Reformation lives
One of the great joys of working with special collections in an historic library like the UL is the discovery (or re-discovery, with each new […]
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Borrowing back a book
Image: Detail of a 16th-century woodcut showing the Schools quadrangle with Rotherham’s library above (Sel.3.229) The first record of a book being borrowed from Cambridge […]
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Treasures of the University Library: don’t miss out!
Would you like the opportunity to come face-to-face with some of the most precious items from Cambridge University Library’s collections? To celebrate our 600th anniversary, […]
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The Great Fire of London
On this day 350 years ago – 2nd September 1666 – began the Great Fire of London, which burned for three days, consuming 13,000 houses, […]
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“The beauty of expression”: M.R. James and the First World War Memorial Scroll
The War Reserve collection in the University Library, initiated by Librarian Francis Jenkinson, contains a wealth of interesting things for the military researcher, ranging from […]
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Training of Electrical Engineers – how it was done in 1894
A very interesting process called electrification occurred in Britain and other countries from mid-1880 until around 1950. This process included the changeover from line shafts […]
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First pop-up talk in Rare Books – Come and hear about the first images printed in colour in England
The Book of Saint Albans (or Boke of Seynt Albans) is the common title of a 1486 book, a compilation of matters relating to the […]
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New Old Books: May 2016
Acquisitions in the Rare Books Department this month focussed mainly on popular literature for young and old, also including several items of Irish interest and […]
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New Old Books: April 2016
Additions to the stock of the Rare Books Department this month include a nineteenth-century book of College verse, a satire from the period leading up […]
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Charlotte Bronte’s prayer book
We celebrate the bicentenary of Charlotte Brontë’s birth, 21 April 1816, with a look at a special copy of the Book of Common Prayer and […]
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