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

Unpublished manuscripts of Kenyan journalist Henry Muoria

Posted on 1 April 2022 by John C.

The Royal Commonwealth Society Collection is thrilled to report that it has been donated the unpublished manuscripts of the important Kenyan journalist and writer Henry […]

Manuscripts, Recent acquisitions, Royal Commonwealth Society

The Polonsky Foundation Greek Manuscripts Project: The conservators’ challenge – Part 5

Posted on 22 March 2022 by CUL Conservation

Welcome to the last instalment of the conservator’s challenge. In this post we will see CUL MS Dd.4.39 and CUL MS Add.1840 in their finished […]

Collection Care, Conservation, Greek, Manuscripts, Medieval manuscripts, Polonsky Greek

‘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