The Taylor Institution (commonly known as the Taylorian) is the Oxford University library dedicated to the study of the

languages of Europe Most languages of Europe belong to the Indo-European language family. Out of a total European population of 744 million as of 2018, some 94% are native speakers of an Indo-European language. Within Indo-European, the three largest phyla are Ro ...

. Its building also includes lecture rooms used by the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages, University of Oxford. Since 1889, an Annual Lecture on a subject of Foreign Literature has been given at the Taylorian Institution.

History

The Taylor Institution was established in 1845, funded largely by a bequest from the estate of the notable

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Sir Robert Taylor Sir Robert Taylor (1714–1788) was an English architect and sculptor who worked in London and the south of England. Early life Born at Woodford, Essex, Taylor followed in his father's footsteps and started working as a stonemason and sculptor, ...

(1714–1788). Modern European languages were not then taught at the University. (Not until 1903 were a Medieval and Modern Languages Faculty and Honours School instituted in Oxford.) Since the

Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second ...

lacked space, the Taylorian was initially used to house things as varied as Stubbs's lectures on English history and the

Hope Hope is an optimistic state of mind that is based on an expectation of positive outcomes with respect to events and circumstances in one's life or the world at large. As a verb, its definitions include: "expect with confidence" and "to cherish ...

collection of butterflies.

Description

The institution and its library are found in the east wing of a neo-classical building at the southern end of St Giles'. It was designed by Charles Cockerell to accommodate the institution and the University Galleries (now the

Ashmolean Museum The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University o ...

) and opened in 1845. The building was extended to the north along St Giles' to designs by T.H. Hughes in 1931 and 1938. The library serves, for the greater part, those studying for the degree of Bachelor of Arts, for the various

Master's degrees A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

, and for the D Phil at Oxford University. The collections include Modern European languages, among them French,

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional It ...

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

, and

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

languages (including the South American Spanish language and the Brazilian Portuguese language) with a total of around five hundred thousand volumes. The Greek and Slavonic collections consist of European languages found further eastward, including the Greek, Slavic (including

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries * Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and p ...

Uralic The Uralic languages (; sometimes called Uralian languages ) form a language family of 38 languages spoken by approximately 25million people, predominantly in Northern Eurasia. The Uralic languages with the most native speakers are Hungarian lan ...

, and Albanian languages. The library holds many world-class collections. Its holdings in

were started by Max Müller, who brought many publications from Germany, among them many of Martin Luther's ''Flugschriften'', including the first edition of his ''Sendbrief vom Dolmetschen'', and go up to contemporary German literature. Italian works run from Dante and

Tasso TASSO (Two Arm Spectrometer SOlenoid) was a particle detector at the PETRA particle accelerator at the German national laboratory DESY. The TASSO collaboration is best known for having discovered the gluon, the mediator of the strong interaction an ...

through one of the largest collections of

Giovanni Battista Guarini Giovanni Battista Guarini (10 December 1538 – 7 October 1612) was an Italian poet, dramatist, and diplomat. Life Guarini was born in Ferrara. On the termination of his studies at the universities of Pisa, Padua and Ferrara, he was appointed pr ...

's seminal ''

Il Pastor fido ''Il pastor fido'' (''The Faithfull Shepherd'' in Richard Fanshawe's 1647 English translation) is a pastoral tragicomedy set in Arcadia by Giovanni Battista Guarini, first published in 1590 in Venice. Plot summary To redress an ancient wron ...

'' to Foscolo and Futurist manifestos. The Spanish and Portuguese collections contain early editions of Lope de Vega, Camoens,

Cervantes Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (; 29 September 1547 (assumed) – 22 April 1616 NS) was an Early Modern Spanish writer widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world's pre-eminent novelists. He is best kno ...

, Góngora, Quevedo, and

Calderón Calderón () is a Spanish and Sefardi occupational surname. It is derived from the Vulgar Latin "''caldaria''" ("cauldron") and refers to the occupation of tinker. Calderón, or Calderon, may refer to: * Alberto Calderón, Argentine mathematicia ...

. Russian first editions are well represented. The library's greatest strength, however, lies in its French holdings. Its collection of French Enlightenment authors stars the only complete collection in the world of all the French editions of Voltaire's ''

Candide ( , ) is a French satire written by Voltaire, a philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment, first published in 1759. The novella has been widely translated, with English versions titled ''Candide: or, All for the Best'' (1759); ''Candide: or, The ...

'' printed in 1759, the year of first publication.Barber 1992, p. 13. The Taylorian also owns one of the only two known copies of the first edition of

Benjamin Constant Henri-Benjamin Constant de Rebecque (; 25 October 1767 – 8 December 1830), or simply Benjamin Constant, was a Franco-Swiss political thinker, activist and writer on political theory and religion. A committed republican from 1795, he backed t ...

's ''

Adolphe ''Adolphe'' is a classic French novel by Benjamin Constant, first published in 1816. It tells the story of an alienated young man, Adolphe, who falls in love with an older woman, Ellénore, the Polish mistress of the Comte de P***. Their illicit ...

''. The collections include a lock of

Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as tre ...

's hair.

References

External links

Taylor Institution Library

{{Authority control 1845 establishments in England Educational institutions established in 1845 Libraries established in 1845 Departments of the University of Oxford Libraries of the University of Oxford Language education in the United Kingdom Ashmolean Museum

History

Description

See also

References

External links