Collectors and collecting – Page 2 – Cambridge University Library Special Collections

Some Islamic manuscripts from Africa

Posted on 5 June 2020 by Catherine Ansorge

In among the very varied items which constitute Library’s Islamic manuscript collection there is a small number of texts originating from the Saharan and sub-Saharan […]

Collectors and collecting, Manuscripts, Near and Middle Eastern, Special Collections

Erotica comes to Cambridge

Posted on 4 February 2020 by Liam Sims

When one thinks of the great collections which Cambridge University Library has built up over its six centuries, erotic literature is probably not very near […]

Acquisitions, Collectors and collecting, French, Illustration, Rare Books, Special Collections

Giovanni Belzoni and his ‘Book of breathings’

Posted on 6 September 2019 by Catherine Ansorge

In Ancient Egyptian culture, matters relating to death and the afterlife were of great significance, as both the body and the soul were believed to […]

Collectors and collecting, Library history, Manuscripts, Near and Middle Eastern, Papyrus, Special Collections, Travel

Manuscripts from the Gayer-Anderson brothers

Posted on 21 May 2019 by Catherine Ansorge

One of the most iconic items in the British Museum’s Egyptology collection is the bronze cat figurine commonly known as the ‘Gayer-Anderson cat’. It is […]

Collectors and collecting, Near and Middle Eastern, Special Collections

Despised, Adored and Often Ignored: school poetry anthologies and the trace of classrooms past

Posted on 7 January 2019 by Liam Sims

This post is by Julie Blake, a PhD student in the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, currently finishing her thesis on the nature of […]

Collectors and collecting, Events, Poetry, Rare Books, Rose Book-Collecting Prize, Special Collections

“I have just set a Hungarian rabbi at work…

Posted on 8 December 2018 by Catherine Ansorge

…upon our Hebrew manuscripts” said Henry Bradshaw in June 1865. Bradshaw was Head of the manuscript collections in the University Library and was keen to […]

Collectors and collecting, Hebrew, Library history, Manuscripts, Near and Middle Eastern, Special Collections

Rose Book Collecting Prize 2019

Posted on 16 November 2018 by Suzanne Paul

Entries are open for the 2019 Rose Book-Collecting Prize, which offers students the chance to win £500 by writing and talking about their own book […]

Collectors and collecting, Poetry, Rare Books, Rose Book-Collecting Prize

Recognising books made in Cambridge: the Cambridge Bookbindings Project

Posted on 29 October 2018 by Special Collections

This post is by Dr David Pearson, until 2017 Director of Culture, Heritage and Libraries at the City of London Corporation, who is currently engaged […]

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

Mesmerised!

Posted on 1 October 2018 by Liam Sims

Now largely forgotten, the practice of mesmerism (a form of hypnosis named after the German doctor Franz Mesmer) was highly influential in the late eighteenth […]

Anniversaries, Collectors and collecting, Exhibitions, Rare Books, Special Collections