The library occupies the whole of the first floor of the south side of "Mob Quadrangle" and the greater part of the same floor of the west side ([fig. 80]). It is entered through a doorway in the south-western angle of the court, whence a staircase leads up to the vestibule ([fig. 81]). This room is separated from the two divisions of the library by lofty oak screens, elaborately carved and ornamented in the style of the early renaissance.
The two rooms into which the library is divided have a uniform width of 20 ft. 6 in. The west room, called by tradition Old Library, is 38 ft. 6 in. long (A, B, [fig. 81]); the south room, or New Library, is 56 ft. 6 in. long (C, D, [fig. 81]).
The west room is lighted by seven equidistant lancet windows in each of the west and east walls, and by two dormer windows of peculiar design on the side of the roof next to the court. The south room is similarly lighted by ten lancets in each of the north and south walls, and on the side next to the court by two dormer windows like those in the west room. This room moreover has an open space at the east end, about 10 ft. long, lighted by a window of two lights in each of the north and south walls respectively, and by an oriel of five lights in the east wall. In both rooms there is a waggon-roof of five cants boarded, and divided into panels by molded ribs with little bosses at the intersections ([fig. 82]).
The blank wall at the north end of the west room is panelled with oak of an elaborate and beautiful design for a height of about 12 ft. ([fig. 82]). The space above this is decorated with panels of plaster-work. The large square central panel contains the arms of the college; the circular panel to the west those of John Whitgift (Archbishop of Canterbury 1583-1604); and the similar panel to the east those of Sir Henry Savile (Warden 1585-1621).
Fig. 79. Hook to hold up the desk. Bodleian Library, Oxford.
The east end of the south room is similarly treated, but the oak panelling is less elaborate. In the plaster-work above it the arms of the college are flanked on the north by those of George Abbot (Archbishop of Canterbury 1611-1633) and on the south by those of Sir Nathaniel Brent (Warden 1621-1651).