Rare books to be put on display at Oxford

A large cash donation to Oxford University’s famed Bodleian Library will allow many of its rare books to be put on public display for the first time.Julian Blackwell is giving the library US$10 million to help redevelop the library in Oxford’s historic centre. Blackwell is the president of a bookshop chain that bears his name.

A new exhibition hall will be built and a number of rare volumes will be put on rotating display. They include a Gutenberg Bible and original 13th-Century versions of the Magna Carta declaration of rights.

University leaders say it is the largest ever donation to a university library in Britain. The goal is to begin construction in 2010.

-with a report from CP