Special work is also offered in Geography.
Library facilities.
‘The Bodleian Library and the Taylorian Library of foreign books are open to all matriculated members of the University upon compliance with certain conditions as to introduction. Each College also possesses a library, and books and MSS. in the library of one College can usually be consulted by members of other Colleges by arrangement with the Librarian. The Bodleian Library, and some of the College libraries, contain an immense quantity of MSS. and materials for mediaeval history which have been imperfectly explored. The Bodleian is also extremely rich in collections of MSS. illustrating the history of England during the sixteenth, the seventeenth, and the early part of the eighteenth century, and many Colleges possess important MSS. of the same period which have been but little utilized by historians. The Carter MSS. in the Bodleian are one of the chief sources for the study of Irish History.’ Mention should also be made of the library of the Oxford Architectural and Historical Society, and of the special collections in the Ashmolean Museum on Prehistoric Britain (Stone and Bronze and Early Iron Age), Anglo-Saxon Britain, and of the Renaissance Bronzes and Majolica, and of the library of the Indian Institute.
Theology.
Many of the Honour lectures in Theology are adapted to the needs of advanced students. Seminar classes are also held in several subjects. A special University Lectureship in Assyriology has been established; lectures are given on the bearing of Assyriology upon the Old Testament. The instructional staff is excellent. Two theological colleges, Mansfield College (Congregational) and Manchester College (undenominational), are both well equipped with an efficient staff of lecturers.
Oriental studies.
Most of the courses in the School of Oriental Languages are for the practical acquisition of the languages offered. There are also some advanced lectures, and all members of the teaching staff are prepared to give instruction and advice to students taking up any special line of Oriental studies. There is a very complete collection of works on Egyptology in the Bodleian Library and in the libraries of the Ashmolean Museum, of Queen’s College, and of the Indian Institute. ‘The Indian Institute Library contains about 23,000 volumes intended to represent very fully the languages, the literature, the religions, the institutions, the geography, the history, the ethnology, the archaeology, and the administration of ancient, mediaeval, and modern India.’ Very considerable opportunities and facilities are here afforded for the study of Sanskrit, Tamil and Telugu, Persian, Arabic, Turkish, Chinese, and Burmese. The library contains a collection of 162 Sanskrit and Prākṛit MSS., and 64 Persian MSS., as well as a large number of maps of official publications of the Indian Provincial Government. All the leading Oriental Journals in English, French, and German are kept here. The Museum of the Indian Institute is a great aid to the historical study of Indian subjects.
English Literature.
Though but very recently established, the work in the Schools of English Language and Literature and of Modern Languages calls for special consideration. The facilities for research in the Bodleian, and especially in the Taylorian Library, are very considerable.
‘The Taylorian Library contains about 40,000 volumes, representing the languages of Modern Europe, English (Anglo-Saxon, Early English), French, German, Dutch, Scandinavian, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Modern Greek, Polish, Bohemian (Czech), Russian, Serbo-Croatian, and Bulgarian. The chief subjects are the philology and literature (mainly poetry and drama) of these languages, and historical memoirs and biographies written in them. The Library is specially strong in the literature of Dante, Molière, Goethe and Schiller, Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Calderon, Camoëns, and Old Norse Sagas. The Finch Collection forms a special library of works on the Fine Arts, written in French, German, Italian, and other European languages.