Editing Radcliffe Camera (section)

===Background===
[[John Radcliffe (physician)|John Radcliffe]] (c.1650–1714) attended [[University College, Oxford|University College]] from the age of thirteen, becoming a fellow of [[Lincoln College, Oxford|Lincoln College]] at eighteen.<ref>Oxford: A Cultural and Literary Companion, David Horan, pp. 41–42</ref> In a successful medical career, his patients included [[William III of England|William III]] and [[Anne, Queen of Great Britain|Queen Anne]]. He built up a large fortune and died childless.<ref>[https://www.jstor.org/stable/573454 Dr John Radcliffe and His Trust], Ivor Guest (review).</ref> He is buried in [[St. Mary's Church, Oxford]].<ref name="gillamvii">{{harvnb|Gillam|1958|p=vii}}</ref>

It was known that he intended to build a library in Oxford at least two years before his death in 1714. It was thought that the new building would be an extension westwards of the Selden End of the [[Bodleian Library]].<ref name="gillamvii"/> [[Francis Atterbury]], Dean of [[Christ Church, Oxford|Christ Church]], writing in December 1712 describes plans for a 90&nbsp;ft room<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Radcliffe Camera |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/oxon/vol3/pp55-56 |website=British History Online}}</ref> on the site of neighbouring [[Exeter College, Oxford|Exeter College]], and that the lower storey would be a library for Exeter College and the upper story Radcliffe's Library.<ref name="gillamvii"/>
[[File:Radcliffe Camera Oxford 2018 03.jpg|thumb|Radcliffe Camera from street level in Radcliffe Square |alt=Photo of the Radcliffe Camera from street level showing the Rotunda shaped library with grey top and cream bricks. The railings around the outside have bicycles against them. ]]
Radcliffe dedicated £100 a year to furnishing his proposed library with books. Plans were prepared by [[Nicholas Hawksmoor]] and are now held in the [[Ashmolean Museum]].<ref name="gillamvii"/> By 1714, however, Radcliffe had settled on a different site for his new library, to the south of the existing Bodleian. William Pittis, Radcliffe's first biographer, ascribes the change of heart to excessive demands from the Rector and Fellows of Exeter College.<ref>{{harvnb|Gillam|1958|p=viii}}</ref>