Christ Church Oxford N/A

Planned by Cardinal Wolsey in 1525, and refounded by Henry VIII in 1546, Christ Church, Oxford has had a library since the 1560s. In 1613, Otto Nicholson gave £800 for the restoration of the library building, and in the following year £100 for the purchase of books. The benefaction of William Wake, Archbishop of Canterbury (1657 1737) made Nicholson's building inadequate, and the present building was started in 1717. The decorations were not completed until 1772, but in 1763 the contents of the old library were transferred to wall cases in the new building. At the same time the chains seem to have been removed. As at the Bodleian, the books had been shelved foredge outwards, with titles written on slips of paper that folded over the foredge towards the top, and were chained, the staples for the chains being fitted to the lower boards. Those in the Bodleian were fitted to the upper. There are early eighteenth-century engraved bookplates for the Wake books, and the books bequeathed by Charles Boyle, 4th Earl of Orrery in 1731, as well as a matching one for the old library books. A simple stamp of a cardinal's hat is used nowadays on the bindings of some of the music books. Stamp 2 was probably used for prize bindings, though the volume in Texas lacks any prize plate.well as a matching one for the old library books. A simple stamp of a cardinal's hat is used nowadays on the bindings of some of the music books. 2 was probably used for prize bindings, though the volume in Texas lacks any prize plate.

Stamp(s) Stamp Information
Christ Church Oxford (Stamp 1) Title: Christ Church Oxford (Stamp 1)
Arms: On a cross engrailed a lion passant between four leopards faces on a chief a rose between two Cornish choughs
Dimensions (height x width): 98mm x 85mm
Heraldic Charges: chief, on a, Heraldic Charges: Cornish choughs (2), Heraldic Charges: cross engrailed, on a, Heraldic Charges: leopards faces (4), Heraldic Charges: lion passant, Heraldic Charges: rose
Christ Church Oxford (Stamp 2) Title: Christ Church Oxford (Stamp 2)
Arms: Sable on a cross engrailed argent a lion passant between four leopards faces on a chief or a rose between two Cornish choughs
Dimensions (height x width): 67mm x 60mm
Heraldic Charges: chief, on a, Heraldic Charges: Cornish choughs (2), Heraldic Charges: cross engrailed, on a, Heraldic Charges: leopards faces (4), Heraldic Charges: lion passant, Heraldic Charges: rose