The legacy of Francis Jenkinson: a symposium
‘The care of books is a difficult business’, remarked Francis Jenkinson in his presidential address to the annual meeting of the Library Association in 1905 […]
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Ghosts in the library: or, a bibliographical mystery solved
Information presented to library users in online catalogues is usually taken to be true and might rarely be questioned. Elements which might be passed over […]
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Eighty years of bad jokes: the UL’s rag mag collection
The practice of holding “rag weeks” or “rag days” in Universities to raise money for good causes seems to have started in the 1920s. In […]
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Henry Bradshaw: an Irish book collector?
This post is by Dr Nora Moroney, Munby Fellow for 2022-23. Nora is working on the book collection of Henry Bradshaw (University Librarian 1867-86) at […]
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Magnus Hirschfeld & sex reform
Post by Alina Wanitzek (Assistant Librarian, Department of Psychology) In October 2022, San Francisco–based queer public historian and book dealer Gerard Koskovich came to Cambridge […]
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Simon Armitage on Ukraine: a new acquisition
Private press books have been acquired by the Library since the late nineteenth century, when William Morris’s Kelmscott Press (active 1891-98) led to the flourishing […]
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Seventeenth-Century Catholic Philosophers in Cambridge University Library: guest post by Niall Dilucia
In this guest post, Cambridge PhD student Niall Dilucia writes about his research into early modern intellectual history, examining the relationship between philosophy, theology, and […]
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From ‘Register of Readers’ to online requesting
Eagle-eyed users of the Library’s iDiscover catalogue may have noticed a new feature when they log in and search for Rare Books; a small but […]
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Book sales catalogues now listed
In the course of our work as curators we receive hundreds of booksellers’ and auctioneers’ catalogues every year, many now in digital form, but plenty […]
Continue reading »Blackout: war time school life
On 25th August 1939, the German pre-dreadnought battleship Schleswig-Holstein, under the pretext of making a courtesy visit, sailed into the Port of Gdansk, anchoring 150m from […]
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