Cambridge University Library Special Collections

The irresistible search for hidden Scriptures

Posted on 21 April 2016 by Yasmin

Eighty years ago in 1936 Cambridge University Library received a manuscript, bequeathed by its owner Agnes Smith Lewis at her death in 1926. It is […]

Cambridge Digital Library, Manuscripts, Near and Middle Eastern, Special Collections

Martin Bucer and the Reformation in Cambridge

Posted on 12 April 2016 by Liam Sims

Between 17th and 19th March, a number of Cambridge librarians – along with a host of academics – spent a happy time in the Parker […]

Bible Society, Collectors and collecting, Library history, Rare Books, Special Collections

Glimpses of early Siam and Burma [Thailand and Myanmar]

Posted on 6 April 2016 by John C.

The Royal Commonwealth Society Library has just created an electronic catalogue for one of its largest and most significant manuscript collections: the papers of the […]

New on Janus, Photographs, Royal Commonwealth Society, Special Collections

Image of the Month

Posted on 6 April 2016 by Frank

The Manuscripts department have just published their Image of the Month for April. It can be viewed on their website here.

The return of Mary Jones’ Bible to Bala

Posted on 4 April 2016 by Special Collections

The Mary Jones Bible returned to Bala, Wales, on 18 March and was on show to the public until 20 March. The Bible left Bala […]

Bible Society, Events, Special Collections

New Old Books: March 2016

Posted on 1 April 2016 by William Hale

Books added to the collections of the Rare Books Department this month include a French almanac, a further addition to our holdings of Enlightenment texts, […]

Rare Books, Recent acquisitions

‘That noble cabinet’: the British Museum and its links with Cambridge

Posted on 31 March 2016 by Liam Sims

This week is Museum Week, which seems like an excellent occasion to look at books in the University Library with connections to our national museum […]

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

A springtime post

Posted on 24 March 2016 by Sophie Defrance

To celebrate spring, and the upcoming holidays, here are a few illustrations of spring flowers from our Rare Books collections. Herbarum imagines […]

Rare Books

Castles in the air: two works of Renaissance and Baroque Iberian poetry

Posted on 18 March 2016 by Sophie Defrance

Thanks to a recommendation of Dr Rodrigo Cacho, Reader in Spanish Golden Age and Colonial Studies, the Rare Books department of Cambridge University Library has […]

Collectors and collecting, Hispanic, Rare Books, Recent acquisitions, Special Collections

A Fruitful Resource : a guest post by Jonathan Spain

Posted on 16 March 2016 by Anne Taylor

The Map Department of Cambridge University Library has a collection of British estate agents’ sales particulars dating largely from the early 19th century through to the […]

Maps, Special Collections