The Bodleian Libraries (BODcasts)

In this online event, Ana Paula Cordeiro, the creator of Body of Evidence, speaks from the workshop in New York City where she produced it. She will be joined in conversation by Merve Emre, Associate Professor of American Literature. Body of Evidence (2020) is an artist's book that examines the role of documentary evidence in defining national and individual identity. The red, white, and blue of the printing and binding echo a national story, viewed from the perspective of an immigrant, with quotations from Rebecca Solnit, Emily Dickinson, William James, Agnes Martin, and Fernando Pessoa. We open the conversation by examining the book's unique structure, moving on to consider the questions posed by the book's theme. What qualifies as a document? When does a document become evidence? And what does this evidence prove about an individual or a nation? How can an individual's narrative assert their integrity in face of dehumanization? The conversation will be launched after a live presentation of the copy of this book now in the Bodleian. Originally from Brazil, Cordeiro is based in New York and composes her book works at The Center for Book Arts in New York City, from where she will speak. In 2020 she was awarded a grant from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation. Her artist books are collected privately and institutionally. Book Arts programme from the Bodleian Libraries Centre for the Study of the Book. Supported by a generous donation to the Bodleian Bibliographical Press.

In this BodCast from the Friends of the Bodleian, Professor Dame Marina Warner interviews Anne Louise Avery, writer and art historian, on the subject of Avery's recent book, Reynard the Fox https://bodleianshop.co.uk/products/reynard-the-fox Based on William Caxton's bestselling 1481 English translation of the Middle Dutch, but expanded with new interpretations, innovative language and characterisation, this edition is an imaginative retelling of the Reynard story. With its themes of protest, resistance and duplicity fronted by a personable, anti-heroic Fox making his way in a dangerous and cruel world, this gripping tale is as relevant and controversial today as it was in the fifteenth century. Reynard the Fox is available to purchase at [http://www.bodleianshop.co.uk

Join Rebecca Abrams in conversation with Samuel Fanous to discuss her riveting and beautiful new book, edited with César Merchan-Hamann, Jewish Treasures from Oxford Libraries. You can purchase the book https://bodleianshop.co.uk/products/jewish-treasures

Join Rebecca Abrams in conversation with Samuel Fanous to discuss her riveting and beautiful new book, edited with César Merchan-Hamann, Jewish Treasures from Oxford Libraries. You can purchase the book https://bodleianshop.co.uk/products/jewish-treasures

Panel Discussion to debate the proposed changes to the policy on Open Access for monographs in the next REF after REF 2021 which will have profound implications for researchers in the humanities and social sciences. Panellists: Richard Ovenden, Bodley's Librarian, Professor Julia Smith, Chichele Professor of Medieval History, Research Director, Faculty of History, Helen Snaith, Senior Policy Advisor, Research England, David Clark, Head of Academic Division, OUP

Russell Maret talks about the development of the primary themes of his artist's books - alphabet design, colour printing, and geometric form, also the influences of history and technology on his methods and subject matter.

Visiting fellow, Dr Robin Eagles of the History of Parliament Trust discusses his research into Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford

Michael Heseltine discusses his political career with Peter Hennessy. The Rt Hon Lord Michael Heseltine CH, one of the most influential politicians of recent times, discusses his distinguished political career with historian Lord Peter Hennessy.

Giovanni Paoloni discusses the influence of the development of the shortwave beam technology on Marconi and the Marconi Company Marconi's wireless revolution, the Bodleian's Byrne-Bussey Marconi Visiting Fellows, Giovanni Paoloni and Ines Queiroz, present findings from their research into Marconi and the early development of wireless technology. In the early development of wireless, short waves were considered of no technical and commercial consequence, and left behind as a research field. While working on the improvement of wireless for military communications, Marconi was once more first in understanding the existence of unexpected possibilities - starting a new 'wireless revolution'. Giovanni Paoloni discusses the influence of the development of the shortwave beam technology on Marconi and the Marconi Company.

Ines Queiroz explores how technical constraints have shaped strategies for wireless networks development Marconi's wireless revolution, the Bodleian's Byrne-Bussey Marconi Visiting Fellows, Giovanni Paoloni and Ines Queiroz, present findings from their research into Marconi and the early development of wireless technology. Ines Queiroz explores how technical constraints have shaped strategies for wireless networks development. Focusing on a South Atlantic case study which brings new perspectives on geographical implications of wireless communications networks at an early stage of development.

Jonathan Lloyd and Tiffany Stern, discuss performing Shakespeare in the past and now Accompanied by actors to help illustrate their points, Jonathan Lloyd, Artistic Director of Pegasus Theatre, and Tiffany Stern, Professor of Early Modern Drama, discuss performing Shakespeare in the past and now.

Robert Douglas-Fairhurst, Professor of English Literature, Oxford, gives a talk for Shakespeare Oxford 2016 series. When the tercentenary of Shakespeare's birth was celebrated in 1864, Robert Browning observed that he and his contemporaries had Shakespeare 'in our very bones and blood, our very selves'. In this talk, Robert Douglas-Fairhurst explores some of the ways in which the Victorians tried to keep Shakespeare alive in the nineteenth century: through theatrical revivals and literary allusions; through paintings and photographs; and especially through their fascination with the idea that, as Tennyson put it in his poem Vastness, 'the dead are not dead but alive'.

Carmen del Camino (Seville), gives a talk The unskilled scribe: Elementary hands and their place in the history of handwriting, a seminar held on 30th September 2016.

Teresa De Robertis (Florence), gives a talk for The unskilled scribe: Elementary hands and their place in the history of handwriting, a seminar held on 30th September 2016.

Marc Smith (Paris), gives a talk for The unskilled scribe: Elementary hands and their place in the history of handwriting, a seminar held on 30th September 2016.

Irene Ceccherini (Oxford) gives a talk for the unskilled scribe: Elementary hands and their place in the history of handwriting, a seminar held on 30th September 2016.

Teresa Webber (Cambridge), gives a talk in the the unskilled scribe: Elementary hands and their place in the history of handwriting, held on September 30th 2016.

Lauren Kassell (Reader in the History of Science and Medicine, Cambridge) gives a talk for the Bodleian libraries. If the star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet had lived in London, they might have consulted the astrologer-physician Simon Forman, whose casebook is shown in the exhibition Shakespeare's Dead. Lauren Kassell looks into the working life of a medical practitioner in Shakespeare's England.

Peter McCullough, Professor of English, University of Oxford, gives a talk on John Donne. John Donne's sermon, Death's duell, was part of an early Stuart vogue for funeral sermons. Professor McCullough discusses Donne's contribution to this genre, and looks at how this tradition is connected to the poetic and dramatic representations of death on display in the exhibition, Shakespeare's Dead.

This podcast talks about accidental deaths and the hazards of everyday life in Shakespeare's day Coroners' inquest reports into accidental deaths tell us about the hazards of everyday life in Shakespeare's day. There were dangerous jobs, not just building, mining and farming, but also fetching water, and travel was perilous whether by cart, horse or boat. Even relaxation had its risks, from football and wrestling to maypole-dancing or a game of bowls on the frozen River Cherwell.

This lecture will celebrate Shakespeare's immortality on the exact 400th anniversary of his burial. It will begin from Theseus' famous speech in A Midsummer Night's Dream about the magical, transformative power of poetry. It will argue that Shakespeare inherited from antiquity a fascination with the intimate association between erotic love, magic and the creative imagination, and that this is one of the keys to the enduring power of his plays. Sir Jonathan Bate, Provost of Worcester College and Professor of English Literature at Oxford University, is one of the world's most renowned Shakespeare scholars, the author of, among many other works, Shakespeare and Ovid, The Genius of Shakespeare, Soul of the Age and (as co-editor) The RSC Shakespeare: Complete Works. He co-curated Shakespeare Staging the World, the British Museum's exhibition for the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad, and he is the author of Being Shakespeare: A One-Man Play for Simon Callow, which has toured nationally and internationally and had three runs in the West End.

In this talk Andrew Dunning (Royal Bank of Canada Foundation Fellow) traces the development of the work of Alexander Neckam, one of the earliest known lecturers in Oxford, through manuscripts housed at the Bodleian. Leading up to the creation of the University, the priories of the Augustinian canons were among the most prominent intellectual foundations in twelfth-century Oxford. One of the earliest known lecturers in the town was Alexander Neckam, working at St Frideswide (now Christ Church) from around 1190, who practised a brand of education that promoted the development of individuals and the health of communities. Through manuscripts housed at the Bodleian, it is possible to trace the development of his work, and to uncover his peers at his later home in Cirencester. They emerge as precise scholars who produced books collaboratively, and later created a monument to his writings in an exchange with Malmesbury Abbey.

In the summer of 1594 William Shakespeare decided to invest around 50 Pounds to become a shareholder in a newly formed acting company: Lord Chamberlain's Men. This lecture examines the consequences of this decision, unique in English theatrical history. By examining the early modern theatrical marketplace and the artistic development of Shakespeare's writing before and after this moment, it is hoped that this talk shows why 1594 was, by some measure, Shakespeare's most important year.

Richard Ballam talks about the rich collections of games and pastimes he has recently donated to the Bodleian, the subject of the display Playing with History. Playing with History celebrates Richard Ballam's donation to the Bodleian of his rich and varied collection of games and pastimes. This small selection of items from the wider collection gives us insights into the presentation of history to children, and the ways in which they were encouraged to engage with contemporary issues, such as War and Empire through game play.

Keynote lecture by Margreta de Grazia, (Emerita Sheli Z. and Burton X. Rosenberg Professor of the Humanities, University of Pennsylvania) for the Marginal Malone conference held in Oxford on June 26th, 2015. Introduction by Tiffany Stern, Professor of Early Modern Drama, Faculty of English, University of Oxford

What do geniuses have in common, across the arts and sciences? And how do we distinguish genius from talent? Andrew Robinson, author of Genius: A Very Short Introduction, considers (a little of) the evidence.

A lunchtime lecture by Julie-Anne Lambert accompanying the exhibition Marks of Genius: Masterpieces from the Collections of the Bodleian Libraries. The John Johnson Collection of Printed Ephemera is one of the lesser-known collections of the Bodleian. This talk discusses why and how was it formed, what ephemera are, and how can they contribute to our understanding of history.

Lunchtime lecture by Will Poole accompanying the exhibition Marks of Genius: Masterpieces from the Collections of the Bodleian Libraries. Henry Savile (1549-1622) founded at Oxford in 1619 the two Professorships that still bear his name, one in Astronomy, the other in Geometry. He equipped his professors with a library, which they in turn augmented down the centuries, and that library was transferred to the Bodleian itself in 1884. The Savilian books therefore comprise one of the most historically significant scientific libraries in the West.

Lunchtime lecture by Richard Mulholland accompanying the exhibition Marks of Genius: Masterpieces from the Collections of the Bodleian Libraries. Outside of the natural sciences, the work of Ferdinand Bauer (1760-1826), the pre-eminent eighteenth century natural history painter is little known. However, his botanical and zoological paintings on paper are considered to be among the finest in the world. Of particular interest is the unusual drawing and painting technique he used, recording colour information about specimens by annotating preliminary pencil sketches with numerical colour codes to be painted at a much later stage referring directly to a painted colour chart. This talk will discuss Bauer's botanical illustrations for the Flora Graeca (1806-1840), one of the most lavish Flora's ever published, the materials and techniques he used, and new research by the Bodleian's Conservation Research department to identify Bauer's 18th century palette, and recreate the lost colour chart that holds the key to fully understanding Bauer's considerable expertise as an artist.

A lunchtime lecture by Clive Hurst accompanying the exhibition Marks of Genius: Masterpieces from the Collections of the Bodleian Libraries. Some dozen items bequeathed to the Bodleian Library by Francis Douce in 1834 feature in Marks of Genius, ranging from medieval manuscripts to a panoramic print of Shakespeare's London, from Mughal paintings to a bible presented to Elizabeth I. Three works are known by his name: the Douce Apocalypse, the Douce Pliny, and the Douce Ivory. But Douce wasn't only interested in the spectacular and grand - he collected nursery chapbooks, and nursery rhymes, indeed, he edited a volume of the latter in 1810. It is this area of his collection that this talk investigates.

'Buying beauty in the Victorian period' Dr Jessica Clark looks at the Victorian beauty industry, and the transition from disapproval of artifice to a celebration of the wonders of cosmetics. Drawing on the John Johnson Collection of ephemera at the Bodleian Library, Dr Clark explains what Victorian Britons considered beautiful and considers some of the products and techniques that women, and men, used to achieve physical perfection.

In this talk Stuart Lee will look at the various texts we may call The Hobbit. Starting with the 1937 edition (on display) he will look at the changes enforced on Tolkien after he had finished The Lord of the Rings and how he coped with these.

Fourth Lunchtime lecture accompanying the exhibition Marks of Genius: Masterpieces from the Collections of the Bodleian Libraries. With Dr Dirk Obbink.

Third Lunchtime lecture accompanying the exhibition Marks of Genius: Masterpieces from the Collections of the Bodleian Libraries. With Mr David Helliwell.

Second in the Marks of Genius series, with Dr Christina Dondi

Professor Michael Suarez, in the Lyell Lectures 2015, urges scholars to remember the books that most readers encountered: the cheaper abridged versions of popular novels and accounts such as Cook's voyages.

Professor Michael Suarez, in the Lyell Lectures 2015, locates the visual sources of a famous illustrated edition of Caesar's works and comments on the social and political significance of the subscription plate book.

Professor Michael Suarez continues the Lyell Lectures 2015, showing that archival evidence is necessary to understand the history of newspapers

Professor Michael Suarez traces the transatlantic journey of a famous image deployed against the slave trade.

Professor Michael Suarez continues the Lyell Lectures 2015, asking what role colour plays in bibliographical description?

Professor Michael Suarez gives the first Lyell Lecture of 2015.

Professor Robin Wilson, author of Alice's Adventures in Numberland, gives a talk on the history of studying Mathematics at Oxford, which is as old as the University itself.

Political biographers D R Thorpe and John Campbell speak about their subjects' careers culminating in the role of Chancellor of the University of Oxford. The discussion was chaired by Lord Patten of Barnes.

In this short talk Professor Martin Ceadel, Fellow and Tutor in Politics, New College, Oxford discusses the issue of military conscription and conscientious objection during the first world war.

Dr Adrian Gregory, Fellow and Tutor in History, Pembroke College, Oxford discusses the use of propaganda by all sides during the first world war.

A conversation between Professor Sir Hew Strachan and Professor Margaret MacMillan, chaired by Professor Patricia Clavin.

Marie-Claude Felton, Royal Bank of Canada-Bodleian Visiting Scholar, gives a talk for the Bodleian Library BODcasts series

Professor Joshua Silver talks about his invention of the self adjusting spectacles.

Dr Eric Sidebottom, Retired University Lecturer in Experimental Pathology, gives a lunch time talk to accompany the exhibition 'Great Medical Discoveries: 800 Years of Oxford Innovation'.

Conrad Keating, Writer-In-Residence, The Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine, Oxford, gives a lecture about the remarkable contribution Oxford has made to the art and science of medicine. For more than 800 years Oxford has made a remarkable contribution to the art and science of medicine. Scientists, philosophers and physicians have made the city an outstanding scientific centre from the medieval period onwards. From Roger Bacon's conception of science as the experimental and inductive study of nature in the 13th century to Dorothy Hodgkin's discovery of the structure of penicillin during World War II, Oxford has been responsible for some of the world's most important medical discoveries. Conrad Keating, Writer-In-Residence, The Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine, Oxford, gives a lecture about the remarkable contribution Oxford has made to the art and science of medicine.

Katherine Larson (University of Toronto) gives a talk on music in Early Modern England accompanied by Lutenist Matthew Faulk Katherine Larson (University of Toronto) describes the ephemeral soundscapes of early modern England. She considers how literary critics and musicologists can recapture the physical and social experience of singing and hearing songs, through traces in musical songbooks, literary texts, manuscripts, singing handbooks and printed song collections.