A view down one of the library's wings.

The Merton College library is a very famous early example of a chained library in the Mob Quad in Oxford, United Kingdom. It was built around 1373–8 by the mason William Humberville. Under the Wardenship of Henry Savile (1589) it was subsequently updated to a Renaissance style. Thomas Bodley planned the library as an experiment in the new Continental style, which used shelves to store the books rather than lecterns. Merton College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. ... Modern-style library In its traditional sense, a library is a collection of books and periodicals. ... An old picture of Mob Quad Mob Quad is a four sided group of buildings in Merton College, Oxford surrounding a small lawn. ... Oxford is a city and local government district in Oxfordshire, England, with a population of 134,248 (2001 census). ... Events Bristol is made an independent county. ... Events March - John Wyclif tried to gain public favour by laying his theses before parliament, and then made them public in a tract. ... Sir Henry Savile (1549 – February 19, 1622), warden of Merton College, Oxford, and provost of Eton, was the son of Henry Savile of Bradley, near Halifax, in Yorkshire, a member of an old county family, the Saviles of Methley, and of his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Ramsden. ... Events Rebellion of the Catholic League against King Henry III of France, in revenge for his murder of Duke Henry of Guise. ... By Region: Italian Renaissance Northern Renaissance *French Renaissance *German Renaissance *English Renaissance The Renaissance was an influential cultural movement which brought about a period of scientific revolution and artistic transformation, at the dawn of modern European history. ... Thomas Bodley Sir Thomas Bodley (March 2, 1545 - January 28, 1613), was an English diplomat and scholar, founder of the Bodleian Library, Oxford. ...

As it is still, at least theoretically, possible for students to read the books and part of the library is used as a reference library this is the longest continuously used library in the UK.

It currently houses a very impressive collection: some 70,000 printed books, and approximately 350 medieval manuscripts. It also houses two 16th century globes, displays of early scientific instruments such as astrolabes and a bust of T. S. Eliot. In a separate and newer room, there is additionally a gallery of the works of ex-Mertonian Max Beerbohm. The library is occasionally opened to visitors and is claimed to be haunted by the ghost of John Duns Scotus who walks the floor of the original 13th Century library (which lies about a foot below the current one). The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ... For the ship of Dumont dUrville, see Astrolabe A 16th century astrolabe. ... T.S. Eliot (by E.O. Hoppe, 1919) Thomas Stearns Eliot (September 26, 1888 – January 4, 1965) was an Anglo-American poet, dramatist, and critic. ... Max Beerbohm by William Rothenstein, 1893 Sir Henry Maximilian Beerbohm (August 24, 1872 - May 20, 1956) was an English parodist and caricaturist. ... Blessed John Duns Scotus (c. ...

The library has many aged manuscripts.

See also

• Merton College