Cambridge University Library Special Collections

Teaching Geography through Illustrated Lectures and Textbooks

Posted on 12 April 2018 by Sabrina Meneghini

In October 1907 the British artist Alfred Hugh Fisher started his journey around the British empire on behalf of the Colonial Office Visual Instruction Committee […]

Photographs, Royal Commonwealth Society

Conservation of the Cambridge University Press Archive: Framing the Letters Patent

Posted on 29 March 2018 by CUL Conservation

By Fay Humphreys Granted by Henry VIII in 1534, the Letters Patent (UA Luard 162) gave the University of Cambridge the right to appoint […]

Archives, Cambridge University Archives, Conservation

Visit to Wisbech & Fenland Museum, 14 April 2018

Posted on 28 March 2018 by Jill Whitelock

Join the Friends of Cambridge University Library for a special guided tour of the wonderful Wisbech & Fenland Museum and library on Saturday 14 April. […]

Collectors and collecting, Events

LGBT History Month at the UL

Posted on 19 March 2018 by Liam Sims

During February the University Library joined with a number of colleges and other institutions across town and University to mark LGBT History Month, an annual […]

Archives, Cambridge University Archives, Cambridge University history, Collectors and collecting, Japanese, Library history, Manuscripts, Rare Books, Special Collections, Taylor-Schechter Genizah Collection, Uncategorized

The Brooke Crutchley collection of letterpress printing

Posted on 14 March 2018 by John Wells

A guest post by Anna Crutchley Brooke Crutchley (1907–2003) was Printer to Cambridge University between 1946 and 1974 and an advocate of good book design […]

Archives, Manuscripts, Recent acquisitions

Smelly Remedy: Womb Fumigation Illustrated in Seventeenth Century Print

Posted on 12 March 2018 by Special Collections

Swelling, shifting and releasing noxious vapours, the Early Modern womb was deemed to be an unruly organ and the cause of numerous ailments. The symptoms […]

Exhibitions, Illustration, Medicine, women

Most extensive Royal Commonwealth Society photograph release yet

Posted on 9 March 2018 by John C.

The Royal Commonwealth Society department has just published images of approximately 1,500 historic photographs on Cambridge Digital Library. These photographs, our most ambitious release to-date, […]

Cambridge Digital Library, Digitisation, Photographs, Royal Commonwealth Society

From Flat Plains to Ascending Hills: Conservation challenges for the Greenough Map

Posted on 1 March 2018 by CUL Conservation

By Lucy Cheng and Ngaio Vince-Dewerse Ever wanted to go behind the scenes to get a glimpse of how an exhibition is put together? The […]

Conservation, Exhibitions, Maps, Special Collections

Silks, pearls and manuscripts

Posted on 19 February 2018 by Catherine Ansorge

On the wall of the Library’s fourth floor of landing hangs a portrait of a man dressed in a very fine silk or satin doublet […]

Cambridge University history, Collectors and collecting, librarians, Manuscripts, Near and Middle Eastern, Special Collections

Talk on the Liberation Collection, 22nd February

Posted on 14 February 2018 by Special Collections

On Thursday 22nd February Sir Charles Chadwyck-Healey will give a talk to the Cambridge Bibliographical Society on ‘The power of the image in liberated France, […]

Cambridge Bibliographical Society, Collectors and collecting, Events, Illustration, Rare Books, Recent acquisitions