Cambridge University Library Special Collections

Ornaments to be engrav’d

Posted on 7 April 2015 by Special Collections

The Library recently acquired a collection of about fifty wholly engraved books, that is books in which both text and illustration are printed from intaglio […]

Collectors and collecting, Exhibitions, Historical Printing, Rare Books, Recent acquisitions, Special Collections

A book from J. S. Bach’s library

Posted on 31 March 2015 by Liam Sims

On 31 March 1685 was born Johann Sebastian Bach, widely regarded as one of best composers the world has ever known. The Library is fortunate […]

Collectors and collecting, German, Music, Rare Books, Special Collections

Medieval Welsh manuscript digitised

Posted on 27 March 2015 by Suzanne Paul

A manuscript containing the earliest pieces of verse in Old Welsh, the Cambridge Juvencus (MS Ff.4.42), has just been digitised and added to the Cambridge […]

Cambridge Digital Library, Digitisation, Manuscripts, Poetry

Speed maps now in the Cambridge Digital Library

Posted on 23 March 2015 by Andrew

John Speed’s Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine is one of the world’s great cartographic treasures. Published in 1611/12, it marked the first time […]

Cambridge Digital Library, Maps, Special Collections

The library of Gabriel Harvey

Posted on 19 March 2015 by Liam Sims

Discoveries are made frequently in libraries, and the University Library is no exception. Staff and readers alike may call up a volume which has been […]

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

Aldus Manutius (1452? – 6 February 1515) : A humanist printer for humanist readers. Aldine editions at Cambridge University Library

Posted on 9 February 2015 by Laura

The 500th anniversary of Aldus Manutius’s death on 6 February 1515 (Incunabula Project Blog) is celebrated this year by libraries and institutions all over the […]

Exhibitions, Incunabula, Manuscripts, Rare Books, Special Collections

Tea and coffee in India and Ceylon

Posted on 22 January 2015 by John C.

The Royal Commonwealth Society Collections have uploaded an on-line catalogue for a visually rich recent acquisition, donated by the former planter John Weatherstone. Weatherstone was […]

New on Janus, Photographs, Royal Commonwealth Society, South Asian

Robert Hooke and his Micrographia

Posted on 12 January 2015 by Liam Sims

When Samuel Pepys strode through the City of London to visit his bookseller – a journey he made frequently – on 2 January 1665, he […]

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

Colonial Postal History

Posted on 7 January 2015 by John C.

The Royal Commonwealth Society Collection has published an on-line catalogue for a recent acquisition, RCMS 361, which will be of great interest to philatelists and […]

New on Janus, Royal Commonwealth Society, Uncategorized

John Flamsteed’s library

Posted on 31 December 2014 by Liam Sims

On this day in 1719 died John Flamsteed, the first Astronomer Royal, a position he held for 42 years from 1675 until his death. Quite […]

Uncategorized