The Taylor Institution — or Taylorian — owes its name and existence to the London architect Sir Robert Taylor (1714-1788), whose large fortune ultimately passed to the University of Oxford in 1834. The architect C.R. Cockerell (1788-1863) was commissioned to design the Taylor Institution, together with its neighbour the Ashmolean Museum, as two separate units within a visually coherent building. The result was a handsome neoclassical building on the corner of Beaumont Street and St Giles’, completed in 1844.
Since it opened in 1849, the Taylor Institution Library has acquired a variety of art works. Some of these are displayed around the building; others are held in the Library’s Special Collections. This blog at present acts as a digital repository of the Library’s art and architectural collections collated by Madeleine Ahern (Graduate Library Trainee 2019-2020). The hope is that this platform will provide an opportunity for the Taylorian’s art works and aspects of its notable architecture to be explored and researched by interested readers and staff members. Enjoy discovering the Taylor Institution Library, its art and its architecture.
Editorial Board
James Legg
Taylor Librarian
james.legg [@] bodleian.ox.ac.uk
Clare Hills-Nova
Italian Literature & Language Librarian
clare.hills-nova [@] bodleian.ox.ac.uk
Madeleine Ahern
Graduate Library Trainee
madeleine.ahern [@] bodleian.ox.ac.uk
Further reading
G. Barber “The Taylor Institution”, The history of the University of Oxford 6/1, ed. M.G. Brock and M.C. Curthoys (Oxford: OUP, 1997): 631-640.
G. Barber “The Taylor Institution Library” Book collector 47 (1998): 319-341.
J. Hughes “History of the Library and its collections” Handbuch der historischen Buchbestände in Deutschland, Österreich und Europa, ed. B. Fabian (Hildesheim: Olms, 2003): online edition.
P. Morgan “Taylor Institution” Oxford libraries outside the Bodleian: a guide 2nd ed. (Oxford: Bodleian Library, 1980).
D. Watkin The life and work of C.R. Cockerell (London: Zwemmer, 1974).