The library in its current form was endowed by Christopher Codrington (1668–1710), a fellow of the college who amassed his fortune through his sugar plantations in Barbados, an island in the British West Indies.[2] Codrington bequeathed books worth £6,000, in addition to £10,000 in currency (the equivalent of approximately £1.2 million in modern terms).[5] Unusually for an Oxford college library, access to the Codrington is open to all members of the university (subject to registration).[6] The library contains a significant collection of manuscripts and early printed books, and attracts scholars from around the world.The first woman to be admitted as a reader to the library was Cornelia Sorabji from Somerville College, at the invitation of Sir William Anson, 3rd Baronet in 1890.
Plaque erected by the entrance to the All Souls College Library to the enslaved people who worked on the Codrington Plantations