Liam Sims – Page 5 – Cambridge University Library Special Collections

Cambridge connections: Trinity Hall and the University Library

Posted on 3 December 2015 by Liam Sims

About sixty years before the University had its own purpose-built library, William Bateman (Bishop of Norwich) founded Trinity Hall in Cambridge. It remains one of […]

Collectors and collecting, Incunabula, Library history, Rare Books, Special Collections

‘A day of great triumph’ – the Lord Mayor’s Show at 800

Posted on 13 November 2015 by Liam Sims

On Saturday 14 November the annual spectacle of the Lord Mayor’s Show, which started life eight centuries ago in the year of Magna Carta, will […]

Rare Books, Special Collections

Rupert Brooke: 100 years on

Posted on 28 September 2015 by Liam Sims

The latest exhibition to occupy the Library’s Entrance Hall cases concerns Rupert Brooke, who died a century ago this year (23 April 1915) and was […]

Cambridge Bibliographical Society, Collectors and collecting, Exhibitions, Manuscripts, Rare Books, Special Collections

‘Plots upon the stage’: Restoration drama in the University Library

Posted on 3 August 2015 by Liam Sims

In the 1980s the Library acquired two significant collections of seventeenth-century literature: the Brett-Smith collection of Restoration drama and the Verney collection of political and […]

Collectors and collecting, Exhibitions, Library history, Rare Books, Special Collections

Decorated paper wrappers in the University Library

Posted on 29 July 2015 by Liam Sims

There are many beautiful books in the University Library, from illuminated medieval manuscripts to illustrated private press books of the nineteenth-century. In addition to the […]

Collectors and collecting, Italian, Rare Books, Recent acquisitions, Special Collections

The ghostly world of M. R. James

Posted on 12 June 2015 by Liam Sims

Among the Library’s recent acquisitions is a privately printed ghost story by M. R. James, who died on this day in 1936. It is the […]

Cambridge Bibliographical Society, Collectors and collecting, Rare Books, Recent acquisitions, Special Collections

New acquisitions from Edward Gibbon’s library

Posted on 8 May 2015 by Liam Sims

On this day in 1737 was born Edward Gibbon: historian, Member of Parliament and author of The history of the decline & fall of the […]

Collectors and collecting, Library history, Rare Books, Recent acquisitions, Special Collections

Rupert Brooke: 100 years on

Posted on 23 April 2015 by Liam Sims

A century ago today – on 23rd April 1915 – died Rupert Brooke, lauded in his lifetime as one of the country’s finest poets. This […]

Collectors and collecting, Poetry, Rare Books, Special Collections

A book from J. S. Bach’s library

Posted on 31 March 2015 by Liam Sims

On 31 March 1685 was born Johann Sebastian Bach, widely regarded as one of best composers the world has ever known. The Library is fortunate […]

Collectors and collecting, German, Music, Rare Books, Special Collections

The library of Gabriel Harvey

Posted on 19 March 2015 by Liam Sims

Discoveries are made frequently in libraries, and the University Library is no exception. Staff and readers alike may call up a volume which has been […]

Collectors and collecting, Library history, Rare Books, Special Collections