Cristina Neagu

This volume accompanied the exhibition open in the Upper Library at Christ Church from 26 June to 26 October 2018. Like many antiquarians of his day, the German art historian and archaeologist Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717–1768) first learned about the ancient world through immersion in literature. As a teacher then librarian in his native Germany, Winckelmann encountered the classics primarily through literary texts, as well as the souvenirs—coins, gems and figurines—that Grand Tourists and other travellers had brought north from their visits to Italy. Once he arrived in Rome, where he rose to prominence at Prefect of Antiquities in the Vatican, Winckelmann studied the remains of Greek, Graeco-Roman and Roman art on a larger scale. Through personal contacts, letters and other writings, Winckelmann influenced his and subsequent generations of scholars, aesthetes, collectors, craftsmen and artists both within and beyond Italy.

I wrote Chapter 32 on Neo-Latin in East-Central Europe

Any student of Neo-Latin in Central and Eastern Europe should start by thinking in terms of a striking absence of clear-cut divisions. During the early modern period, the region was characterized by ever shifting frontiers, shared histories, common ruling dynasties and political alliances between the Habsburg hereditary lands (Austria and modern Slovenia), the Czech lands (Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia), plus Poland-Lithuania, Hungary-Croatia and Transylvania. While ethnic and vernacular variety, coupled with religious heterogeneity, clearly defined the context in terms of fragmentation, Latin did the opposite. It remained an official and scholarly language until well into the 19th century. This chapter aims to map various scholarly networks that developed within the long history of Latin. It will attempt to trace the way it coped with the double challenge confronting it, that from the past, with the appropriation of models and and illustrious heritage, and from the present, openly embracing contemporary demands to push thought and expression forward.

This collection of essays illustrates various pressures and concerns - both practical and theoretical - related to research in the fast-developing terrain of print culture studies.

I wrote Chapter 12 (pp. 182-173): The ‘Lesser’ Dürer? Text and Image in Early-Modern Broadsheets

When compared to his achievements in the visual arts, Albrecht Dürer's literary output may seem unimportant. However, not only did he cultivate various literary genres with enthusiastic confidence, he also consciously integrated the fluidity of written expression within the space of his pictorial and graphic works. In fact, the interplay between image and written language is one of the main features of Dürer's style. My intention was to explore this comparatively little studied, but essential aspect of Albrecht Dürer's work: his interest in language as an essential part of the image.
The main focus of this essay is a small and not very glamorous series of broadsheets.  Like any ephemeral printing (then as well as now) one tended to read and dispose of the material, sometimes for no other reason than the awkwardness of storage (books have always had a better fate than loose leafs). Given their generally unexciting nature on the one hand, and their scarcity on the other, broadsheets are not among critics’ favourites, but their value in illuminating the complex interpretative issues surrounding archiving and the visual to print relation is evident.

The volume accompanied an exhibition aimed at revealing how widespread pagan and Christian imagery about imaginary being is. It contains studies about Lewis Carroll, medieval monsters and Lord Mark Kerr, and fabulous beings in manuscripts, incunabula and nineteenth-century prints.

This book is the first full-length study of the poetry and prose of Nicolaus Olahus (1493-1568), a central figure of Northern humanism. He was also a much-admired diplomat and man of the church at the courts of Queen Mary of Hungary and King Ferdinand. The texts Olahus composed suggest a special approach to language. He wrote as a rhetorician, not just in the sense that he composed in an elegant style, but also to persuade, delight, move and impel to action. This volume discusses a Transylvanian author whose biography, beliefs and work reveal important links with Erasmus and the humanism associated with the Collegium Trilingue in Louvain. It offers new insights into how Renaissance values were assimilated in Central Europe.

Tom Costello's is a poetry of gratitude, celebration, identity with the pain of others, and with those who have moved or delighted him. He makes no apology if at times he sounds sentimental, overwhelmed, knocked-out by beauty, or reduced to tears by the shocks of injustice. Each poem in this collection is an imperative. The subject, feelings or focus determines the style.

Born in Dublin, Ireland, Tom Costello was Lecturer on English literature at Liverpool University. His interests always lay in the realms of film, drama and poetry. He established several film societies, poetry and jazz concerts and poetry workshops. In 1994 he published International Guide to Literature on Film, an important research tool for students of literature, film, and media studies with a listing of some 7,500 film treatments of literature done between 1930 and 1990 worldwide. He was also engaged in the development of experimental photography (an attempt to do with a film camera what painters do with brushes). He mounted twelve one-man exhibitions of his art work and founded the company PhotoPoetry.

Scholarly journal for the study of bibliography and of the role of the book in history. It publishes original research, most of which based on material from Christ Church Library collections, focusing on all aspects of descriptive, analytical, textual and historical bibliography, including the history of the production, distribution and reception of books, both manuscript and printed; the history of collecting and of libraries; paper, printing types, book illustration, and binding; and the transmission of texts and their authenticity.

At first sight, there seems to be precious little linking the topics of coffee houses, libraries and connoisseurship. Yet, if we examine 18th-century culture a little more attentively, we are bound to discover surprising and important connections. This paper aims to highlight just a few. With its promise of cultural and intellectual improvement, connoisseurship appealed to the highly educated with financial means. Such gentlemen could immerse themselves in passionate study, attended universities and gained knowledge of classical languages, literature, religion, philosophy, and history. They could also embark on Continental Grand Tours and tended to establish great and varied collections. In this context, the 18th-century vision of the coffee house as a centre for cultural exchange and learning, complements the concept of connoisseurship, offering one of its ideal formats. Joseph Addison and Richard Steele worked quickly to capitalise on this perception of the coffee house, adopting in The Spectator the intention of filling these newly opened establishments with culture, knowledge, ideas, reason, philosophy, opinion and, above all, conversation. The goal appears to have been to create a context conducive to dialogue among like minds. This, together with the passion for connoisseurship and a consummate engagement in collecting on a grand scale, have spectacularly changed the paradigm for 18th-century libraries. How this happened and what this means will be the main focus of my talk. To illustrate the case in question, I will dwell on a library I know well, that of Christ Church, Oxford.

Prior to Dürer, pictorial representations of melancholy were typically found in treatises on medicine, and in broadsheets and almanacs, where it surfaced as the most undesirable of the four temperaments Dürer dramatically changed all this. Several of his works dwell on this topic. A close look reveals that the artist's interpretation probably stems from Florentine Neoplatonic thought, expressed in Marsilio Ficino's De Vita Triplici (Florence, 1489) where it is suggested that the melancholic condition is an essential part of intellectual creativity. This paper aims to explore the possible link between this theory and Dürer’s determination to bring ideas to life through unconventional thought, unexpected associations and the power of mathematics. Space, figures and the objects populating his compositions are all part of a complex language trying to bring forth a layer of meaning beyond that immediately apparent.

Several bibliographies list the “Processus Universalis” (an alchemical treatise quoted as published under the pseudonym of Nicolaus Melchior in the 1525 Museum hermeticum) among Nicolaus Olahus’ works. This piece of information is clearly wrong. The 1525 Museum hermeticum does not include a Processus
universalis by Melchior. However, there is an alchemical treatise, the Processus sub forma missae, published in Zetzner’s 1602 Theatrum chemicum, attributed to the above author. Despite appearing in Michael Maier’s Symbola aureae mensae duodecim nationum among such illustrious figures as Avicenna, Albertus Magnus and Raymond Lull, very little is known about Nicolaus Melchior Cibinensis, apart from the fact that he lived in early sixteenth-century Transylvania. Attributing what is essentially an alchemical treatise to Olahus is problematic, but the fact nevertheless opens an interesting discussion. The “Processus” is an intriguing text, a paraphrase of the Holy Mass in terms of an alchemical discourse. The identity of its author continues to puzzle, with Olahus remaining one of the possible candidates.

This paper, together with contributions by James Carley (York University, Toronto), David Rundle (University of Kent) and Daryl Green (then at Magdalen College) was presented at a symposium bringing together recent research on the Christ Church Epistle (MS 101) and Magdalen Gospel (MS lat. 223) Lectionaries commissioned by Thomas Wolsey in the late 1520s. The conference marked the launch of the website where the images of the fully digitised codices are now displayed side-by-side using the newest of technology coming out of the Bodleian digital labs. To view the manuscripts and read the most recent studies focusing on Wolsey's commissions, please go to http://www.wolseymanuscripts.ac.uk

Before dwelling on the specifics of the Lewis Carroll archive at Christ Church, one needs to put it in context. The context is important not only because of the sheer size of the college's Special Collections, but also because Lewis Carroll knew these well in his role of Sub-librarian (1855-1857). To what extent might specific manuscripts and early printed books have inspired Carroll when he started sketching the illustrations for Alice's Adventures Underground is a subject open to discussion. However, if we look at them carefully, I am sure we can all agree that there is a certain degree of  "otheworldliness" in both the illustrations of many manuscripts and early printed books and in Carroll's sketches. This talk aims to dwell on the story of these sketches.

Sixteenth-century proportional studies and the topic of man as microcosm are fascinating in that texts and representations of the concept complement each other in one of the most successful dialogues across disciplines. Ficino’s ideas on man’s ascent toward God had a strong impact on the best known of these, namely Leonardo’s proportional studies on Vitruvius. Also admittedly influenced by Ficino was Agrippa
of Nettesheim, who, in his turn, had a huge impact on Dürer. This paper aims to explore the impact of Ficino on art theory during the Renaissance and the means in which texts and images on a specific topic complemented each other.

Less ambitious than the large books, Albrecht Dürer’s broadsheets are serious in tone and often embed short didactic stories within a simple, unsophisticated verse structure. The poems are Dürer’s own. At first sight, they do not seem to be overtly sophisticated and indeed, the verse is, in most cases cropped from contemporary reproductions. However, when scrutinized carefully, the text, simple and unpolished as it may appear, is not superfluous. Regarded in conjunction with the image, it gives the broadsheet a whole new lease of life. The effect and immediacy of it is almost like that of a newsreel. A form of short documentary prevalent in the first half of the 20th century, newsreels are now out of fashion. Television news broadcasting completely supplanted their role. The comparison may look far-fetched and artificial, but like newsreels, Dürer’s broadsheets can be regarded as significant historical documents. They typically feature items of topical interest, and, as such are precious, though unexpected, records of the time. When compared to his other achievements in the visual arts, these broadsheets may seem unimportant. They however should not so easily be overlooked. Their wide accessibility as prints and their bimedial form of expression, blending text and image, ensured direct communication with what we may assume was a fairly large and varied readership. This paper is an attempt to account for their impact on their contemporaries on the one hand, and their usefulness as models in the study of sixteenth-century print culture on the other.

It appears that Ficino had little interest in art. Art however often found inspiration in his thought. Sixteenth-century proportional studies and the topic of man as microcosm are fascinating in that texts and representations of the concept complement each other in one of the most successful dialogues across disciplines. Leonardo’s proportional studies on Vitruvius and Gauricus's De sculptura could be discussed in connection to Ficino’s ideas on man's ascent towards God. This paper aims to explore the impact of Ficino on art theory during the Renaissance in general, and particularly on the work of Albrecht Dürer.

My intention in this talk was to explore an aspect of Albrecht Dürer's work largely ignored in most commentaries - namely his interest in language and writing. When compared to his achievements in the visual arts, Dürer's literary attempts may seem unimportant. However, not only did he cultivate various genres with enthusiastic confidence, he also consciously integrated the fluidity of written expression within the space of his pictorial or graphic works. This interplay between image and written language is one of the main features of Dürer's style. This talk was an attempt to account for this statement, by presenting a careful consideration of a few works which display a textual dimension alongside the visual.

The fifteenth-century was an exceptional period in the history of the kingdom of Hungary. Despite major tensions caused by, on the one hand, external bids for supremacy  and, on the other, internal frictions between political parties, the time was one of significant intellectual achievements. This talk focused on the Hungarian nostalgia for the heyday of its Corvinian glory.

The densely intertextual Commentary on Lorenzo’s own poetry is unfinished and only survives in non-autograph manuscripts and posthumous editions. Despite this however, it was a well-known and much discussed piece among Lorenzo’s intellectual circle. Very much an opera aperta of its day, the Commentary is particularly interesting as it reflects on the thought of many of its first readers, and successfully challenges them to enter the dialogue. Marsilio Ficino was one of these readers. His influence on Lorenzo’s sonnets is an undisputed fact, acknowledged by the poet himself. The latter’s creative departures from his mentor’s ideas is a topic which raises many more questions. This talk focused on one such key departure from mainstream Ficino: Lorenzo’s interpretation of the “literalness of imagination” in connection with the theme of the soul falling in love.

Nicolaus Olahus (1493-1568) was a very influential diplomat, a man of the church and humanist at the court of King Louis II, then of Queen Mary of Hungary in Brussels and finally of King Ferdinand I. He is also known for his literary output. The popularity of the Hungaria and the Athila has always been one of the characteristic features of the reception of Olahus’s works, and most critics appear to agree on the self-sufficiency of the pieces in relation to each other. Indeed, it is not difficult to concede that these works are entirely functional when regarded as discrete units. But having said this, one cannot help noticing a number of elements suggesting a structural relationship. The aim of this talk was to introduce these pieces in the context of Olahusț work as a whole and to plead for a symbiotic union between Olahus’s Hungaria and Athila.

In a world in which the model of imitatio Christi became increasingly irrelevant, Renaissance scholars turned to the ancient ideal of the vir civilis. Judged by his interest in mnemotechnics and the often unsettling theological convictions he defended, Bruno appears to be closer to past traditions. However, if scrutinized from the perspective of his literary work as a whole, the philosopher may be seen as having fashioned himself to follow the new model of a highly creative and politically aware human being. Despite their range, Bruno’s writings are surprisingly homogenous. He was able to express the subtleties of both Latin and the vernacular with equal ease. But is it his ability to cross boundaries moving skilfully from prose to poetry in the short space of sometimes no more than a paragraph that gives his voice its unmistakable ring. In most cases he writes in direct response to exterior circumstances. The quality of his discourse reveals the exceptional control of a great orator grafted on a exceptionally gifted poet, his art meant to be bewitching one with the capacity of a carmen to charm and a cantus to enchant. This talk aimed at revealing some of its poetically charged modulations.

The importance of emblematic imagery in relation to discursive speech permeates Renaissance literature, with Ficino as one of its most articulate promoters. Linked with his theories regarding celestial hierarchies and contemplation, Ficino’s vision on the function of visual symbols had a profound (even if less obvious) impact upon Renaissance creative minds. Inspired by the doctrine that all harmony reflects a heavenly order, visual symbols are interpreted to derive from cosmic laws and their effect on the human mind is not to be taken lightly. They often accompany literary texts in a puzzling manner, suggesting direct references to Neo-Platonic concepts in general and to Ficino’s ideas in particular. Among the most interesting writers to have been influenced by Ficino’s treatment of the image is Giordano Bruno. The latter’s extensive use of emblems, diagrams and mandala-like figures is meant to challenge the reader. Most of Bruno’s visual references are not conventional representations. They postulate magical effects by virtue of being harmonically linked with the celestial essences they embody. This talk explored the role of this type of images in the context of Bruno’s poetics, discussing their source in Ficino’s theory of symbolic iconography.

Like so many other aspects of his life, Giordano Bruno’s (1548-1600) visit to England is a topic of much debate and controversy. Active and articulate, the Italian philosopher created a variety of contexts in which to make his ideas known. Defying contemporary ecclesiastical doctrines and scholarly authorities through his groundbreaking work in the art of memory, his unconventional approach to Neo-Platonism and his pioneering support of Copernicus, Bruno simultaneously thrilled and infuriated. Among his supporters were courtiers, philosophers and poets such as Fulke Greville, Sir Edward Dyer, John Florio, Francis Godwin, Alexander Dicson, John Dee and Sir Philip Sidney. Among his outspoken enemies, the greater part of Oxford scholars, stern defenders of Aristotelianism and the Ptolemaic view of the universe. In only two years (1583-1585), Bruno managed to reach the sophisticated intelligentsia of Tudor England in ways that set him apart from most of his contemporaries. His lectures caused such furor that he had to abandon Oxford and return to London. Here, while his involvement in court politics remains a mystery, his influence on the world of letters is both profound and easy to account for. Well-versed in the exercise of rhetoric (on the topic of which he later wrote a treatise, Artificium perorandi), Bruno knew how to address his audience. Although ground on classical principles, the exuberant, elaborate and carefully constructed nature of his discourse is in a class of its own. Untangling the labyrinthine and intensely codified logic beneath the flamboyant surface of the tracts is an open and deeply serious invitation that Bruno addresses to his readers. As an advocate of the hermetic tradition, the philosopher operates with several levels of meaning simultaneously, and form and style, in his case, are conceived as keys to unlocking enigmatic layers of his work. Unlike the rest of Bruno’s work , the pieces he published in England are all under false imprint. The Cena de le ceneri doesn’t reveal much. The author is not mentioned and neither is the place. De la causa, principio et uno and De l'infinito vniuerso et mondi both assert Venice as the place of publication, while Spaccio de la Bestia Triofante, Cabala del cauallo Pegaseo and De gl'heroici furori state Paris. In all cases the publisher is anonymous. In spite of their title pages being misleading, research has singled out John Charlewood as the publisher of the Italian Dialogues. There is little information documenting the transfer and reproduction of Bruno’s manuscripts into print. This talk aimed to fill some of the gaps by following the trail of a publisher who appears to have been involved in other risky enterprises

Giordano Bruno’s (1548-1600) Oxford public lectures in 1583 were plagued by a great deal of opposition. His uncompromising anti-Aristotelian approach infuriated most scholars, so that (according to a contemporary account) he had to abandon his visit to Oxford and return to London. During one of his disputations on Copernican heliocentricity, he was accused of plagiarising Marsilio Ficino’s De vita coelitus comparanda. Florentine neo-Platonism doubtlessly had a profound influence on Bruno’s philosophy. However, it is hard to imagine that a man of his calibre and originality would ever stoop to copy another scholar’s work. As a rule, Bruno openly acknowledged his sources, his writings being remarkable examples of how unchartered philosophic and scientific imagination can stem from a past tradition. There is little information documenting Bruno’s stay in Oxford. This talk aimed to fill some of the gaps by following the trail of his defenders, scholars such as Francis Godwin (1562-1633) author of the first English science fiction story – Man in the Moone. Godwin was a Fellow at Christ Church at the time of Bruno’s lectures and believed in the truth and potential of the new cosmology. There were only a handful of people who went against the trend of Aristotelianism in the university. Their voices however may shed new light on Bruno’s impact on Oxford scholars, and the significance of his recourse to Ficino’s De vita coelitus comparanda in the context of his defence of Copernicus.

Following the example of the Jesuits (whom he involved directly in his work of Catholic reconstruction), Olahus channelled much of his energy into intellectual reform. The books he wrote as Primate were part of this self-imposed task. Their manifest goals were twofold: to inspire devotion and to reveal theological inconsistencies among opponents. Unlike the rest of his work, for which only late editions are available, Olahus’s devotional writings are different in that they were all printed during the author’s lifetime. In contrast with his previous attitude of resistance to the printing press, within a period of three years (from 1558 to 1561) Olahus published a breviary,  an ordinary of the Mass for the cathedral of Esztergom  and the Praecipua , a scholarly doctrinal exposition of the Catholic faith. This is a spectacular change of attitude. From being an author determined to exist solely for the exclusive society of a pan-European cultural elite, as he was while at the court of Queen Mary in Brussels, Olahus became a writer vigorously involved in making his theological works widely available.

While the Breviary and the Ordinary strike one as valuable contributions to the post-Tridentine effort to reform the Church, the most eloquent example of Nicolaus Olahus'  doctrinal exposition of faith, is the Catholicae ac Christianae Religionis Praecipua. The synthesis it represents comes prior to the official publications issued by the Vatican. Olahus’s merit is to have assumed the risk and responsibility of interpreting the information available to him via the Council’s extant documents or provided by various persons directly involved in discussions. He organized it intelligently in a volume memorable both through its immediate functionality and its original contributions.

Opening a lavishly illuminated Book of Hours is a unique experience. What strikes first is the splendour and richness of its visual imagery. Eyes glued to the page, we are lured into a world the formal and physical properties of which are in profound harmony with the intellectual and spiritual content imbedded in the script. Here the relationship between physical and non-physical is initiated not only at a rational level. There is something unique and extraordinary in the complexity of rhythms which make a book’s inner meaning be intimately linked to its outward form. My option to discuss Books of Hours does not so much stem from the popularity of the genre , but from the fact that, being liturgical manuscripts, they are bound to a strict iconographical canon, which has the advantage of revealing any departure from the norm.

The Hungaria  and the Athila  are are the most well-known prose pieces that Nicolaus Olahus wrote. They were composed during the period 1536–1537, when the humanist became an ever more influential figure at Queen Mary’s court. From the moment the manuscripts were first circulated among the author’s scholarly friends, the Hungaria and the Athila have unanimously been considered Olahus’s best works. Consequently, they have been the subject of a large number of studies, articles and books , among which István Fodor’s discoveries and detailed analyses are among the most valuable contributions. The popularity of the Hungaria and the Athila has always been one of the characteristic features of the reception of Olahus’ works, and most critics appear to agree on the self-sufficiency of the pieces in relation to each other, and it is not difficult to concede that these works are entirely functional when regarded as discrete units. But having said this, one cannot help noticing a number of elements suggesting a structural relationship. The aim of this talk was to describe these elements and suggest a symbiotic union between Olahus’ Hungaria and Athila as a chorography.

The contrast between the traditional style of Book of Hours illumination and new trends emerging with the Renaissance is very visible in Italian manuscripts. In Italy it was not uncommon for artists to work in a variety of mediums: fresco and panel painting, as well as illumination and engraving. Illuminators were extraordinarily successful at keeping up with the latest developments, such as the use of perspective and light, narrative realism and the revival of antique art.

Although permeating the universe of the paintings as well, Dürer's experiments with writing within the constraints of pictorial space mostly involve his graphic art, where the structural relationship between engraving or woodcut and typography are particularly visible.

To honour the 700th anniversary of the death of Dante Alighieri, Christ Church hosted a small and focused display of books and drawings from the Renaissance period. Two early printed editions of Dante’s Comedy, describing the poet’s vision of Hell, Purgatory and Paradise, show the impact of the new technology on the appearance of the poem and its illustration. Three fine drawings from the late 16th century by Jacopo Ligozzi, the principal surviving evidence of a larger project to create engravings to accompany the entire poem, give the visitor a dramatic introduction to the narrative of the poet who is lost in the forest, assailed by wild beasts, and helped towards salvation by the poet Virgil. The two volumes on display are from the Library collections. One was the beautifully illustrated La comedia di Dante Aligieri con la noua espositione di Alessandro Vellutello. This 1544 edition was printed in Venice by Francesco Marcolini with a commentary by Alessandro Vellutello. The work is accompanied by 87 woodcuts of different sizes, attributed to the printer Francesco Marcolini, friend of Titian and Sansovino. This is a famous edition, among the most sought after. It served as a model for all illustrated versions of the sixteenth century. The second volume on display was the exquisitely produced 1484 edition, the Comento di Christophoro Landino fiorentino sopra La comedia di Danthe Alighieri poeta fiorentino (Christ Church shelfmark e.2.51). Printed in Venice by Ottaviano Scoto, this is the second edition with Landino's comment of the Divine Comedy, after the first published in 1481.

This exhibition, curated by Cristina Neagu and Judith Curthoys, is dedicated to generous, learned and talented Christ Church women, and their important contributions throughout the ages.Unsurprisingly, women are not well-represented in the archive until modern times, but that is not to say they are not there at all.  Christ Church had female tenants, female staff, and female benefactors from the foundation in 1546. The same is true for the Library. Proportionally, there are fewer documents highlighting women's presence. However, Christ Church is a royal foundation and the reigning monarch acts as the representative of the Founder, as its 'Visitor'. As a consequence, among the monarchs who left a mark in exciting Library holdings are Elizabeth I and Queen Anne. Also, some of the most valuable volumes in the Library were donated by women. These include Anne, Countess of Ancram and Mildred Cecil, Lady Burghley. In addition, the Library houses little-known, but important contributions from women writers, like Lady Eleanor Douglas, and artists, like Alice Liddell.

This exhibition launched two books published by Oxford University Press: Liddell & Scott, edited by Christopher Stray, Michael Clarke and Joshua T. Katz; and Rediscovering E. R. Dodds, edited by Christopher Stray, Christopher Pelling and Stephen Harrison. In the nineteenth century the study of Greek, embedded in elite culture and schooling, was exemplified in the Greek-English Lexicon of Henry Liddell and Robert Scott, first published in 1843. Liddell, who refused the Regius Chair of Greek at Oxford in 1855, was Dean of Christ Church from 1854 till 1891. At his death in 1898, eight editions of the lexicon had been published; the 9th edition, published 1925-40, remains the world’s standard Greek lexicon, and Gilbert Murray (Regius Professor 1908-36) viewed the 9th edition ‘with mingled awe, delight and longing’. Murray also, though, declared that it was more important to study Greece than Greek, and his successor in the chair, E.R.Dodds (Regius Professor 1936-60) did both, producing not only editions of a Euripides play and a Platonic dialogue, but also The Greeks and the Irrational (1951), one of the outstanding books on Classics of the twentieth century.

Geometry was at the core for understanding a wide range of scientific issues in the early modern period. Christ Church Library houses spectacular collections of early printed books, manuscripts and instruments focused on mathematics and astronomy. The library and scientific tools of polymath Charles Boyle, 4th Earl of Orrery, bequeathed to the institution in 1731, is the largest and best known of these. However, equally important at least, are a respectable number of little studied manuscripts by early modern Oxford mathematicians, such as David Gregory and Charles Scarborough, and an impressive number of intensely annotated rare editions of fundamental treatises on geometry and the study of perspective scattered among the Orrery and other Christ Church collections. With the new translations of Euclid into Latin starting in the 12th century, theoretical geometry entered the university curriculum and from that moment on, the religious and speculative dimensions of this discipline have never ceased to attract mathematicians, philosophers and artists alike. Geometrical proportion and symmetry allowed a glimpse into the realm of transcendental beauty, while phenomena of vision were approached using the points, lines, shapes and other data of geometry to elicit mental constructions. Whether sculpting a statue, painting a picture, designing a building, or navigating the skies or the seas, visual information became encoded into a variety of geometrically organised graphs, grids and matrices. During the early modern period, several remarkable generations of scientists, artists, humanists, engineers and craftsmen started looking at the world in a new way, converting perceived reality into mathematical space.

"The Mathematics of Space" at Christ Church, curated by Cristina Neagu, is part of the "Thinking 3D" series of events, coordinated by Daryl Green (Magdalen College, Oxford University) and Laura Moretti (University of St Andrews), organised in the UK during 2018-2019. For details, see https://www.thinking3d.ac.uk/about/. This is a project focused on the development of techniques and technologies used to communicate three-dimensional forms in two-dimensional media. In this context, starting with the Renaissance, thinking about vision involved  more than applying Euclidean rules to fixed objects and spaces. In art, to quote Leon Battista Alberti, this translated into a new, somewhat mesmerising, 'logic of likeness', which, in turn, developed into the study of perspective, an exciting novel technique for processing visual information by means of geometric construction. Treated this way,  three-dimensional forms appeared to represent natural objects far more realistically than had any previous depictions, and yet, they did so by creating illusions of reality. Such technical manipulations involved a great deal of deception, but also contributed to the technology of relational numeracy and analysis woven deep into the fabric of astronomy.

The exhibition opened at Christ Church aimed to highlight the role of the college in teaching geometry and astronomy at Oxford during the 17th and 18th centuries. Thematically, it mainly focued on exploring the impact of Euclid, Archimedes, Serenus and Pappus of Alexandria on both art and early modern geometry. Also on show were treatises on the study of perspective by Luca Pacioli, Jean François Nicéron, Joseph Moxon and Albrecht Dürer, as well as manuscripts by early modern mathematicians like David Gregory, Charles Scarburgh, Willebrord Snell, Nicolas Mercator and Edmund Halley. On display was also be a pair of heliocentric and ptolemaic orreries and a spectacular set of terrestrial and celestial globes, and globes of the Moon, Mercury, Venus and Mars, glossing on how the skies were perceived and mapped, and how much developments in the geometry of vision contributed to make this possible.

To commemorate  Johann Joachim Winckelmann's anniversaries 2017/2018, Christ Church Library opened an exhibition and series of events in collaboration with the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages, University of Oxford and the Ure Museum of Greek Archaeology, University of Reading (a particularly appropriate partnership, since the University of Reading owes its origins to an extension college - University Extension College, Reading - founded by Christ Church in 1892). Like many antiquarians of his day, the German art historian and archaeologist Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717–1768) first learned about the ancient world through immersion in literature. As a teacher then librarian in his native Germany, Winckelmann encountered the classics primarily through literary texts, as well as the souvenirs—coins, gems and figurines—that Grand Tourists and other travellers had brought north from their visits to Italy. Once he arrived in Rome, where he rose to prominence at Prefect of Antiquities in the Vatican, Winckelmann studied the remains of Greek, Graeco-Roman and Roman art on a larger scale. Through personal contacts, letters and other writings, Winckelmann influenced his and subsequent generations of scholars, aesthetes, collectors, craftsmen and artists both within and beyond Italy. Winckelmann and Curiosity in the 18th-Century Gentleman's Library explores the scholar's varied influence on the arts in Britain, through printed media, architecture and decorative arts. The exhibition was curated by Amy Smith, Katherine Harloe and Cristina Neagu.

More than a House for Books, curated by David Rundle and Cristina Neagu, considered the place of the Western manuscripts within the wider context of the Library’s eclectic riches. It delineated how what we now know as its ‘Special Collections’ came to be owned by Christ Church and considered what that tells us about the purpose and scope of a library. Unexpected items in the collections include: scientific and musical instruments, coins, drawings, a tapestry, a "porridge bowl", mandrakes and, allegedly, "Cardinal Wolsey's hat". There are also a number of unusual manuscripts and books. To read more about this, please see Mandrakes in the Library, by David Rundle (https://bonaelitterae.wordpress.com/2017/11/06/mandrakes-in-the-library/)

The exhibition coincided with the publication of R. Hanna and D. Rundle, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Western Manuscripts, to c. 1600, in Christ Church, Oxford, the first in a planned series of manuscript catalogues offering detailed codicological, textual and historical descriptions. For details, see https://www.chch.ox.ac.uk/library-and-archives/descriptive-catalogue-western-manuscripts-c-1600-christ-church-oxford. The lavishly illustrated volume is published by the Oxford Bibliographical Society in its Special Series of Manuscript Catalogues.

To commemorate the 400th anniversary of Hakluyt's death in November 1616, in autumn 2016, the Library at Christ Church prepared a major exhibition and series of events in collaboration with the Hakluyt Society, Bodleian Library and Museum for the History of Science. On behalf of the Hakluyt Society, the series of events is coordinated by Professor Daniel Carey (NUI, Galway), Professor Claire Jowitt (UEA) and Anthony Payne, in partnership with Dr Alexandra Franklin (Bodleian), Dr Stephen Johnston (MHS) and Dr Cristina Neagu. Events started with the opening of the exhibition Hakluyt and Geography in Oxford 1550–1650. This exhibition was launched at Christ Church on 14 October 2016 with a symposium  on Renaissance scientific instruments. Professor Jim Bennett (MHS) and Dr Johnston have accepted our invitation to speak at the symposium, at which our archivist Judith Curthoys added a few details about Christ Church in Hakluyt’s time. On 28 October, a related exhibition, The World in a Book: Hakluyt and Renaissance Discovery, opened at the Bodleian Library. This exhibition will be launched with a lecture by Dr William Poole (New College). A  two-day conference, Hakluyt and the Renaissance Discovery of the World, was held on 24 November at the Bodleian Library, and on 25 November at Christ Church. Twenty renowned experts on Hakluyt and early modern travel and exploration have accepted an invitation to speak at the conference. The keynote speaker on 24 November was Professor Joyce Chaplin (Harvard University). At the conclusion of the event on 25 November, a free to attend public lecture, "Voyages, Traffiques, Discoveries", was given by the broadcaster and historian Professor Michael Wood.

This exhibition, curated by John Milsom and Cristina Neagu, showcases the music-books used by singers in the age of Queen Elizabeth I, with special emphasis on partbooks. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, church choirs typically sang from large choirbooks, in which different areas of the double-page spread displayed the various voice-parts of a composition. Four or more singers stand in front of the book, each reading her or his own part. No other manuscripts in the Christ Church music collection are finer than the set of five partbooks copied by Robert Dow. He was a lawyer by profession, and a fellow of All Souls College, so his partbooks are in effect the product of his leisure time, and they combine his love of music with his interest in calligraphy. We also have the scribe John Baldwin to thank for saving many important Tudor compositions from oblivion. Without the copies he made in his partbooks, many dozens of pieces would have been partly or wholly lost. This exhibition is also the result of a successful collaboration with Tudor Partbooks Project (Oxford and Newcastle Universities) and the Oxford Early Music Festival. The exhibition opened with a talk by Dr John Milsom, leading Tudor music scholar, and a concert by Magnificat, featuring pieces from the Christ Church Music Collection. Magnificat is one of the world’s premier vocal ensembles, internationally acclaimed for its sophisticated, historically-informed performance of Renaissance choral masterpieces.

An exhibition, curated by Allan Chapman and Cristina Neagu, to mark the 350th anniversary of the publication of Robert Hooke's Micrographia, the first book of microscopy. The event was organized at Christ Church, where Hooke was an undergraduate from 1653 to 1658, and included a lecture (on Monday 30 November at 5:15 pm in the Upper Library) by Allan Chapman. Dr Chapman is a historian of science at Oxford University with a special interest in the history of astronomy. He is the author of 13 books and over 130 journal articles, and has made several television programmes. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and a founder member and President of the Society for the History of Astronomy.

The main purpose of this exhibition, curated by Edward Wakeling, Cristina Neagu and Allan Chapman, was to show the range and variety of photographs taken by Lewis Carroll (aka Charles Dodgson) from topography to still-life, from portraits of famous Victorians to his own family and wide circle of friends. Carroll spent nearly twenty-five years taking photographs, all using the wet-collodion process, from 1856 to 1880. The main sources of the photographs on display are Christ Church Library, the Metropolitan Museum, New York, National Portrait Gallery, London, Princeton University and the University of Texas at Austin.

The prints and accompanying ephemera (trade cards, flyers and proposals for subscription) displayed serve to stress the all-important role of publishers in commissioning and disseminating prints of every sort. Copper Impressions aims to illustrate what might have been printed on Michael Phillips's working replica of a wooden intaglio rolling press, at present here in the Library and so very like the one in Abraham Bosse's Traicté des Manieres de Graver en Taille Douce....& d'en Construire la Presse... (Dean Aldrich's copy of the book was on display); constructions of its type were still current in the 18th-century (though it must be admitted that this particular press is too small to have accommodated the large plates by Sharp and Simon, published by Macklin and Boydell). William Hogarth was an artist who jealously published his own works; Boydell and Macklin were entrepreneurs. A fourth display case gave a glimpse of those who inhabited the milieu in which painters, printmakers and publishers plied their wares. This exhibition, curated by Nicholas Stogdon and Cristina Neagu, was punctuated by several printing workshops conducted by Michael Phillips. It opened with talks on aspects of 18th century engraving, followed by a workshop on printing from relief-etched copper plates.

The aim of this  exhibition was to reveal how  widespread pagan  and Christian  imagery about monsters and ethereal beings is. Among the exhibits on display were manuscripts, early printed books and sketches by Lewis Carroll and Dean Liddell, as well as a drawing by John Tenniel and  some engravings . A selection of drawings by Vice-Admiral Lord Mark Kerr (1778-1840) were  also  be  on  display.

The exhibition explored the relationship between manuscript and print and focused on the importance of considering the two media not only as replacements one for another, but having a joint and interdependent existence during the fifteenth century.