You are here: Home > The Treasures Back to treasures Explore interactive features The Classical Heritage Maps and Boundaries The Sacred Word The Animal Kingdom The Plant Kingdom Literature and Music Scientific Observation Mathematics Moments in History The University and its Library Show all (clear theme filters) The Classical Heritage»The ancient cultures of Greece and Rome have come down to us often in fragments, whether it be a ruined temple, a broken statue or a shattered vase. The written word may survive, mostly by chance, in... More about this treasure » More about this theme » Maps and Boundaries»A medieval world map shows, often in abstract form, the map-maker’s conception of the known world. The position, orientation and size of places and features are dictated by the limits of the... More about this treasure » More about this theme » The Sacred Word»The spoken teachings of the great religious leaders have taken myriad handwritten and printed forms. Often the manuscripts are magnificent: those shown here, ranging in size from a large copy of the... More about this treasure » More about this theme » The Animal Kingdom»The earliest cave paintings are depictions of animals, and ever since, humans have had a desire to describe the animal kingdom in both images and words. As empirical knowledge grew, drawings became... More about this treasure » More about this theme » The Plant Kingdom»The representation of plants in words and images has been guided often by their practical uses. Thus, early botanical books and manuscripts are primarily concerned with medicine. The encyclopaedia,... More about this treasure » More about this theme » Literature and Music»The working drafts of a writer or composer reveal the stops and starts, the frustrations and excitements of intense composition. From their numerous gaps, corrections and revisions one can follow the... More about this treasure » More about this theme » Scientific Observation»Systematic observation is the foundation of scientific enquiry, and science has progressed, step by step, by the regular publication, and subsequent correction, of observed data. The tables of... More about this treasure » More about this theme » Mathematics»Science is written in the universal language of mathematics. But the development of that language into the agreed system of symbols and notations that we take for granted today took centuries to... More about this treasure » More about this theme » Moments in History»The acceptance of Magna Carta by King John in 1215 is a great moment in British history, and its surviving reissues are great historical documents. Such manuscripts record turning points in public... More about this treasure » More about this theme » The University and its Library»In 1229 the King of England, Henry III, invited the scholars of Paris to England. He offered them a city, town or borough of their choosing, a place where they could stay and enjoy the ‘freedom... More about this treasure » More about this theme » Lyric poems by Sappho» More about this treasure » More about this theme » Letter from an Egyptian boy to his father» More about this treasure » More about this theme » Papyrus rolls from Herculanaeum» More about this treasure » More about this theme » Roman theatre: comedies of Terence» More about this treasure » More about this theme » An Islamic world map» More about this treasure » More about this theme » The Selden Map of China» More about this treasure » More about this theme » The Laxton Map» More about this treasure » More about this theme » The Marvels of the East» More about this treasure » More about this theme » Marco Polo’s Travels» More about this treasure » More about this theme » Notitia Dignitatum ('List of Offices')» More about this treasure » More about this theme » Codex Mendoza» More about this treasure » More about this theme » 'The Gutenberg Bible'» More about this treasure » More about this theme » The Gospel of St Thomas» More about this treasure » More about this theme » The Kennicott Bible» More about this treasure » More about this theme » A copy of the Qur’an» More about this treasure » More about this theme » An Apocalypse» More about this treasure » More about this theme » The Bhagavadgita» More about this treasure » More about this theme » Buddhist canonical texts» More about this treasure » More about this theme » The Ashmole Bestiary» More about this treasure » More about this theme » Kalilah wa-Dimnah (The Fables of Bidpai)» More about this treasure » More about this theme » Aesop’s Fables» More about this treasure » More about this theme » J.R.R. Tolkien, Conversation with Smaug» More about this treasure » More about this theme » Philip Pullman, Lyra’s Oxford» More about this treasure » More about this theme » Audubon, Birds of America» More about this treasure » More about this theme » Flora Graeca» More about this treasure » More about this theme » Pedanius Dioscorides, Kitab al-Hasha’ish (‘Book of Herbs’)» More about this treasure » More about this theme » A thirteenth-century medical case history» More about this treasure » More about this theme » 'Tradescant’s Orchard'» More about this treasure » More about this theme » An early herbarium» More about this treasure » More about this theme » Jami, The Baharistan» More about this treasure » More about this theme » Dante, The Divine Comedy» More about this treasure » More about this theme » Kalidasa, The Recognition of Sakuntala» More about this treasure » More about this theme » William Blake, Songs of Innocence» More about this treasure » More about this theme » Book of Chinese poems bound in jade» More about this treasure » More about this theme » The Tale of Urashima» More about this treasure » More about this theme » Mendelssohn, Schilflied» More about this treasure » More about this theme » Jane Austen, Volume the First» More about this treasure » More about this theme » Jane Austen, The Watsons» More about this treasure » More about this theme » Gerard Manley Hopkins, 'Inversnaid'» More about this treasure » More about this theme » Notebook of poems by Gerard Manley Hopkins» More about this treasure » More about this theme » Purcell, Ode for St. Cecilia’s Day» More about this treasure » More about this theme » Mary Shelley, draft of Frankenstein» More about this treasure » More about this theme » Kafka, The Judgement» More about this treasure » More about this theme » Kafka, The Metamorphosis» More about this treasure » More about this theme » Handel’s conducting score of Messiah» More about this treasure » More about this theme » T.E. Lawrence, The Seven Pillars of Wisdom» More about this treasure » More about this theme » John Donne, 'To the Honourable lady, the Lady Carew'» More about this treasure » More about this theme » Robert Hooke, Micrographia» More about this treasure » More about this theme » Suwar al-Kawakib al-Thabitah ('Book of fixed Stars')» More about this treasure » More about this theme » 'Veins man' and 'Zodiac man' (treatise on medicine and the zodiac)» More about this treasure » More about this theme » Tycho Brahe, Astronomiae instauratae mechanica» More about this treasure » More about this theme » Euclid, Elements of geometry» More about this treasure » More about this theme » The Bakhshali Manuscript» More about this treasure » More about this theme » Robert Recorde, The Whetstone of Witte» More about this treasure » More about this theme » Isaac Newton, Principia mathematica» More about this treasure » More about this theme » Magna Carta» More about this treasure » More about this theme » Letter from Mohandas Gandhi to Charles Andrews» More about this treasure » More about this theme » Harold Macmillan’s ‘Wind of Change’ speech» More about this treasure » More about this theme » ‘Free Nelson Mandela’ badges and box» More about this treasure » More about this theme » Letter from H.H. Asquith to Venetia Stanley» More about this treasure » More about this theme » Unofficial Cabinet journal of Lewis Harcourt» More about this treasure » More about this theme » Wilfred Owen, 'Anthem for Dead Youth'» More about this treasure » More about this theme » Sketch of early wireless experiment on the Solent» More about this treasure » More about this theme » Procès-verbal of the Virginian» More about this treasure » More about this theme » Titanic telegrams» More about this treasure » More about this theme » Dorothy Hodgkin, a postcard and a letter to her husband» More about this treasure » More about this theme » Suffragette movement material» More about this treasure » More about this theme » Russian edition of Charles Dickens's Pickwick Papers» More about this treasure » More about this theme » The first ten Penguin books» More about this treasure » More about this theme » Choriorama» More about this treasure » More about this theme » The first trade agreement between England and Japan» More about this treasure » More about this theme » William Shakespeare, 'The First Folio'» More about this treasure » More about this theme » Portrait of Sir Thomas Bodley by Nicholas Hilliard» More about this treasure » More about this theme » Letter from Henry III addressed to masters and scholars of Paris» More about this treasure » More about this theme » Document regarding the taxation of scholars’ dwellings in Oxford» More about this treasure » More about this theme » Agreement between Oxford University and the Stationers’ Company» More about this treasure » More about this theme » Top of page Share Tweet Print