Further Remarks on the Policy of Lending Bodleian Printed Books and Manuscripts

Chandler, Henry W. (Henry William), 1828-1889Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 1.5

Word count: 30K words
Chapters: 3

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Further remarks on the policy of lending Bodleian printed books and manuscriptsAuthor: Chandler, Henry W. (Henry William), 1828-1889,Language: English, Class: Z: Bibliography, Library science, Release Date: Mar 22, 2015

Editor's review

This book is Henry W. Chandler's further discussion of the Bodleian Library's policy on lending printed books and manuscripts, a primary source for library history and collection management. Its value lies not in offering a general borrowing guide but in presenting the real tension in a nineteenth-century large research library between "protecting collections" and "serving readers": why manuscripts were more restricted, how the risks of lending printed books were assessed, and how regulations were repeatedly debated. Brief and argumentative, it suits as supplementary material for courses in library science, book history and institutional history, and for close reading by those interested in the history of Oxford libraries. Read it in historical context, noting the author's stance and period limitations, rather than as a basis for today's lending rules.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Library science and archival management students needing institutional history cases
Scholars studying book history, printing history and collection policy
Readers interested in the history of Oxford's Bodleian Library
Researchers needing nineteenth-century primary sources on library management

Not a good fit for

General readers seeking a modern library borrowing manual
Casual readers expecting light stories or general-interest works
Beginners unfamiliar with long English sentences and nineteenth-century argumentative prose

Reading tips

Read the title and topic sentences first to map the specific lending arguments the author opposes or supports
While reading, list a comparison table of risk differences between manuscripts and printed books
Read with the historical background of the Bodleian in mind, avoiding judging the regulations out of period
After finishing, write a hundred-word summary to test whether you have grasped the main line of argument

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Does this book discuss modern library lending rules?

No. It discusses the nineteenth-century debate at the Bodleian Library over the lending policy for printed books and manuscripts, and is a historical document. Readers should treat it as institutional history material, not as a basis for today's lending regulations.

Can I read it without a library science background?

Yes, but with patience. The text is English argumentative prose dealing with professional issues such as collection protection and lending risk. It is advisable first to learn the basics of the Bodleian Library, then work through the author's arguments paragraph by paragraph; the threshold will drop noticeably.

Is the book long? Should I read it through or selectively?

From the information it is a "further remarks," so it should be fairly short. Read through first to grasp the position, then revisit key passages; for research, excerpt under "manuscript policy" and "printed book policy" separately.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Chandler, Henry W. (Henry William), 1828-1889 Author · 1828–1889

Henry W. Chandler (1828–1889) was a nineteenth-century writer known for two commentaries on the lending policies of the Bodleian Library. The first discusses the practice and policy of lending printed books, while the second extends the discussion to the lending of manuscripts. Both texts address the same question: how a public collection can balance access to its holdings against their preservation. His writing focuses on concrete institutional and practical matters, in a cautious tone with a clear argumentative edge, reflecting contemporary scholarly concern about library openness and the protection of collections. Because public information is limited, little is known about his life, nationality or professional background, and his output is small, with only two works held in this collection. Their main value lies in offering primary documentary clues for the study of nineteenth-century library lending systems.