Arts

04 Mar 09

The dedication copy of a poem to Queen Elizabeth I, addressed to her in French by a Huguenot refugee, Georges de la Mothe, which is housed in the Bodleian Library

To mark World Book Day 2009 tomorrow (5 March), the Bodleian Library is holding a one-day display showcasing reading by female monarchs.

On show will be books belonging to four medieval and Tudor queens - St Margaret of Scotland, Queen Eleanor of Castile (first wife of Edward I), Queen Katherine Parr and Queen Elizabeth I. There will also be the unique chance to view a selection of Alan Bennett’s working papers, several successive versions in manuscript and corrected typescript, for his best-selling novella The Uncommon Reader, which imagines how Queen Elizabeth II might discover the pleasures of reading.

Inspired by Bennett's novella title, following his donation of his archives to the Bodleian last year, the display is a journey in time looking at real rather than imaginary ‘uncommon readers’. The books belonging to the earlier royals relate more to their official and religious lives but each of them has an intriguing aspect. 

Queen Margaret's influence on Scottish culture is symbolized by her favourite, and even miraculous, gospel-book. A poem added at the start claims that this book was dropped into a river but rescued almost unharmed.

The future Edward I and his wife Eleanor of Castile owned a Book of Revelation, a masterpiece of English gothic art.  Known as ‘The Douce Apocalypse’ after its donor, Francis Douce, the book is stunningly well illustrated.  Such was the importance given to the illuminations that in places its scribe sacrificed the text in favour of the pictures. 

The young Princess Elizabeth translated, wrote out and embroidered improving texts, presenting them as New Year gifts to her stepmother, Queen Katherine Parr, and half-brother, Edward VI. Later, as Queen, she received books which flattered her own magnificence and learning - a French poet depicts her in a superbly hemispherical skirt, and in 1566 her Regius Professor of Hebrew imagines her conversation, in Latin elegiac couplets, as she tours the colleges of Oxford and the very building in which these items will be displayed.

Richard Ovenden, Keeper of Special Collections and Associate Director, Bodleian Library said: ‘In recent years, World Book Day has become an annual tradition at the Bodleian Library. We are happy to be part of the national celebrations which support books and reading, especially this year in celebrating Alan Bennett's gifts to the Library and to readers kingdom-wide.'

The free display will be held on Thursday 5 March 2009 in the Divinity School, in the Bodleian Library between 10am and 5pm.