Gifts and Books: Share Your Book Stories With the Bodleian

Curators of a new exhibition about book stories to open at the Bodleian Libraries in Oxford later this year are asking for readers' stories about books they have been given.

Gifts and Books will go on display in June and will draw on material from ancient Sumerian writing tablets to contemporary fiction for children. It will explore the importance of the gift-giving of books - especially with friends and family - and how it reveals wider interactions, relationships and belief systems.

Readers can be part of the exhibition as the curators are on the lookout for stories about treasured books you have been given which will be incorporated in the exhibition at the Weston Library. Dr Nicholas Perkins, Associate Professor and Tutor in English, St Hugh's College, University of Oxford, has curated the exhibition and here is his story:
 
"My treasured book is Jack Fingleton’s The Greatest Test of All, about a famous tied test match, Australia v West Indies, 1960. My grandparents owned it, then gave it to me. It’s nostalgic, heroic, nerdy and reminds me of times with them in Lancashire. It even smells of their spare room!"

Click here for more information and how to share your story.