The Codrington Library is a library in All Souls College

All Souls College, Oxford

The Warden and the College of the Souls of all Faithful People deceased in the University of Oxford or All Souls College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England....

, one of the colleges forming part of Oxford University in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

The library was founded through a bequest by Christopher Codrington

Christopher Codrington

Christopher Codrington , British soldier, bibliophile and colonial governor, was born on the island of Barbados, West Indies, in 1668...

 (1668–1710), a Fellow of the College. Codrington bequeathed books worth £6,000 and £10,000 in money, which allowed the library to be built and endowed. Codrington was born in Barbados

Barbados

Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...

 and amassed his fortune from plantation slavery

Plantation economy

A plantation economy is an economy which is based on agricultural mass production, usually of a few staple products grown on large farms called plantations. Plantation economies rely on the export of cash crops as a source of income...

. The library was completed in 1751 and has been in continuous use by scholars since then.

External links

• The Codrington Library
• All Souls College Library, Oxford University Library Services