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The Lyell readership in bibliography at Oxford University is endowed by a bequest from James Patrick Ronaldson Lyell (1871-1948), a solicitor, book collector and bibliographer. Each year since 1952, a distinguished scholar has been elected to deliver the lectures, usually six in number, on any topic of bibliography, broadly conceived.
J.P.R. Lyell lived in Oxford and (on his retirement) in Abingdon from 1927 until the end of his life. Even as a young man he was interested in collecting early printed books, and he made a study of early book illustration in Spain. In the 1930s he began collecting medieval manuscripts, eventually accumulating some 250 of these, of which one hundred were bequeathed to the Bodleian Library. A further series of some 65 manuscripts, mostly post-medieval, were bought by the Library from his executors. The first Lyell lectures, for the academic year 1952-3, were delivered by Neil R. Ker, university reader in palaeography and fellow of Magdalen College.
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| # | Episode Title | Description | People | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 | Some generalizations about the shape and geographical spread of Latin textual traditions | Episode 4 of the Lyell lectures 2024 delivered by Professor Stephen Oakley. | Stephen Oakley | 20 Jun 2024 | |
| 24 | What happens when incunables replace manuscripts? | Episode 4 of the Lyell lectures 2024 delivered by Professor Stephen Oakley. | Stephen Oakley | 20 Jun 2024 | |
| 23 | Cross-fertilization and the limits of the genealogical method: the case of Catullus | Episode 3 of the Lyell lectures 2024 delivered by Professor Stephen Oakley. | Stephen Oakley | 20 Jun 2024 | |
| 22 | The transmission of the Corpus Cyprianum and Pontius’ Life of Cyprian | Episode 2 of the Lyell lectures 2024 delivered by Professor Stephen Oakley. | Stephen Oakley | 20 Jun 2024 | |
| 21 | The transmission of Julius Caesar’s Civil War | Episode 1 of the Lyell lectures 2024 delivered by Professor Stephen Oakley. | Stephen Oakley | 18 Jun 2024 | |
| 20 | Shaping legacies | Lecture 5 of the 2023 Lyell lecture series | Ann M Blair | 01 Jun 2023 | |
| 19 | Complicating attributions | Lecture 4 of the 2023 Lyell lecture series | Ann M Blair | 01 Jun 2023 | |
| 18 | Mechanical and intellectual | Lecture 3 of the 2023 Lyell lecture series | Ann M Blair | 01 Jun 2023 | |
| 17 | Invisible and visible | Lecture 2 of the 2023 Lyell lecture series | Ann M Blair | 01 Jun 2023 | |
| 16 | Amanuenses in the longue durée | Lecture 1 of the 2023 Lyell lecture series | Ann M Blair | 01 Jun 2023 | |
| 15 | Assimilation or change? Normans at Winchester | The fifth lecture in the Lyell Lecture 2022 series delivered by Professor Susan Rankin (University of Cambridge) | Susan Rankin | 24 May 2022 | |
| 14 | From Neumes in campo aperto to Neumes on Lines (at Christchurch, Canterbury) | The forth lecture in the Lyell Lecture 2022 series delivered by Professor Susan Rankin (University of Cambridge) | Susan Rankin | 16 May 2022 | |
| 13 | St Augustine’s and Christchurch, 950–1091 | The third lecture in the Lyell Lecture 2022 series delivered by Professor Susan Rankin (University of Cambridge) | Susan Rankin | 16 May 2022 | |
| 12 | ‘L’ecriture Anglaise Dans Sa Perfection’ | Professor Marc Smith, Professeur de Paléographie, The Ecole Nationale des Chartes, Paris delivers the 5th lecture in this years Lyell Lecture series | Marc Smith | 09 May 2022 | |
| 11 | A Community of Scribes at Worcester | The second lecture in the Lyell Lecture 2022 series delivered by Professor Susan Rankin (University of Cambridge) | Susan Rankin | 09 May 2022 | |
| 10 | Sound and its Capture in Anglo-Saxon England | The first lecture in the Lyell Lecture 2022 series delivered by Professor Susan Rankin (University of Cambridge) | Susan Rankin | 09 May 2022 | |
| 9 | The serpentine text of the Gutenberg Bible | The fifth lecture in the Lyell Lecture 2021 series delivered by Paul Needham, Princeton | Paul Needham | 25 Oct 2021 | |
| 8 | Fifteenth-century Latin Bible printing and distribution | The fourth lecture in the Lyell Lecture 2021 series delivered by Paul Needham, Princeton | Paul Needham | 19 Oct 2021 | |
| 7 | The Texts of the Gutenberg Bible; the case of 4 Ezra | The third lecture in the Lyell Lecture 2021 series delivered by Paul Needham, Princeton | Paul Needham | 19 Oct 2021 | |
| 6 | Latin Bible-writing in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries; the Gutenberg Bible workshop | The second lecture in the Lyell Lecture 2021 series delivered by Paul Needham, Princeton | Paul Needham | 18 Oct 2021 | |
| 5 | The Christian Latin Bible from its origins to the 13th-century Paris Bible | The first lecture in the Lyell Lecture 2021 series delivered by Paul Needham, Princeton | Paul Needham | 18 Oct 2021 | |
| 4 | Writing Models and the Formation of National Scripts | The first lecture in the Lyell Lecture 2020 series delivered by Professor Marc Smith - Professeur de Paléographie, The Ecole Nationale des Chartes, Lyell Reader in Bibliography 2020 | Marc Smith, Richard Ovenden | 29 Sep 2020 | |
| 3 | Bibliography and the Life Cycles of Writing Books | The 2nd lecture in the 2020 series delivered by Professor Marc Smith, Professeur de Paléographie, The Ecole Nationale des Chartes, Paris | Marc Smith | 01 Oct 2020 | |
| 2 | Renaissance Calligraphy from Pen to Press and Back | Professor Marc Smith, Professeur de Paléographie, The Ecole Nationale des Chartes, Paris delivers the 3rd lecture in this years Lyell Lecture series | Marc Smith | 06 Oct 2020 | |
| 1 | The Golden Age of French Writing Masters? | Professor Marc Smith, Professeur de Paléographie, The Ecole Nationale des Chartes, Paris delivers the 4th lecture in this years Lyell Lecture series | Marc Smith | 09 Oct 2020 |