Editing Bodleian Library (section)

===Later 17th and 18th centuries===
The agreement with the Stationers' Company meant that the growth of stock was constant and there were also a number of large bequests and acquisitions for other reasons. Until the establishment of the [[British Museum]] in 1753, the Bodleian was effectively the national library of England. By then the Bodleian, [[Cambridge University Library]] and the Royal Library were the most extensive book collections in England and Wales.

The astronomer [[Thomas Hornsby]] observed the [[transit of Venus]] from the Tower of the Five Orders in 1769.<ref>University of Oxford: Museum of the History of Science, [http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/venus/html/exhibition/oxford-observations.htm "The most noble problem in nature: the transit of Venus in the eighteenth century"] online catalogue of an exhibition held in 2004</ref>

The library was significantly supplied by the Strasbourg company [[Treuttel & Würtz]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Haß |first=Annika |url=https://heiup.uni-heidelberg.de/catalog/download/817/1349/110228 |title=Europäischer Buchmarkt und Gelehrtenrepublik: Die transnationale Verlagsbuchhandlung Treuttel & Würtz, 1750–1850 |date=2023-08-10 |publisher=Heidelberg University Publishing |isbn=978-3-96822-073-4 |language=de |doi=10.17885/heiup.817}}</ref> A large collection of medieval Italian manuscripts was bought from Matteo Luigi Canonici in 1817.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/weston/finding-resources/guides/medieval |title=Weston Library &#124; Classical & Medieval MSS |publisher=Bodleian.ox.ac.uk |access-date=12 March 2017}}</ref> In 1829, the library bought the collection of Rabbi [[David Oppenheim (rabbi)|David Oppenheim]], adding to its Hebrew collection.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/weston/finding-resources/guides/hebrew |title=Weston Library &#124; Hebraica, Judaica & Semitics |publisher=Bodleian.ox.ac.uk |access-date=12 March 2017}}</ref>