1. The James P. R. Lyell Reader in Bibliography shall lecture on any of the subjects of bibliography, palaeography, typography, book illustration and old bookbinding, the science of books and manuscripts and, in particular, the class of manuscripts contained in the Lyell bequest of manuscripts to the Bodleian Library, or other manuscripts in the Bodleian Library or in College Libraries in Oxford.
2. The reader shall be elected by an electoral board consisting of:
(1) the Vice-Chancellor;
(2) Bodley’s Librarian;
(3) a person appointed by the Board of the Faculty of Classics;
(4) a person appointed by the Board of the Faculty of History;
(5) a person appointed by the Board of the Faculty of English Language and Literature;
(6) a person appointed by the Board of the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages;
(7), (8) two persons appointed by the Council of the Oxford Bibliographical Society, who may be external.
The board shall have the power to co-opt up to two additional electors, who may be external.
3. Each of the appointed electors shall hold office for five years and shall be re-eligible.
4. The reader shall hold office for one year.
5. A reader shall be elected annually, provided that the electors shall be empowered to make a biennial election if they desire to accumulate funds for the travelling expenses of a reader from overseas.
6. The reader shall deliver not less than five lectures during his or her year of office.
7. The reader shall receive from the revenues of the Lyell bequest such stipend as the board of electors shall decide, one-half of it to be paid as soon as possible after the delivery of the lectures, and the remaining half on submission of the manuscript of the lecture in a form fit, in the judgement of the electors, for publication.
8. The board of electors aforesaid shall be a board of management for the revenues arising from the Lyell bequest, and shall apply them,
(a) to the stipend of the reader,
(b) towards the cost of the publication with or without illustrations of the reader’s lectures, including the provision of a number of copies not exceeding one hundred for distribution at the discretion of the board, and
(c) to meeting any expense incidental to the carrying out of these purposes.
