Editing Radcliffe Camera (section)

===Plans===
Radcliffe died on 1 November 1714.<ref name="gillamvii"/> His will, proved on 8 December, provided for the building of a new library on the new site, stating:
<blockquote>And will that my executors pay forty thousand pounds in the terme of ten years, by yearly payments of four thousand pounds, the first payment thereof to begin and be made after the decease of my said two sisters for the building a library in Oxford and the purchaseing the houses  between St Maries and the scholes in Catstreet where I intend the Library to be built, and when the said Library is built I give one hundred and fifty pounds per annum for ever to the Library Keeper thereof for the time being and one hundred pounds a year per annum for ever for buying books for the same Library.<ref name=bh>{{harvnb|Salter|Lobel|1954|p=passim}}</ref></blockquote>
It also provided £100 a year to maintain the new library, but only once 30 years had elapsed from his death.<ref name="gillamix">{{harvnb|Gillam|1958|p=ix}}</ref> The library-keeper was to be chosen by several influential figures: the [[Archbishop of Canterbury]], the [[Lord Chancellor]], the [[Chancellor of the University of Oxford]], the [[Bishop of London]] and the [[Bishop of Winchester]], the [[Home Secretary]] and [[Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs|Foreign Secretary]], the [[Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench]] and the [[Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas]], and the [[Master of the Rolls]].<ref name="gillamix"/> The first payment was to be made after the death of Radcliffe's two sisters, Hannah Redshaw and Millicent Radcliffe. The latter lived until 1736, although it appears between the death of Redshaw in 1716 and Millicent Radcliffe in 1736, much preparatory work was done acquiring the site for the library.<ref name="gillamix"/>

{{Infobox UK legislation
| short_title           = Radcliffe Camera Act 1720
| type                  = Act
| parliament            = Parliament of Great Britain
| long_title            = An Act to enable any Corporations within the University of Oxford, or any other Persons, to sell and convey any Messuages and Ground within the said University, for building a Library, pursuant to the Will of John Radcliffe Doctor in Physic; and for empowering any Colleges in the said University to sell or convey any Ground or Houses to each other, for the Purposes therein mentioned.
| year                  = 1720
| citation              = [[7 Geo. 1. St. 1]]. c. ''13''
| introduced_commons    = 
| introduced_lords      = 
| territorial_extent    = 
| royal_assent          = 7 June 1721
| commencement          = 
| expiry_date           = 
| repeal_date           = 
| amends                = 
| replaces              = 
| amendments            = 
| repealing_legislation = 
| related_legislation   = 
| status                = 
| legislation_history   = 
| theyworkforyou        = 
| millbankhansard       = 
| original_text         = 
| revised_text          = 
| use_new_UK-LEG        = 
| UK-LEG_title          = 
| collapsed             = yes
}}
A number of tenement houses fronting [[Catte Street]], built right up to the schools, some gardens, [[Brasenose College, Oxford|Brasenose College]] outbuildings and Black Hall occupied the site required for the library. A number of colleges became involved in the development of the site. An added problem was that Brasenose required an equal amount of land fronting [[High Street, Oxford|High Street]] in return for the land they were being asked to give up. As a consequence, the trustees had to negotiate with the owners and the tenants of the houses. An [[act of Parliament]], the '''{{visible anchor|Radcliffe Camera Act 1720}}''' ([[7 Geo. 1. St. 1]]. c. ''13''), was passed that enabled any corporations within the university to sell ground for building a library.<ref name=bh/> The negotiations dealing with Catte Street took over twenty years, with the final payments being made to Oriel, Magdalen and University colleges in 1737 (N.S.).<ref name="gillam1958">{{harvnb|Gillam|1958|p=x}}</ref>

Radcliffe had placed four men in charge of his estate: [[William Bromley (Speaker)|William Bromley]], sometime [[Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom)|Speaker of the House of Commons]]; Sir [[Sir George Beaumont, 4th Baronet|George Beaumont]], a [[Lord of the Admiralty]]; Antony Keck, a banker; and Thomas Sclater Bacon, a lawyer.<ref name="gillam1958"/> There appears to have been some difficulty in getting the required majority to agree to work beginning before 1736, with the four split between Bromley and Beaumont wanting to start and Bacon and Keck set against them. Accordingly, Bromley made plans for work to start not long after 1720, but they were never fulfilled. The early start was to be funded by the high share price of investments in the [[South Sea Company]], which proved overly optimistic.<ref>{{harvnb|Gillam|1958|pp=x–xi}}</ref>

It was therefore in 1720 that the choice of architect was first considered – [[Christopher Wren]], [[John Vanbrugh]], [[Thomas Archer]], [[James Thornhill]], [[John James (architect)|John James]], [[Nicholas Hawksmoor]], and [[James Gibbs]] were all considered.<ref name=bh/> By the time the Trustees began to consider the building project, however, their options had reduced: Wren had died in 1723, Vanbrugh in 1724, and Thornhill in 1734.<ref name="gillamxii">{{harvnb|Gillam|1958|p=xii}}</ref> In 1734, Hawksmoor and Gibbs were invited to submit plans.<ref name=bh/> A model, believed to be to Hawksmoor's specification, was made in 1734 and presented to the university in 1913. The model was well-received and it appears to have only been Hawksmoor's death in 1736 that led the Trustees to appoint Gibbs as architect to the project.<ref name="gillamxii"/> Gibbs was given a salary of £100 per annum "for directing and supervising the building of the Radcliffe Library and drawing all plans that shall be necessary for completing that work and corresponding with the builders, and going down four times in every year to see the building".<ref name="gillamxiii">{{harvnb|Gillam|1958|p=xiii}}</ref>

On 4 March 1737, the Trustees directed Gibbs along with Francis Smith of Warwick and William Townesend of Oxford 'to prepare Stones and things ready for building the library'. An early set of plans were engraved and prints delivered to the most important members of the town and university, no doubt to ensure that their opposition was dealt with swiftly. The university in particular seems to have influenced the Trustees' plan, although the Library would not form part of it. A second set were made a year later.<ref name="gillamxiii"/> A third set of prints, representing the final plans, were reprinted by Gibbs in his ''Bibliotheca Radcliviana'' of 1747.<ref name="gillamxiv">{{harvnb|Gillam|1958|p=xiv}}</ref>