Magdalen College Oxford Opens Its First-Ever Comics Library

Helping To Bring Graphic Novels To A Wider Audience In The UK

Magdalen College Oxford, one of the most regarded academic institutions in the country, has just opened up its first comics library…

Peter Kessler, founder and convenor of the Oxford Comics Network, a forum for academic study of comics in Oxford, who has also written about the subject of comics in books over the years, thought it was a perfect place to set up the comic library and bring graphic novels to Magdalen’s students:

“The Magdalen College Comics Library is a small start. But it represents the first such library in any Oxford college, and my hope is that this will lead to a greater willingness to engage with the academic study of comics on the part of students,”Kessler explained.

For him it’s a wonderful opportunity to offer to the students:”Undergraduates in Humanities subjects such as English and Modern Languages already have the ability, if they wish, to study comics on optional papers. The presence of a growing library will attract more to those options.”

The library currently includes books like Bryan Talbot’s Grandville, Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman, Rutu Modan’s Exit Wounds, Wilson by Daniel Clowes and also very excitingly for Tripwire, the first Sherlock Holmes and The Empire Builders (volume two will be added very soon).

If anyone has any graphic novel donations to add to the collection, please contact Kessler via email Peter.kessler@magd.ox.ac.uk