Book collections are formulated upon a philosophy. Not one particular philosophy, but the philosophy of the collector who finds in books something they wish to hold on to, be it the text, the material object, or simply a feeling, leading them to acquire and curate a collection which reflects back onto the collector truths about themselves. Combine this notion with a collector who is in fact a philosopher, and you find a collection even more rich with the potential for philosophical avenues of enquiry, questioning, connections. At Linacre we are extremely fortunate to be the home of Gilbert Ryle’s book collection, and are excited to be opening up the Ryle Reading Room for students from Michaelmas Term 2024 as an informal reading space infused with the intellectual inspiration of this fascinating library of books and papers.
Gilbert Ryle (1900-1976) was a linguistic philosopher and philosopher of mind, with his most famous work The Concept of Mind (1949) becoming a bestseller and renowned text in modern philosophy. After studying at Queen’s College, Ryle held fellowships and lectured at both Christ Church and Magdalen throughout his career, and was a senior member of Linacre House which later became Linacre College. Concerned that the new institution was lacking a library collection, he generously donated many of his personal books and a later bequest of further items was made following his death in 1976. Containing not only annotated books of philosophy and literature, the collection also includes letters, postcards and notes written by Ryle which attract the interest of scholars from across the world as they hold great insight into the philosopher’s life and thoughts. Now housed in the Ryle Reading Room within Linacre’s Library it is securely conserved with temperature control and ongoing conservation measures, and can be searched via SOLO.
New comfortable seating in the Reading Room will allow students to use the space as a quiet location for relaxed reading from Michaelmas Term 2024, accessible during Library opening hours except when a researcher is consulting materials. Readers may request to see items from the Ryle or Reference collection for research purposes by contacting a member of the Library team via library@linacre.ox.ac.uk.
