Cambridge University Library Special Collections

Robert Bloomfield, ‘the first of rural bards’

Posted on 12 December 2016 by John Wells

The poet Robert Bloomfield, author of The farmer’s boy, was born in Suffolk two hundred and fifty years ago, in December 1766. Of humble parentage, […]

Anniversaries, Exhibitions, Manuscripts, Poetry, Rare Books

Edward Rose and the Rose Reader

Posted on 9 December 2016 by Madelin Evans

A new addition to the Department of Manuscripts and University Archives collections, MS Add.10138 (Edward Rose: writings and family correspondence), tells the story of the […]

Curator for a Day

Posted on 5 December 2016 by Liam Sims

In November a group of thirteen students from Long Road and Hills Road Sixth Form Colleges in Cambridge spent a day being curators in the […]

600th anniversary, Collectors and collecting, Exhibitions, Library history, Manuscripts, Rare Books, Special Collections

Asante Goldweights

Posted on 1 December 2016 by John C.

This post is inspired by the set of Asante goldweights, boxes and scale currently on display in the Curious Objects exhibition, which celebrates the Library’s […]

600th anniversary, Exhibitions, Royal Commonwealth Society

The Peterborough Cathedral Manuscripts and the Peterborough Lapidary

Posted on 28 November 2016 by Special Collections

Guest post by Dr Francis Young In 1970 Peterborough Cathedral placed its ancient manuscripts on permanent loan to Cambridge University Library, owing to the unsuitable […]

Manuscripts, Special Collections

Bibliographical Prizes

Posted on 22 November 2016 by Suzanne Paul

Entries are now open for two prizes that Cambridge University Library offers annually. The Gordon Duff prize, named after the celebrated bibliographer of 15th-century English […]

Collectors and collecting, Friends of Cambridge University Library, Gordon Duff Prize, Rose Book-Collecting Prize

Gustave David (1860–1936): the Cambridge bookseller

Posted on 20 November 2016 by Liam Sims

Cambridge has a long history of bookselling, stretching back well before the advent of printing into the mists of medieval time. Books were first printed […]

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

A letter of gratitude

Posted on 17 November 2016 by Agnieszka Drabek-Prime

The journey down memory lane through the Rare Books Department’s new collection of school magazines took me from our cool European climate to the much […]

Rare Books, Royal Commonwealth Society, Special Collections

First Impressions: The Gutenberg Bible

Posted on 12 November 2016 by Emily Dourish

Our eighth and final ‘Treasures of the University Library’ talk was given by Dr Emily Dourish, Deputy Head of Rare Books:

Cambridge Digital Library, Incunabula, Rare Books, Uncategorized

Agnes Miller Parker’s wood engravings: bringing the word to life

Posted on 11 November 2016 by John Wells

This year’s winner of the History of Art/University Library Curatorial Competition is Anna McGee, whose exhibition ‘Agnes Miller Parker’s wood engravings: bringing the word to […]

Exhibitions