For the 'Oxford Almanack', though not used. The subject was re-drawn by Hugh O'Neill (1784-1824) and engraved by James Storer for the 1810 issue, on account of an objection by Dr Parsons, Master of Balliol, that Turner had shown the shadows in an impossible position. Turner's first design for the Almanack appeared in 1799, a ‘South View of Christ Church'; he produced ten in all, receiving £73.10.0 in 1804 for the final seven of which 'Balliol College' was one. For a full account of Turner's relations with the Clarendon Press and of the Almanack series, see C. F. Bell ‘The Oxford Almanacks', Art Journal, August 1904, and Luk: Herrmann, Ruskin and Turner, 1968, pp.55-63. The present drawing is No.9 in Herrmann's catalogue.

A number of pencil studies of the architecture of Oxford, made at the time when Turner was working on the Almanack designs, are in the 'Smaller Fonthill’ sketchbook (T.B.XLVIII, ff.2,7) and elsewhere (e.g. T.B. L-E, F, G, J).