Special Collections – Page 12 – Cambridge University Library Special Collections

Secrets of the Abbey: History Returns

Posted on 5 May 2022 by Suzanne Paul

Big celebrations are taking place this year in the town of Bury St Edmunds, marking the 1000th anniversary of the foundation of its Benedictine abbey. […]

Anniversaries, Cambridge Digital Library, Exhibitions, Manuscripts, Medieval manuscripts, Pembroke College, Special Collections

Conservation for a Legendary Exhibition

Posted on 20 April 2022 by CUL Conservation

Cambridge University Library is home to one of the pre-eminent collections of Japanese material outside of Japan, including one of the first Japanese books ever to reach British shores. In […]

Conservation, Exhibitions, Japanese, Manuscripts, Rare Books, Special Collections

‘Silver sounded Lutes’ and ‘other musicall Instruments’: Elizabethan music in Cambridge University Library

Posted on 1 March 2022 by Special Collections

This guest post is by Richard Robinson – PhD student in Music at St John’s College, Cambridge – and explores Elizabethan instrumental music in the […]

Music, Special Collections

Polar exploration

Posted on 23 February 2022 by John C.

Work is continuing in the Royal Commonwealth Society Library department to catalogue its collection of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century pamphlets and magazine articles. The latest volume to […]

Photographs, Royal Commonwealth Society, Special Collections, Travel, World War Two

Sounds of the Samurai

Posted on 15 February 2022 by Special Collections

The Library’s current exhibition, Samurai: History and Legend, is drawn from our world-class collections, home to one of the pre-eminent collections of Japanese material anywhere outside of […]

Exhibitions, Japanese, Special Collections

A unique treasure: Johann Wansleben’s Ethiopic notes and letters

Posted on 9 February 2022 by Catherine Ansorge

The manuscripts written in the Ethiopic language held in Cambridge University Library number fewer than seventy volumes in all, and for the most part, these […]

Collectors and collecting, Manuscripts, Near and Middle Eastern, Rare Books, Special Collections, Travel

Statutory safety: rebinding the Proctors’ Books

Posted on 28 January 2022 by Jacky Cox

Historic volumes from outside the the University Library, intrinsic to University ceremonial, have been recent visitors to the Conservation Studio. These two books contain the […]

Archives, Cambridge University Archives, Cambridge University history, Special Collections

Universal Joy: The Grand Festival at Yarmouth, 19 April 1814

Posted on 22 December 2021 by Sally Kent

A post by Samantha Evans (Darwin Correspondence Project). The library recently acquired a substantial part of the Paget family archive as a gift from Sir […]

Acquisitions, Archives, Manuscripts, Recent acquisitions, Special Collections

Harvesting Resources – Fruit Farming in the Cam Valley: sources at the UL. Guest post by Jonathan Spain

Posted on 16 December 2021 by Anne Taylor

Researchers and authors will use a variety of resources and consult items across the University Library collections and beyond. Although library and archive staff may […]

Map Department, Maps, Rare Books, Special Collections