Rare Donated Book Of 1587 Returned To Oxford
(The Quiver) : The first english translated copy of the rare old book , Euclid’s The Elements of Geometrie has returned to Christ Church library of Oxford University . The book made its way back to the Library after 300 long years.
This book was donated to the library in the year of 1587 by a group of nine students on receiving their Master of Arts degrees. The names of nine students can be found in the title page of the book. The group includes James Calfhill, headmaster of Durham Grammar School, Edmund Gwyn, Vicar of Market Lavington (and grandfather of actress Nell Gwynn) and George Limiter, civil servant and solicitor to the Dean and Chapter of Westminster.
During those times Christ Church was the first Oxford college to introduce a system for encouraging the graduating students to either donate a book or give money to the Library. The book also provides an insight into the history of mathematical teaching at Christ Church.
After spells in various private collections and nearly 100 years in the John Rylands Library in Manchester, it has made its way back to Christ Church around 300 years after the library first disposed of it in the 18th century.
Dr Philip Beeley (Oxford Centre for the History of Science, Medicine and Technology) said of the acquisition: “Books which have been visibly used or which contain ownership details are particularly valuable because they provide important clues enabling the creation of a historical narrative.”
He further adeed,“The recent acquisition by Christ Church of a copy of the 1570 Billingsley edition of Euclid’s Elements in the vernacular, donated to the College by nine contemporary undergraduates, is a wonderful resource and will be avidly scrutinized by historians pursuing such investigations further.”
Being thankful he said ,”Christ Church is very grateful to the Friends of the National Libraries, Dr. Fiona Hollands and Ethan Berman for making it possible for us to acquire this wonderful book and look forward to making this book available for research, enjoyment and public engagement”.
