Selden Manuscripts

Correspondence and papers of John Selden, with some manuscripts owned by him, including:  

• Correspondence, 1616-54
• Papers relating to political affairs, early English history, and legal affairs during Charles I's reign
• Lectures on Aristotle given at the Jesuit College, Rome, late 16th century
• Lectures on St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, and related questions, probably given at the Jesuit College, Rome, early 17th century

John Selden (1584-1654) was a jurist, MP and antiquary. Details are given in the Dictionary of National Biography.

Entry to read in the Library is permitted only on presentation of a valid reader's card (for admissions procedures see http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk).

The majority of the manuscripts were bought from James Fairhurst in 1942 and 1947.

Collection level description created by Emily Tarrant, Department of Special Collections and Western Manuscripts.

M. Clapinson and T.D. Rogers, Summary Catalogue of Post-Medieval Western Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library Oxford. Acquisitions 1916-1975. (Oxford, 1991), vol. II, nos. 52546-91.

Other papers of Selden are listed in Summary Catalogue of Western Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library (7 vols., Oxford, 1895-1953; reprinted, Kraus Reprint, 1980), nos. 3134-3490.