View source for Taylor Institution

{{Short description|Library}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2015}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2015}}
{{Infobox library
| library_name       = Taylor Institution
| name_en            = 
| library_logo       = 
| image              = Ashmolean Museum - geograph.org.uk - 1391079.jpg
| caption            = The Taylor Institution building seen from near the [[Martyrs' Memorial]]
| country            = [[United Kingdom]]
| type               = [[Academic library]]
| scope              = 
| established        = {{start date and age|1845}}
| ref_legal_mandate  = 
| location           = [[St Giles', Oxford]]
| coordinates        = {{coord |51.7554|-1.2600|type:landmark_region:GB}}
| branch_of          = 
| num_branches       = 
| items_collected    = 
| collection_size    = 
| criteria           = 
| legal_deposit      = 
| req_to_access      = 
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| pop_served         = 
| members            =  
| budget             = 
| director           = James Legg
| num_employees      = 
| website            = [http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/taylor Taylor Institution Library]
}}

{{Location map
 |Oxford (central)
 |label=Taylorian
 |position=right
 |label_size=120
 |mark=Blue pog.svg
 |marksize=10
 |lat=51.7554
 |long=-1.2600
 |width=240
 |float=right
 |caption=Location of the Institution in central Oxford
}}

The '''Taylor Institution''' (commonly known as the '''Taylorian''') is the [[Oxford University]] library dedicated to the study of the [[languages of Europe]].<ref name="art-uk">{{cite web| url=https://artuk.org/visit/venues/taylor-institution-university-of-oxford-7503 | title=Taylor Institution, University of Oxford | website=[[Art UK]] | accessdate=13 April 2021 }}</ref><ref name="jisc">{{cite web| url=https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/locations/164094ec-113c-3a16-8fb9-cad70bf2b1c8 | title=Taylor Institution Library, University of Oxford |  website=[[Archives Hub]] | publisher=[[Jisc]] | accessdate=13 April 2021 }}</ref> Its building also includes lecture rooms used by the [[Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages, University of Oxford]]. Since 1889, an [[Taylorian Lecture|Annual Lecture on a subject of Foreign Literature]] has been given at the Taylorian Institution.{{fact|date=April 2021}}

==History==
The Taylor Institution was established in 1845, funded largely by a bequest from the estate of the notable [[architect]] [[Robert Taylor (architect)|Sir Robert Taylor]] (1714–1788).  At the time, Modern European languages were not taught at the University; it was not until 1903 that the [[Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages, University of Oxford|Medieval and Modern Languages Faculty]] and Honours School was instituted in Oxford. Since the [[Bodleian Library]] lacked space, the Taylorian was initially used to house things as varied as [[William Stubbs|Stubbs]]'s lectures on English history and the [[Frederick William Hope|Hope]] collection of butterflies.<ref>{{cite magazine| last=Barber|first=Giles |title=Europe in St. Giles'|magazine=[[Oxford Today]] |volume=5 | number=1 (Michaelmas) | date=1992 |pages=12}}</ref>

==Description==
The institution and its library are found in the east wing of a [[neo-classical building]] at the southern end of [[St Giles', Oxford|St Giles']].  It was designed by [[Charles Robert Cockerell|Charles Cockerell]] to accommodate the institution and the University Galleries (now the [[Ashmolean Museum]]) and opened in 1845. The building was extended to the north along St Giles' to designs by [[Thomas Harold Hughes|T.H. Hughes]] in 1931 and 1938.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/media/global/wwwadminoxacuk/localsites/estatesservices/documents/conservation/Taylor_Institution.pdf | title=The Taylor Institution Conservation Plan | website=admin.ox.ac.uk | publisher=[[University of Oxford]] | location=UK | access-date=2018-08-24 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150218122656/https://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/media/global/wwwadminoxacuk/localsites/estatesservices/documents/conservation/Taylor_Institution.pdf | archive-date=2015-02-18}}</ref>

The library serves, for the greater part, those studying for the degree of [[Bachelor of Arts]], for the various [[Master's Degree|Master's degrees]], and for the [[Doctor of Philosophy|DPhil]] at [[Oxford University]]. The collections include Modern European languages, among them [[French language|French]], [[German language|German]], [[Italian language|Italian]], [[Spanish language|Spanish]], and [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] languages (including the [[Spanish language|South American Spanish language]] and the [[Brazilian Portuguese|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 language|Greek]], [[Slavic languages|Slavic]] (including [[Russian language|Russian]]), [[Uralic languages|Uralic]], and [[Albanian language|Albanian]] languages.

The library holds many world-class collections.<ref name="youtube">{{cite web| first1=Emma | last1=Huber | first2=Henrike | last2=Lähnemann | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w00vH-5XAKw  |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211222/w00vH-5XAKw |archive-date=2021-12-22 |url-status=live| title=Meeting Minds Global: Treasures of the Taylorian | work=Oxford Modern Languages | publisher=[[YouTube]] | date=8 April 2021 | accessdate=13 April 2021 }}{{cbignore}}</ref> Its holdings in [[German language|German]] 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'',<ref>{{cite web| url=https://blogs.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/taylor-reformation/digital-library/ein-sendbrief-vom-dolmetschen/ | title=Sendbrief vom Dolmetschen | website=blogs.bodleian.ox.ac.uk | date=17 December 2015 | publisher=[[Bodleian Library]], [[University of Oxford]] | location=UK }}</ref> and go up to contemporary [[German literature]]. Italian works run from [[Dante]] and [[Torquato Tasso|Tasso]] through one of the largest collections of [[Giovanni Battista Guarini]]'s seminal ''[[Il Pastor fido]]'' to Foscolo and Futurist manifestos.  The Spanish and Portuguese collections contain early editions of [[Lope de Vega]], [[Camoens]], [[Cervantes]], [[Góngora]], [[Francisco de Quevedo|Quevedo]], and [[Serafín Estébanez Calderón|Calderón]].  Russian first editions are well represented.{{fact|date=April 2021}} The library's greatest strength, however, lies in its French holdings. <ref>Barber, Giles. "The Taylor Institution Library." [[The Book Collector]] 47 (no 3) Autumn 1998: 319-341.</ref> Its collection of [[French Enlightenment]] authors stars the only complete collection in the world of all the French editions of [[Voltaire]]'s ''[[Candide]]'' printed in 1759, the year of first publication.<ref>Barber 1992, p. 13.</ref> The Taylorian also owns one of the only two known copies of the first edition of [[Benjamin Constant]]'s ''[[Adolphe]]''.<ref>Barber, Giles. "The Taylor Institution Library." [[The Book Collector]] 47 (no 3) Autumn 1998: 331.</ref> The collections include a lock of [[Goethe]]'s hair.<ref name="youtube" />

==See also==
* [[Ashmolean Museum]]
* [[Bodleian Library]]
* [[Taylor Professor of the German Language and Literature]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons cat|Taylor Institution, Oxford}}
* [http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/taylor/ Taylor Institution Library]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080415003153/http://www.headington.org.uk/oxon/stgiles/tour/west/74_78_taylorian_old.htm Brief history of the Taylorian building]

{{Libraries of the University of Oxford}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1845 establishments in England]]
[[Category:Libraries established in 1845]]
[[Category:Departments of the University of Oxford]]
[[Category:Libraries of the University of Oxford]]
[[Category:Language education in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Ashmolean Museum]]<!-- in a wing of the museum building -->