ Church, acted under Edward&rsquos laws in 1550 to burn or give away the books in the library. In 1556, with the university unable to fund the acquisition of new books to replace those lost, the room was taken over by the Faculty of Medicine, and the library desks were sold off.

In 1598, Sir Thomas Bodley came to the rescue of the library. A fellow of Merton College, Oxford, his funds were used to rehabilitate the library with a new collection of about 2500 books donated by Bodley and other donors. Bodley also added extensions to the original building. In 1610, Bodley, through an agreement with the Stationers&rsquo Company of London, ensured that a copy of every book published in England and registered at Stationers&rsquo Hall would be deposited in the library. I was told that this agreement is still adhered to, which means that the library continuously expands with every book published. Today, all the libraries that comprise the Bodleian, named after Bodley, hold more than 13 million books.

In 1613, work started on a spacious quadrangle of buildings to the east of the library, completed in 1624. It housed the schools where instruction was imparted on Law, Moral Philosophy, Grammar & History, Hebrew & Greek, Arithmetic & Geometry, Theology, Logic, Metaphysics, Astronomy, Rhetoric, Music, Natural Philosophy and Medicine.

I also learned about an exciting library tradition, which continues to this day no books are lent to readers. Even King Charles I was denied permission to borrow a book in 1645. And, until the eighteenth century, rare and expensive books were chained to the bookshelves, which had to be read at desks in front of the shelves.

No tour of the Bodleian can be complete without mention of the Radcliffe Camera, one of the most beautiful buildings in Oxford. Built between 1737 and 1748 using funds left by Dr John Radcliffe to build and maintain a library, it began independently of the Bodleian. In 1860, The Radcliffe Library was taken over by the Bodleian and renamed the Radcliffe Camera and now serves as a reading room - the word &ldquocamera&rdquo in Latin means &ldquoroom&rdquo.

With my quest complete, I make my way back to Oxford station with beautiful memories of my walk through a 700-year-old library.

Christopher C Doyle is the author of many bestselling books, including The Pataala Prophecy and The Mahabharata Quest Series. Doyle&rsquos third book in The Mahabharata Series, The Khandavaprastha Conspiracy, is published by Westland Books and will release on November 28.