Bodleian Library - Treasures of The Library

Treasures of The Library

Manuscript collections

• The Ashmole Manuscripts (including the Ashmole Bestiary), collected by Elias Ashmole
• The Carte Manuscripts, collected by Thomas Carte (1686–1754)
• The Douce Manuscripts, donated to the library by Sir Francis Douce in 1834
• The Laud Manuscripts, donated to the library by Archbishop William Laud between 1635 and 1640
• The letters of the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley.

Individual manuscripts

• The Codex Bodley
• The Codex Ebnerianus
• The Codex Laudianus
• The Codex Laud
• The Codex Mendoza
• The Codex Tischendorfianus III
• The Codex Tischendorfianus IV
• The Huntington MS 17, the oldest manuscript with complete text of the four Gospels in Bohairic (Coptic).
• The Magna Carta (four copies)
• The Song of Roland.
• The Vernon Manuscript (Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Eng. poet.a.1), the longest and most important surviving manuscript written in Middle English.

Individual printed books

• A Gutenberg Bible, ca. 1455, one of only 42 surviving complete copies.
• Shakespeare's First folio, 1623