About this display

How has writing and reading marked us and – more intriguingly – what marks do we leave?

Recent conservation work on Mary Whitehouse’s diaries has inspired two of our conservators – Alice Evans and Andrew Honey – to look for non-textual marks in our collections. From paper clips, wine and ink stains, to burns from candles, added pilgrim’s badges, pressed plants, locks of hair and unusual objects used as bookmarks, the examples on display reveal hidden and often surprising habits of reading and writing.

For the display these examples of accidental marks in Bodleian books have been reinterpreted by the artist Alice Fox, who has taken these marks as a catalyst for new works exploring mark-making and the materiality of books.

Lead image: Part of artist Alice Fox's creative response © Alice Fox