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Sep 20, 2022 6 tweets 3 min read Read on X
The Obscene Publications Act passed in 1857 prohibited the distribution of materials that 'deprave and corrupt those whose minds are open to such influences.'

So the Bodleian Libraries created the Φ (Phi) Collection.
#BannedBooksWeek Cover of Phallic Objects & Remains: Illustrations of the Ris
The earliest evidence of the Phi collection - items to be hidden from public view - is found in the minutes of a meeting of the Curators of the Bodleian, 1882.

From 1912, students couldn’t review a book from the Phi collection without prior permission from a tutor. Tutor's letter of permission - from 1941
By the late 1930s, much of the material was reclassified and redistributed into the collection. But the shelfmark still exists.

There are around 3000 titles in the Phi collection – from the scholarly, to ancient tomes, to nude drawings and ‘scandalous’ novels. A copy of 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' by Oscar Wilde
While the Phi collection was in operation, an illustrated volume of The Love Books of Ovid was restricted due to its pictures.

...but Ovid's unillustrated erotic poems were freely available on the Libraries' open shelves! An illustrated volume of The Love Books of Ovid
Some say Phi puns on 'Fie!' - what a Librarian might exclaim when asked to fetch one of the books!

Others say it stems from the first letter of the Greek 'phaula' or 'phaulos' - worthless, wicked or base.

Image: The Joy of Sex: A Gourmet Guide to Lovemaking by Alex Comfort The Joy of Sex: A Gourmet Guide to Lovemaking by Alex Comfor
Do you think these books are still ‘obscene’?

- The Pop-Up Kama Sutra by Forster Fitzgerald Arbuthnot
- Satyra Sotadic, a 17th century work of European pornography, by Luisa Siegea de Velasco
- The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
- Sex by Madonna Lady Chatterley's Lover by D H Lawrence

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More from @bodleianlibs

Mar 21
It's #WorldTattooDay, so let's take a look at the tats on some of our ink-redible Bodleian colleagues!

Medieval project cataloguer Dr Alison Ray @liber_ray has this fiery phoenix on the pyre. Here it is alongside 13th c. Bestiary MS. Bodl. 764, f. 70r
digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/ecf968…

Phoenix on a pyre - a tattoo on Dr Ray's arm
Phoenix on a pyre from medieval 13th c Bestiary
Alison also has this design inspired by the Ripley Scroll - an extraordinary manuscript, almost six metres long, that gives the recipe for the fabled Philosopher's Stone. Ideal for any immortal-in-the-making.
digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/a77643…

Image from the Ripley Scroll - a tattoo on Alison's arm
Image on the Ripley Scroll
One of our most inked colleagues has to be Helen Worrell, Archaeology and Anthropology Subject Librarian and EDI Co-ordinator.

Helen's sleeves are influenced by the Arts and Crafts style, particularly C.R. Mackintosh and William Morris - like this bird from a Morris print. Helen's arm featuring a William Morris print-inspired blue bird tattoo
Read 9 tweets
Dec 8, 2020
At the beginning of the first lockdown, we had to quickly rethink how to provide #BodleianReaders with the material they needed.

Colleagues from across @BodCons came together to help support the mediated scanning service to #KeepOxfordReading
#BodSocialTakeover
1/5 Colleagues came together to help support the mediated scanni
The Conservation & Collection Care team delivered our first online training sessions to the Weston Library reading room staff, giving them handling advice for scanning Special Collections.

More than 70,000 items have been scanned so far!
2/5
Our colleague Emma Skinner was a key part of this training.

She has been with us since March completing her three-part internship focusing on conservation for digitisation - which included time at the @UkNatArchives and @britishlibrary
3/5 Our colleague: Emma Skinner!
Read 5 tweets
Dec 8, 2020
In October we welcomed the newest member of Conservation & Collection Care @BodCons, Kirstin Norwood - socially distanced and wearing face coverings of course!

Kirstin joined the Book Conservation team.
1/4
#BodSocialTakeover Welcoming Kirstin Norwood
Kirstin has been working closely with our longest serving member of the book team, Andrew Dawson, who started at the Bodleian age 16!

Here’s #howitstartedvshowitsgoing!
2/4 Andrew Dawson: how it started/how it’s going!
Andrew has been showing Kirstin the ropes and teaching her the repair techniques needed to treat the heavily used reference books we conserve for the wider libraries.
3/4 Andrew & Kirstin
Read 4 tweets
Dec 8, 2020
More than meets the eye!

Part of the work of @BodCons is to assess the condition of manuscripts and for this, a microscope is a useful tool to examine painted surfaces in great detail.
#BodSocialTakeover
1/4 A microscope is a useful tool to examine painted surfaces in
Viewing a manuscript through a microscope can reveal artists techniques and the condition of the painted media.

Thanks to the generosity of external donors, currently being examined and conserved in our studio is ‘The Douce Album’...
2/4 Working on ‘The Douce Album’ MS. Douce Or. A. 1
‘The Douce Album’ (MS. Douce Or. A. 1) is an album assembled for a Mughal prince in the 17th century and bequeathed to the Bodleian Library in 1834 by bibliophile Francis Douce.
3/4 The Douce Album
Read 4 tweets
Dec 8, 2020
The #HelenMuspratt photographic archive was recently gifted to the Libraries. We’re working on its long term storage.

The prints & negatives in the pioneering photographer's collection present a few preservation challenges...

One solution: biscuits!
#BodSocialTakeover
1/4 Triple self portrait, solarised c 1932 (Helen Muspratt)
It’s not Conservation tea time; this tin is full of negatives waiting to be rehoused.

The tin isn’t suitable for long term storage, and the 'negs' will be packaged for freezer storage.

There are thousands of negs to package and not a biscuit in sight!
2/4 Not custard creams, but an innovative storage solution for n
An free exhibition of Helen Muspratt's work recently reopened (after #lockdown2uk) in Weston Library, Oxford.

To avoid unnecessary light exposure during the closure, our colleagues in the Exhibitions team covered every single print!
3/4

visit.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/event/helen-mu… During the second UK lockdown this year, Jennifer covered He
Read 4 tweets
Dec 8, 2020
Today our Conservation & Collections Care team @BodCons take over the Bodleian Twitter, FB & Insta!

Sharpen your shoe-knives and flex your bonefolders in anticipation of some sneaky peeks into the kind of things we get up to at work!

1/5
#BodSocialTakeover Tools of our trade...
The Library has officially employed conservators since 1965, although repairs & maintenance of books have taken place pretty much since the founding of the Library (more on this later…).

Our work ensures that our collections remain stable & accessible to readers.
2/5 Studio spaces in the Weston
The Weston building refurbishment allowed us to redesign and fit out two beautiful studio spaces with all the equipment required to undertake conservation treatments, as well as to conduct scientific examination and research into our collections.
3/5 Studio spaces and equipmentStudio spaces and equipment
Read 5 tweets

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