Pusey House Library & Archive

We will be closed due to the crowds attending the St. Giles fair next Monday and Tuesday.

And so we come to the end...

As some of you know, today is my (Jessica's) last day as Librarian at Pusey House. I'll be moving to Magdalen College Oxford Libraries and Archives to take on my dream role of Special Collections Librarian, though of course I'll miss Pusey House and all my friends and colleagues here. I do hope to stay in touch with the Pusey community and to catch up with you before too long.

For the next few months, the Pusey Library and Archive will be in the very capable hands of our part-time Project Cataloguer, Cathy Lewis. Helping out when she's not around will be three temporary Library Assistants: Kath Thomson, Matilda Houston-Brown and Harry Spain. Watch this space for news of a permanent post.

Please give the new four-person team a very warm welcome!

With huge thanks for your support (and a hope that you'll drop in to Magdalen's exhibitions sometime!),
Jessica

PS Edward has decided to retire and come home with me, but Bouverie Cheslyn will still be very much available to soothe the stressed 🐼

We promised you welfare treats, and here they are! 🥳

Firstly, we have stickers! Bookish stickers, in fact, suitable for your phone, laptop, or anywhere you care to stick them. They live at the Library entrance with the earplugs and sanitiser -- do feel free to take some and brighten up your chosen study device ✨

Secondly, we have a seed library! 🌱Ever fancied growing your own food? Intrigued by the wellbeing benefits of caring for a plant? Help yourself to some equipment and have a go at producing tasty seasonings (oregano, thyme, peppermint, etc.) at home. We'd love to see how you get on at the hashtag . (Thank you to and for sharing this idea with Oxford librarians!)

We hope these treats provide a bit of fun and stress relief at what can be quite an overwhelming time of year.

Are you ? Interested in theology? Looking for a cosy, peaceful study space with a friendly reader community?

We would love to welcome you to our annual induction event on the evening of Tuesday 24th October!

And if this week is for you, we hope you're settling in OK 😊 Come and see us if you need some downtime and/or welfare treats (more on the latter coming shortly...)

A sea of lovely autumn flowers round the back of the Library 💮

The new term is nearly here - stay tuned for updates in the next few days, and if you're new here, a big !

This is special, and we're very grateful to the researcher who unearthed it!

Our researcher (who prefers to remain anonymous) writes:

'While working on Pusey House's Henry Liddon papers I stumbled across a letter from Christian F. Cole. In 1876 Cole became the first black African to take a BA from Oxford and subsequently became a member of the University of Oxford. There are only a few known examples of Cole's handwriting and personal papers, so this is an exciting find.'

We're delighted to have something from such an important figure in Oxford's history. If you want to find out more about Cole, you can read a little about his life here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-40429917

https://www.univ.ox.ac.uk/news/christian-coles-univ-contacts/

https://makinghistory.magd.ox.ac.uk/

On the anniversary of the sad loss of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the accession of His Majesty King Charles III, it seems a good moment to showcase a lovely discovery from among our uncatalogued anonymous donations. Many thanks to whoever donated this!

This must be one of the most (if not the most?) beautiful title pages at Pusey House!

Fully hand-drawn and hand-coloured, it comes from the Declaration Book of the London Province of the Guild of St Alban the Martyr. Though it looks medieval, it actually dates from the 19th century, when the Guild was set up by Shirley Fielding Palmer as a support network for Anglo-Catholic laypeople. New members in London had to sign this book upon joining.

Look out for a full catalogue of the Guild's archive, coming soon!

Do you have thoughts?

We hope you do, and if some of them are about our Library and Archive, we'd love to hear them! Whether you delight in our desk lamps or feel perturbed by our printer, all feedback really helps us to shape our service for you.

Our biennial reader survey is open until 20th September:

https://oxford.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/pusey-house-library-archive-visitor-survey-2022-23

It only takes 5 minutes and all answers are anonymous. One lucky participant will be chosen at random to win a £10 Book Token!

Many thanks to everyone who has filled in the survey so far!

Before, during, and (almost) after! ✨

These last couple of weeks, our summer intern Matilda has been working hard at cataloguing and classifying the book collection of Charles Lindley Wood, 2nd Viscount Halifax (1839-1934).

Halifax's books have been stored in our Liddon Room for many years, but we'd never before had an opportunity to work intensively on them. Matilda's project has uncovered all sorts of hidden gems, including two books that are the only library copies in the UK! There's also a rich selection of 19th-century French theology (possibly unrivalled in Oxford), some lovely inscriptions from authors, and some great future candidates for Marbled Monday.

Apart from a few special cases that will require extra cataloguing work, the whole collection is now included on SOLO and can be consulted by appointment with the Librarian.

Very many thanks to Matilda for her brilliant work!

We've been away from Facebook for a couple of weeks, as we were busy carrying out an exciting project (more on that soon!) -- but look at some of the intriguing things we've found in the time!

Many thanks to our cataloguer Cathy for discovering these wonderful Egyptian hieroglyphs in an 1835 book on early writing systems. And if you swipe along, you'll see a delightfully tiny rare prayer book that Cathy also found -- it's only 11cm tall!

The final picture shows an interesting use of waste paper inside a nineteenth-century book binding. The book is a biography of the historical Jesus, but hiding inside (until the book fell apart 😥) was a list of categories of steam vehicle.

Happy bookish weekend to all our readers!

Unusually for a theological library, we have lots of novels, history books, travelogues, art books and more for sale!

This is thanks to a very kind donation from Fr James Finnemore. Fr Finnemore will generously be giving 70% of his proceeds to Pusey House's fundraising appeal, and the other 30% will go to the DEC Turkey-Syria Earthquake Appeal as part of our Arts Festival.

At only £1 per book (plus postage and packing if needed), there is sure to be a bargain here for your summer reading enjoyment. Just check out the link below, choose your books, and email [email protected] to get your order on its way!

Happy Reading! 📚

List of books available: https://tinyurl.com/puseybooksale

Want to see this in real life? If you're around in Pusey House at 4pm, please come to the Ursell Room...

A partially complete photo of our 2022/3 Greater Chapter.

Clinton Collister and Jack Chisnall (centre back row) will both be leaving us to start training for the priesthood at Wycliffe Hall. Jack and Clinton joined us as Interns in 2021. Since then Clinton has gone on to become a Research Assistant at the Centre for Theology, Law, and Culture, and Jack has served admirably as Sacristan.

We are immensely grateful to both Jack and Clinton for the gifts that they have brought to their roles and we hope to see them around next year. Please pray for them as they go forward to train for the priesthood, and for the rest of Greater Chapter next year.

Front row (L-R): Ian Palmer (Administrator and Secretary of the Friends), Jessica Woodward (Librarian), The Rev’d Dr George Westhaver (Principal), Dr Jonathan Price (Lay Academic Fellow), Karen Westhaver (Steward)

Back row (L-R): Harry Spain, The Rev’d Mark Stafford (Chaplain), Clinton Collister (Research Associate), Jack Chisnall (Sacristan), Daniel Martin-Thomas (Chapel Intern), James Kenyon (Intern)

Something lovely to start your week - a beautiful 1923 book of Gregorian chants, illustrated with big, bold woodcuts.

Many thanks to our cataloguer, Cathy, for unearthing and photographing it!

SPECIAL OFFER! 🎟🎫

Only 6 days to go until the Pusey Arts Festival and we're so excited about all the music, poetry, dance, and more that's in store! 🥳

Haven't got your ticket yet? You can now buy one and get another half-price! Take advantage here:

Pusey Arts Festival: The Beach Edition at St Cross College: Dining Hall Tickets are now available for Pusey Arts Festival: The Beach Edition at St Cross College: Dining Hall, Oxford on Wed 14 Jun 2023 at 7:30PM. Click the link for further information and to secure your tickets now!

I love it when the roses come out 🌹

We are open today as normal -- please do come and join us if you fancy some Bank-Holiday theology!

What a stunning cover design! 😍

Sadly, the book isn't about little green Benedictines, as exciting as that would be... 👽 'Alien' is used here in its antiquated sense of 'non-British', a usage which has understandably now been removed from library cataloguing.

I really hope for a Doctor Who episode with actual alien Benedictines one day!

The beautiful endpaper and equally lovely title page from hymn-writer Athelstan Riley's copy of a French Benedictine gradual, published in 1883.

The book also has my favourite bookplate in our collections: a chivalric rural scene with prominent ducks.

Not long to go now! 🏖🌞🕶

This year's Pusey Arts Festival is shaping up to be a wonderful night! We have talented singers, instrumentalists, actors, writers, a dancer and a storyteller, not to mention an array of art exhibitions and a beach-themed food stall.

Please do grab your ticket while they're still available! Here's the link with more details: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/pusey-house-library-archive/t-pqmrqlv

We hope to see you there!

Pusey Arts Festival: The Beach Edition at St Cross College: Dining Hall Tickets are now available for Pusey Arts Festival: The Beach Edition at St Cross College: Dining Hall, Oxford on Wed 14 Jun 2023 at 7:30PM. Click the link for further information and to secure your tickets now!

Happy Ascension Day! 🎉

If you're wondering why there are people on top of our tower, they are carrying out a much-loved Pusey tradition! Every Ascension Day, our Principal and Choir literally ascend to sing some hymns on the tower, as a symbol of Jesus Christ's ascension to Heaven.

Everyone then comes back down to Earth for some lovely homemade Pimm's 🥂

A close-up from Dr Pusey's wonderful sermon case, embroidered for him by a mystery admirer.

I took the left-hand photo today for a textile student, and couldn't resist posting it as the close-up angle gives the case a whole new kind of beauty.

We're all set for the Coronation! 👑 The red, white and blue bunting is up, we have an exhibition of rare and unusual coronation books to whet your appetite, and a royal bookshelf for your browsing pleasure!

Please note that, like many institutions, we will be closed for the Bank Holiday on 8th May. Whether you'll be celebrating, doing The Big Help Out, ploughing on with revision, or just having a rest, we hope it'll be a good day for you!

Don't forget also that the coronation ceremony will be livestreamed in the Pusey House Chapel from 10:15am tomorrow -- everyone is very welcome to join!

👑 👑

We are open for the Bank Holiday!

If you're still awake after May Morning(!), you're very welcome to come and join us as always!

An exciting new archive is coming our way, thanks to the generosity of friends of the Revd Gonville ffrench-Beytagh (1913-1991).

ffrench-Beytagh worked as an Anglo-Catholic priest in South Africa, Zimbabwe and London. During his time in South Africa, he was a brave campaigner against apartheid, suffering gruelling interrogations, solitary confinement, and even the threat of the death penalty. His archive is sure to contain interesting historical insights. Though some papers may not be consultable immediately for data protection reasons, ffrench-Beytagh’s friends are keen for researchers to make the most of this valuable resource, and we’d urge anyone interested to get in touch for more information.

Thanks to a kind donation from author Brian Bridge, the Library is also building a collection of ffrench-Beytagh’s published works on spirituality and Christian conversion.

Bad reviews then and now!

We would normally encourage you not to write in Library books, but we admit that the results can be intriguing for future readers.

Here are two surprise messages found recently in Pusey House books:

Top photo: 'Lettres juives' (or Jewish Letters) published in 1750. An outraged French-speaking reader writes: 'Religion is hardly respected in these letters, and the ministers of said religion are torn to shreds with alarming ferocity. There are nonetheless signs of knowledge and research, and a few good reflections; but the style is too verbose and lacking in rigour.'

Bottom photo: I won't say which book from 2003 this is, but if you come across it in the Library, you'll certainly know what its former owner thought of it. According to them, the book is 'unnecessarily repetitive', with 'loose and often self-indulgent phrasing', a 'structure at times illogical', and 'many statements no historian should make'.

Entertaining as these reviews are, I do feel a bit sorry for the authors...

Pusey House 🌸

Hope those of you who are in Oxford are enjoying the sunshine today!

A good news story!

We're hugely grateful to whoever posted these two antiquarian books back to the Library, after they'd spent 15-20 years in someone's home. We might never have tracked them down if it weren't for this (anonymous) person's help, so thank you!!

The two books are now getting comfortable in a safe location - no doubt they have lots to tell their shelfmates...

Preparations for the are hotting up, but to make the event as big and spectacular as we can, we really need your vote!

Please vote for our entry in the TicketSource Community Event Fund Competition, using the link below. Voting only takes a few seconds, but it could secure us up to £1,000 to put towards this very special charity event!

https://ticketsource.wishpondpages.com/ticketsource-community-fund/entries/201966897/reference

There's a lot to look forward to at Pusey House next term! Aside from the usual services, socials, and Library things, we'll also be reviving the Arts Festival!!!

This year's event will fundraise for the DEC Turkey-Syria Earthquake Appeal. The theme will be 'The Beach', but any and all kinds of music, drama, artworks, stories, etc. are welcomed.

At this stage, there are two things you can do to get involved:

1. Please vote for our entry in the TicketSource Community Event Fund, so that we can raise money to make the event extra special: https://ticketsource.wishpondpages.com/ticketsource-community-fund/entries/201966897/reference

2. If you'd like to perform, exhibit, cater, sell tickets, or take on any other role, please express interest through our registration form: https://forms.office.com/e/WXYi8pz38z

We're so excited to be doing this again, and hope that lots of our community may want to get involved! If you have any questions at all, don't hesitate to get in touch.

The stage is your oyster...

🌴😎🌊