The University Library, Cambridge

HELPS-FOR
STUDENTS
^HISTORY

THE

UNIVER. . i LIBRARY
CAMBRIDGE

HARRY G1DNEV ALOIS, M.A.

No. 48.

6d. net.

1. EPISCOPAL REGISTERS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. By

R. C. Fowler, B.A., F.S.A. 6d. net.

2. MUNICIPAL RECORDS. By F. J. C. Hearnshaw, M.A. 6d.

net.

3. MEDIEVAL RECKONINGS OF TIME. By Reginald L. Poole,

LL.D., Litt.D. 6d.net.

4. THE PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE. By Charles Johnson. 6d.

net.

5. THE CARE OF DOCUMENTS. By Charles Johnson. 6d.net.

6. THE LOGIC OF HISTORY. By C. G. Crump. 8d.net.

7. DOCUMENTS IN THE PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, DUBLIN. By

H. H. Murray, Litt.D. 8d.net.

8. THE FRENCH WARS OF RELIGION. By Arthur A. Tilley.

M,A. 6d.net.

By Sir A. W. WARD, Litt.D., F.B.A. .

9. THE PERIOD OF CONGRESSES, I. Introductory. 8d. net.

1 0. THE PERIOD OF CONGRESSES, II. Vienna and the Second
Peace of Paris. Is. net.

11. THE PERIOD OF CONGRESSES, III. Aix-la-Chapelle to
Verona. Is. net. (Nos. 9, 10, and 11 in one volume,
cloth, 3s. 6d. net.)

12. SECURITIES OF PEACE. A Retrospect (1848-1014).
Paper, 2s. ; cloth, 3s. net.

$3. THE FRENCH RENAISSANCE. By A. A. Tilley, M.A. 8d. net.

14. HINTS ON THE STUDY OF ENGLISH ECONOMIC HISTORY,

By W. Cunningham, D.D., F.B.A., F.S.A. 8d. net.

1 5. PARISH HISTORY AND RECORDS. By A. Hamilton Thomp-

son, M.A., F.S.A. 8d. net.

J6. AN INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF COLONIAL HISTORY,
By A. P. Newton, M.A., D.Litt., B.Sc. 6d. net.

17. THE WANDERINGS AND HOMES OF MANUSCRIPTS. By

M. R. James, Litt.D., F.B.A. Paper cover, 2s.; cloth
boards, 3s. net.

18. ECCLESIASTICAL RECORDS. By the Rev. Claude Jenkins,
M.A., Librarian of Lambeth Palace. Is. 9d. net

[Continued on p. 3.

HELPS FOR STUDENTS OF HISTORY, No. 46

EDITED BY C. JOHNSON, M.A., H. W. V. TEMPERLEV, M.A.,
AND J. P. WHITNEY, D.D., D.C.L.

THE

UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
CAMBRIDGE

BY

HARRY GIDNEY ALDIS, M.A.

SECRETARY OK THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY, 1899-1919

LONDON

SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING
CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE

NEW YORK AND TORONTO : THE MACMILLAN CO.
1922

NOTE

THE MS. of this work was almost completed at the
time of the author's death in 1919. It has been
revised and prepared for publication by some of
his colleagues at the University Library.

November, 1921.

LIBRARY

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
SANTA BARBARA

CONTENTS

I. INTRODUCTION -

II. RESOURCES AND COLLECTIONS
(a) Western -
(6) Oriental -

III. THE USE OF THE LIBRARY (ADMISSION, ETC.)

THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY,
CAMBRIDGE

I.- INTRODUCTION.

THE Library of the University of Cambridge may
claim to be the oldest public library in the kingdom.
Its actual beginnings have not been traced, but it
has been in existence for at least 500 years. It still
possesses books bequeathed to the University in
1415, and it has been in occupation of some part of
the present buildings since 1470. The pride of
historical continuity is, however, in some measure
tempered by the legacy of mediaeval arrangements.
The existing book-cases date from 1649 to 1921,
and the buildings from about 1400 to the latter
part of the nineteenth century.

The extent and value of the collections which
have been gathered together within its walls during
the five centuries of its history, as well as the use
to which its resources are put, give the Library an
important place among the great libraries of the
world.

The site upon which the buildings stand measures
nearly an acre. The printed books now occupy
upwards of seventeen miles of shelving, and are
estimated to number about 920,000 volumes. The

5

6 UNIVERSITY LIBRARY, CAMBRIDGE

normal annual increase equals some 1,450 feet of
shelf space. In addition to the printed books, there
are more than 10,000 manuscripts, and as many
as 140,000 maps, besides various collections of
papers and documents.

The three sources of addition to the collections
are (1) the operation of the Copyright Act, (2) pur-
chase, (3) donation. Under the Copyright Act the
Library, in common with certain other libraries,
is entitled to receive every new book published in
the United Kingdom. This provision secures for
preservation and renders accessible to the student
the whole volume of modern English literature,
without regard to the importance or worthlessness
of any particular work; but this boon to the
student entails upon the Library the burden of
housing and cataloguing a large number of com-
paratively valueless and insignificant books. It
may be borne in mind, however, that the value
of a library to the scholar lies not so much in those
books which are wanted every day and which
every library can produce, but rather in the book
which is wanted perhaps once in five, ten, or even
twenty years, and which only a great library can
afford to shelter.

New foreign books and periodicals, including the
publications of learned societies, form the bulk of
the books acquired by purchase; but older books,
both English and foreign, are constantly being
bought to fill gaps in the literature of past centuries.

The donations to the Library cover the whole
period of its existence, and have contributed to the

INTRODUCTION 7

enrichment of every department. They range in
extent from a single volume or leaflet to such
munificent gifts as the library of Bishop Moore
(30,755 volumes, including 1,790 manuscripts) pre-
sented by King George I. in 1715, and Lord Acton's
historical library of about 60,000 volumes given to
the University by Viscount Morley in 1902.

The Library ministers primarily to the needs of
the University, and aims at providing the literature
necessary for the carrying on of its many-sided
activities. But, besides enabling members of the
University to prosecute their researches, it places
its resources in generous measure at the service of
scholars from every quarter. The interests of the
Library are wide enough to embrace the whole
range of written and printed literature. It aims
at promoting the cause of learning in every depart-
ment of intellectual activity by giving the freest
possible access to the largest possible number of
workers under the fewest possible restrictions.

II.— RESOURCES AND COLLECTIONS.

CONSIDERED as materials for study, the collec-
tions fall into two main divisions — (a) Western,
(b) Oriental : and each of these may be subdivided
as (1) manuscript, (2) printed.

(a) WESTERN.

MANUSCRIPTS. — The Western manuscripts com-
prise about 5,000 volumes and a large number of
various documents and papers. A catalogue of
the earlier part in six volumes was published in
1856-1867 and the additional manuscripts acquired
since that date are described in a manuscript
catalogue not yet printed.

A survey of the material they contain for the
study of history cannot be attempted in the space
here available, and the student is referred to the
catalogues for details; but a few of the items of
outstanding interest may be noted.

The most famous manuscript in the whole collec-
tion is undoubtedly the volume known as Codex
Bezce. This book, which contains the four
Gospels and Acts of the Apostles in Greek and
Latin on opposite pages written on vellum, was
given to the University in 1581 by the Genevan
reformer, Theodore Beza. It was written in the
sixth century, and is quoted as Codex D. Though

8

RESOURCES AND COLLECTIONS 9

it stands fifth in order of date among extant manu-
scripts of the Gospels, recent investigations have
led to the hypothesis that actually it represents a
more primitive type of text than any of the four
older codices.

The study of this manuscript has been greatly
facilitated by the publication in 1899 of an
excellent facsimile of the whole volume executed
by M. Paul Dujardin of Paris.

The copy of Bede's Historia ecclesiastica gentis
anglorum (Kk. 5. 16), which came to the Library
with Bishop Moore's books in 1715, was written
about the time of the author's death (A.D. 735),
probably at Epternach, and is believed to be the
earliest existing copy of this work. With the Bede
came also the little ninth (tenth) century vellum
manuscript known as The Book of Deer* (li. 6. 32),
which contains the four Gospels in Irish script,
but wrhose chief interest lies in later entries made
in the twelfth century. These additions consist of
Gaelic charters recording gifts of land made by the
Celtic chiefs of Moray and Buchan to the Columban
monastery at Deer, in Aberdeenshire. Attention
was first directed to this manuscript by Henry
Bradshaw,f who was also the discoverer of the
Breton and Welsh glosses in manuscript Ff. 4. 42
(Juvencus], the first of a succession of similar finds
which have shed a guiding light on the dim path
of Celtic philology.

* Edited (with facsimiles) by John Stuart, LL.D., for the
Spalding Club (1869).

f Librarian from 1868 to 1886.

2

10 UNIVERSITY LIBRARY, CAMBRIDGE

Among other manuscripts of Scottish interest are
the fifteenth century metrical Lives of Saints
(Gg. 2. 6),* and the Troy poem (Kk. 5. 30), both of
which were at one time attributed to John Barbour ;
and William Stewart's Metrical Chronicle (Kk. 2 .16),
edited by W. B. Turnbull in the Rolls Series, in
1858. The last two of these Bishop Moore acquired
at the sale of the Duke of Lauderdale's library
(t 1682).

Other interests are represented in the thirteenth
century Life of Edward the Confessor (Ee. 3. 59),
with notable pictures at the head of each page; the
Book of Cerne (LI. 1. 10)|, a liturgical manuscript
of the ninth century, formerly belonging to the
Benedictine Abbey of Cerne in Dorsetshire, and
containing a number of charters relating to that
abbey. The seventeenth century collection of
Legends of the Saints (Add. 3041), which goes under
the name of Nicholas Roscarrock and came from
the Brent Eleigh library in 1891, is frequently
called upon, though in point of fact the materials
are derived mainly from Capgrave. The copy of
Chaucer's translation of Boethius' De consolatione
philosophic? (li. 3. 21) was given to the University
by John Croucher during the generation immedi-
ately succeeding Chaucer's death. Concerning this
volume, which he calls " the gem of our original
library," Bradshaw remarks, " There are probably
very few copies of any of Chaucer's works of which
it can be said, as it may of this, that they have

* Edited for the Scottish Text Society by W. M. Metcalfe in
1896.

t Edited by Dora A. B. Kuypers (Cambridge, 1902).

RESOURCES AND COLLECTIONS 11

remained in the same house since within so few
years of his death."*

The Library possesses no less than eight manu-
script registers of the Benedictine Abbey of Bury
St. Edmunds, and, among other monastic records,
the Red Book of Thorney, which was acquired in
1890. Materials for manorial history are well
represented. Besides the court rolls of the manor
of Forncett, Norfolk, which have been explored by
Miss Frances G. Davenportf, there are several of
the manor of Orsett, and numerous single rolls from
other places. The Buxton Papers, consisting of the
contents of the muniment room of the family of
Buxton of Shadwell Court, Norfolk, include many
court rolls as well as a long series of charters dating
from the twelfth century.

Among other collections affording material for
study are the twenty-four volumes of manuscripts
left to the University by Thomas Baker in 1740,
the genealogical collections of Thomas Blore, the
historical transcripts made for Lord Acton as well
as his own historical notes, and a series of volumes
of Admiralty records transferred from the Public
Record Office in 1911.

A good example of the historical material that
may be gathered from a general examination of the
manuscripts may be seen in an article " On Manu-
scripts in the University Library, Cambridge, relat-
ing to Huguenots and other Refugees," by E. J.
Worman, which was printed in vol. vii. of the

* Collected Papers, 1889, p. 17.

t The Economic Development of a Norfolk Manor, 1086-1565
Cambridge, 1906.

12 UNIVERSITY LIBRARY, CAMBRIDGE

Proceedings of the Huguenot Society of London
(1904).

PRINTED BOOKS. — Printed books naturally form
the major portion of the Library. These fall into
two main divisions: (1) Books in the open library
(those rooms to which readers have direct access),
and (2) books in reserved classes.

Restrictions of space and a too tardy acquisition
of additional shelf room have continually rendered
impossible any general reclassification of the books
in modern times. But, in the main, books in the
open library are roughly grouped under subjects,*
though in many cases all the books on a subject
will not be found in one place. Among the larger
groups are theology in Cockerell's Building, history
in Room R, and natural history in Room M;
modern works on other subjects are, as a general
rule, classified on the shelves in the Goldsmiths'
Room. Modern works on law are, for the most
part, housed in the Squire Law Library, but their
titles are included in the general catalogue.

Literary and scientific journals and the trans-
actions of learned societies are specially important
to students as a source of information upon the
newest researches and discoveries in any line of
investigation. The resources of the library in this
direction are extensive and representative of the
many-sided activities of the University.

Acton Library. — Of the separate collections on

* A clue to the arrangement is given in a small publication
entitled Notes for Readers, which is on sale in the Entrance Hall
(5th ed., 1920, price 6d.).

RESOURCES AND COLLECTIONS 13

special subjects, the largest, and by far the most
important for the student of history, is the library
formerly belonging to the late Lord Acton. Regius
Professor of Modern History in the University
from 1895 to 1902, which was presented to the
University by Viscount Morley of Blackburn in
1902. The special character of this remarkable
collection is indicated in the letter in which the
donor offered the collection as a gift to the Univer-
sity. He described it as " not one of those noble
and miscellaneous accumulations that have been
gathered by the chances of time in colleges and
other places of old foundation," but " collected by
Lord Acton to be the material for a history of
Liberty, the emancipation of Conscience from
Power, and the gradual substitution of Freedom
for Force in the government of men. That guiding
object gives to these sixty or seventy thousand
volumes a unity that I would fain preserve by
placing them where they can be kept intact and in
some degree apart."

The collection is separately housed in two rooms
on the ground floor of the Library buildings. The
following description of the arrangement of the
books, and the leading features of the groups into
which they are divided, is mainly taken from a
report upon the collection which was printed in the
Cambridge University Reporter of June 10, 1913:

" The Acton Library consists of a great assem-
blage of books, chiefly, but not exclusively, his-
torical, of which the main body is understood to
have been acquired by the late Lord Acton between

14 UNIVERSITY LIBRARY, CAMBRIDGE

the years 1854 and 1884. It likewise comprises
books which were at Aldenham before his time,
including some which had been in the possession of
his grandfather, Sir John Acton, Prime Minister at
Naples under King Ferdinand IV. The idea which
guided Lord Acton in the selection of books for his
library and in the studies for which they were
intended to supply the material was sufficiently
defined by Lord Morley in the letter cited at the
beginning of this report.* It was, of course, im-
possible that a collector who at times purchased
entire libraries, and a reader whose interests were
as varied as his desire for the acquisition of know-
ledge was unbounded, should have been able to
limit his collection to works bearing directly or
indirectly upon the problems most constantly
before his mind; but even a rapid survey of the
contents of the Acton Library reveals very clearly
that his reading, vast as it was, had unity of pur-
pose, and that in the gathering of his library this
purpose was never far from his thoughts.

" The Acton Library is thus, in the most pregnant
sense of the words, a working library. It was
brought together because of its value for definite
historical study, and to no other end. The number
of manuscripts, valuable as such, and of early
(i.e., fifteenth century) printed booksf is small.
They have been treated as a separate class, in

* See p. 13, where extracts from the letter are given.

f Of these there are about sixty in the collection, including
one which seems to have been hitherto undescribed. Of English
books printed before 1640, the collection contains less than
thirty.

RESOURCES AND COLLECTIONS 15

company with certain other books selected on
account of their rarity.

" It may perhaps be added that when the books

reached Cambridge, a very large proportion of them

contained slips of paper indicating where passages

were to be found which the owner of the book had

thought deserving of special notice, the actual

passages being often marked by a thin line in the

margin. These memorials of careful reading have

been, and will, it is hoped, so far as possible continue

to be, preserved. In connection with these marks,

reference may be made to the large collection of

passages transcribed by Lord Acton from the books

he read and arranged in boxes under the subjects

which they illustrate. These transcribed passages

possess a personal, and may prove at some future

date to have a biographical, value; they did not

form part of Lord Morley's gift, but were purchased

by the Library Syndicate for the University, as was

also a considerable body of transcripts made for

Lord Acton from the Vatican archives and other

sources.

" It would unduly lengthen this report to append
to it the scheme of classification adopted by the
syndicate; but it may be permissible to add that of
the three main divisions of that classification (A,
Ecclesiastical History; B, Political History; C, Other
Subjects), the first, though not actually the largest,
is relatively the fullest, and, from the point of view
of the collector's guiding purpose, the most signifi-
cant. The twenty-two classes contained in this
division fall under three main heads. Classes 1 to 3

16 UNIVERSITY LIBRARY, CAMBRIDGE

are concerned with the history of the Papacy
(including the lives of Popes, Cardinals, and other
great dignitaries of the Church) ; the organization of
the Curia, with the Papal executive, the Inquisition
(a very curious collection, especially of earlier
works), the Index (about 100 volumes, mostly
editions of the Index itself), the Propaganda, the
history of the Temporal Power; works on Canon
Law and its development; and the history of the
monastic Orders (exclusive of the Jesuits). The
entries in this section of the Bulletin amount to
nearly 600. Classes 4 to 6 deal with the chief
epochs and most momentous crises in the general
history of the Western Church, beginning with a
history of the relations between the mediaeval
Universities and the Papacy, and proceeding to the
Conciliar Movement, the Reformation, and the
Counter-Reformation, with the history of the Council
of Trent and the Society of Jesus — a collection of the
very greatest interest, carried on in the case of the
Jesuits to a modern date, and comprising more than
900 titles. Equally interesting is the last class (7)
to be mentioned under this head — viz. , works treat-
ing of the relations between the Papacy and its
opponents after the Council of Trent. This
contains a large number of works on Jansenism,
and on the last Vatican Council, with which Lord
Acton's personal relations are well known.

" In Classes 8 to 20 the history of the several
National Churches is dealt with in succession,
special attention being, of course, given to the
struggles between the Papacy and these Churches

RESOURCES AND COLLECTIONS 17

or the national States to which they belong. The
entries in these classes could not always be kept
apart from those in the classes concerned with
the political history of the respective countries ; the
Bulletin of the entries appertaining to Spain and
Portugal, which includes both the works concerned
with the ecclesiastical and those concerned with
the political history of these nations, illustrates this,
and shows how advantageous a general catalogue
with cross-references would be to the historical
student. The last two classes of the first main
division (A) consist of works dealing with the
history of the Greek and Oriental Churches (includ-
ing the Russian) and with Church history in general.

'' This main division comprises a wealth of his-
torical literature to which, whether in the systematic
character of the collection as a whole or in the
abundance of selected material to be found in a
number of particular sections, it would be difficult
to find a parallel among existing European libraries.
Nor should it be overlooked that the study of many
important special fields of ecclesiastical history —
such as the gradual organization of the Roman
Curia, or the development, in different directions,
of the activities of the Jesuit Order — could hitherto
not be studied conveniently, except with the aid of
collegiate or other libraries to which, from the
nature of the case, access cannot be easy.

" It should not be thought that the second main
division (B) of the Acton Library is a mere supple-
ment to the first (A). The twenty-one sections
dealing with political history contain, with much

18 UNIVERSITY LIBRARY, CAMBRIDGE

that is rarely to be found in a general historical
library, much, especially in the way of local history,
that is not widely accessible except in the localities
or at least in the countries to which it has reference.
Among the rare portions of the collection are the
pamphlets, as a prominent example of which may
be instanced those bearing on German history in
the later sixteenth and earlier seventeenth century,
which will prove invaluable to a future historian of
the Thirty Years' War. In local history Lord
Acton's acquisitions in France, where so much has
been and is being done by associated effort, were of
particular value.

" In the third main division (C), which is con-
cerned with ' other subjects,' special attention
should be directed to the very extensive and
interesting collection, in about 1,000 volumes, of
letter-writers (Class 49). Class 46 (Theology and
Dogmatics) contains part of the library of the late
Ernst von Lasaulx, known as a theosophical writer
and reactionary politician, the whole of which was
left to Lord Acton."

The titles of all the books in the Acton collection
are inserted in the General Catalogue of Printed
Books. In addition, a card catalogue of the entire
collection is provided in a room adjacent to the
collection; and any student of history is given
access to the shelves in the Acton Library on making
application to the Librarian.

Catalogues of certain classes in the Acton Library
have been published in the form of Bulletins.
These Bulletins contain the titles (as printed for

RESOURCES AND COLLECTIONS 19

the General Catalogue) of such books as were not
previously in the Library. They are:

Classes 1, 2, 3, 6, 7: Papacy, Canon Law, Reli-
gious Orders, Counter- Reformation.

Classes 17 and 38: Spain and Portugal (Eccle-
siastical and Political History).

Class 34: Germany, Austria, and Hungary
(General Political History).

Class 48 : Political Philosophy, Social Philosophy,
Economics, Law.

Incunabula. — The fifteenth century books in the
Library were first segregated as a collection by
Henry Bradshaw, who was one of the earliest
students of incunabula to examine the books from
what he called " a natural history point of view."
Bradshaw was enabled to add largely to the collec-
tion by judicious purchases at the Meyer, Culemann,
Vergauwen, and other important sales. He also
contributed freely by gifts himself, and it is
mainly due to his acumen and enthusiasm that the
Library to-day possesses such a remarkable series
of books printed in the Low Countries before the
end of the fifteenth century. The collection has been
largely added to in recent years, and now numbers
almost 3.000 separate works, including as many as
fifty-two Caxtons.

Early English Books. — The phrase "Early English
books" now usually indicates books printed not
later than 1640, a terminal date which has been
adopted because it stops short of the spate of tracts
which the pamphleteering activities of the Civil
War period let loose upon the stream of our national

20 UNIVERSITY LIBRARY, CAMBRIDGE

literature. These books are well represented in the
Library, and though not gathered together as a
collection, they have been rendered conveniently
accessible through a printed catalogue compiled by
Mr. C. E. Sayle.*

Many important early printed books are contained
in the collection bequeathed to the University
by Professor J. C. Adams in 1892, and in the
collection bequeathed two years later by Samuel
Sandars, the founder of the Sandars Readership :n
Bibliography. Another separate collection which
goes by the name of its donor is the collection
of books on logic, comprising upwards of 1,000
volumes, which Dr. John Venn presented in 1888.

Cambridge Collection. — Special attention is
naturally devoted to literature relating to the
University, town, and county of Cambridge, and
the material gathered under this head has now
assumed very considerable proportions. It in-
cludes the large collection (upwards of 10,000
items) amassed by the late J. W. Clark, Registrary
of the University, and bequeathed by him to the
Library in 1910. f In view of the close relation-
ship which exists between Eton College and the
University, a large number of publications re-
lating to the college have been included in the
collection.

Irish Books. — The Bradshaw Irish Collection

* Early English Printed Books in the University Library,
Cambridge (1475-1640), 4 vols. Cambridge University Press,
1900-1907.

t Catalogue of the Books and Papers . . . bequeathed to the
University by John Willis Clark. By A. T. Bartholomew.
Cambridge, 1912.

RESOURCES AND COLLECTIONS 21

forms one of the most notable special sections of the
Library. It consists, in the main, of books and
pamphlets brought together by Henry Bradshaw.
The major portion of these, comprising some 1,000
bound volumes and 3,900 pamphlets, were given by
Bradshaw in 1870, and his subsequent acquisitions
were presented by his family after his death in
1886. The collection, which is specially rich in
seventeenth century tracts, has been added to
from time to time, and a catalogue of the whole,
compiled by Mr. C. E. Sayle, has recently been
published.*

Other Special Collections. — Among several smaller
collections representing a variety of interests
may be mentioned the books on political economy
brought together by Professor George Pryme
(fl868); Sir Frederic Madden's collection of sheet
ballads, mounted in twenty-five large volumes ;f
forty-four editions of the Testament of the Twelve
Patriarchs ; a collection of liturgical books ; a
collection of bindings; and a collection of Dante
literature. There is also a comprehensive collec-
tion of Prynne's tracts, and a reference to the
heading Erasmus in the Catalogue will show that
the Library is particularly well found in the works
of that writer.

A collection of caricatures issued in Paris during
the siege and the Commune (1870-71), mounted in
six large folio volumes, and eight similar volumes

* Catalogue of the Bradshaw Irish Collection. 3 vols. Cam-
bridge, 1916.

t The Irish Collection (see above) also contains a large number
of such ballads.

22 UNIVERSITY LIBRARY, CAMBRIDGE

filled with newspaper cuttings of 1878 relating to
the death and career of Pius IX. , contain material
of uncommon interest and value to students of
these subjects. There is also a comprehensive
series of telegrams received during the Franco-
German War.

War of 1914-1919.— The collection of printed
matter concerning the war of 1914-1919 is very
large, and contains much which is of value to the
student. In addition to the general literature of
the war, both English and foreign, which is
arranged -in four classes in the "open" library,
there is a large mass of printed matter of every
description which is being arranged in three classes
in the reserved part of the Library. Special mention
may be made of the collection of German propa-
ganda, chiefly from Italy, Spain, the United States,
and some of the South American Republics. There
is also a complete set of the very valuable Review
of the Foreign Press (with its various supplements)
issued by the War Office from 1915 to August, 1919,
together with a large collection of the newspapers
upon which it was founded.

The Calendars of State Papers and other publi-
cations of the Record Office are in the History
Room. The Library also possesses a complete and
uniform set of Parliamentary Papers from 1715
"to the present day, together with the series of
indexes which facilitate reference to any particular
subject or individual paper. These, with the
Journals of the Lords and the Commons, Hansard's
Debates, and the statutes of the realm, form a

RESOURCES AND COLLECTIONS 23

comprehensive record of the transactions of Parlia-
ment. In addition to the set of public and local
Acts, the Library some years ago acquired an ex-
tensive collection (in 112 volumes) of private Acts
ranging from 1 George II. to 1 William IV. (1727-
1830).

MAPS. — The map department, upon which special
attention has been bestowed in recent years,
now comprises upwards of 140,000 maps, plans,
and other geographical publications. It includes
sets of the various maps issued by the Ordnance
Survey Office, the War Office, the Admiralty,
and Indian and Colonial Governments, as well
as many published by foreign Governments.
Besides these, there is a very large number of
maps of almost every part of the world. The
department also possesses many older maps which
have now acquired historical interest and import-
ance. This historical section includes a specially
fine series of old British county maps, and numerous
plans relating to the town and county of Cambridge.
Forming an adjunct to these latter is a large
collection of particulars of sale of properties in and
around Cambridge; in these are preserved many
details of local history and topography, which in
process of time will not be otherwise easily ascer-
tainable.

NEWSPAPERS. — By reason of their bulk and con-
siderations of shelf space the collection of news-
papers is of necessity limited mainly to those of
local interest and a few of national importance.
The London Gazette runs from 1665, with a few gaps;

24 UNIVERSITY LIBRARY, CAMBRIDGE

The Times is incomplete from 1792 to 1874, there-
after complete; and The Manchester Guardian,
recently deposited by Mr. C. P. Scott, runs from
its beginning in 1867.

A very large collection of newspapers published in
all parts of the world during the war of 1914-1919
is in process of arrangement (see p. 22).

Music. — Music, manuscript and printed, forms
an integral part of the collection. Manuscript
music is not at present kept apart from the other
manuscripts. Printed music is kept in a separate
room and catalogues of the collection are avail-
able. The collection has received gifts and be-
quests from the libraries of B. W. Hayward (1885),
G. F. Cobb (1905), E. Atkinson (1915), J. E. Nixon
(1916), T. H. Lewin (1917), and Sedley Taylor
(1920).

(6) ORIENTAL.

ORIENTAL BOOKS. — The beginnings of the
Oriental department, which at the present day
provides abundant material for students of Eastern
languages, literatures, and religions, are to be found
in the manuscripts of the Oriental scholar, Erpenius,
which were presented in 1632, and the library of
Hebrew books purchased by Parliament from
George Thomason* in 1647 for bestowal upon the
University.

The manuscripts of other noted Orientalists
have found their way into the Library to take
a place in company with the Erpenius manu-

* This Thomason was the London bookseller who made the
famous collection of Civil War tracts now in the British Museum.

RESOURCES AND COLLECTIONS 25

scripts, notably those of the Rev. George Lewis,
Archdeacon of Meath (1727), chiefly Persian;
the Rev. Claudius Buchanan (1805-1809), mainly
Hebrew and Syriac; John Lewis Burckhardt (1809),
Arabic to the number of 300; Professor H. G.
Williams (1871), Arabic and Persian; Professor W.
Robertson Smith (1894), Syriac and Arabic;
Professor Bensly (1895); Professor Cecil Bendall
(1886), Sanskrit; E. J. W. Gibb (1902), Turkish
printed books; Professor E. B. Cowell (1903). In
1887 ninety Syriac and Arabic manuscripts were
presented by the S.P.C.K.

The Thomason volumes are still a feature among
the Hebrew books, though large additions have
been made from time to time to that group. The
manuscripts and printed books of the late Dr.
Charles Taylor, Master of St. John's College,
given in 1908, were a valuable acquisition; and
the vast mass of the Taylor-Schechter collection
of documents and fragments of manuscripts
from the Genizah at Old Cairo, given to the
University in 1898, has afforded its explorers the
unwonted thrill of new discoveries. The numerous
valuable finds which the examination of the
Taylor-Schechter collection has yielded include
such extremely interesting MSS. as portions
of Aquila's version of the Bible (in the form of
palimpsests), the hitherto unknown Hebrew text
of Ecclesiasticus, and autograph letters of the
celebrated Jewish philosopher and physician Mai-
monides (f 1204). Besides other palimpsests, which
include some in Georgian, and very many fragments

of books, there are thousands of documents and
letters, many of them dated, which shed new
light on the course of Jewish literature, history,
and chronology, especially in relation to the impor-
tant Jewish settlement which existed at Fustat
(Old Cairo) for several centuries. Some account of
the discoveries already made amongst this mass of
materials will be found in the pages of the Jewish
Quarterly Review, but it is a field of research that
has not yet been thoroughly explored.

INDIAN LITERATURE. — The Indian section in-
cludes the valuable collection of Sanskrit manu-
scripts procured in Nepal for the University by
Dr. Daniel Wright in 1873-1876. A large number
of these are written on palm leaves, and many are
remarkable for their early date, the oldest being
referred to the ninth century. In his catalogue of
the Buddhist portion of the manuscripts Professor
Cecil Bendall described the series as being, apart
from their literary interest, from an " antiquarian
and palseographical point of view, the most im-
portant collection of Indian MSS. that has come
into the hands of scholars." A valuable addition
to the materials for the study of Buddhism was
made with the accession in 1907 of a copy of the
Kanjur, the sacred canon of the Tibetan Buddhist
Scriptures. This work, which came to the Library
in the raw yak skins in which it was originally
packed in Tibet, comprises 103 large block-books,
each containing some 300 leaves or strips of coarse
paper printed on both sides in red ink from wood
blocks.

RESOURCES AND COLLECTIONS 27

MUHAMMADAN LITERATURE. — The manuscripts
written in the Arabic character (Arabic, Persian,
Turkish, Urdu, Malay, etc.), which may con-
veniently be classed under the general term Mu-
hammadan, comprise more than 1,500 works, and
include upwards of sixty dated earlier than
A.H. 900 (A.D. 1495). These have been described by
Professor E. G. Browne in his catalogue of Persian
manuscripts and his hand-list of Muhammadan
manuscripts. Recent noteworthy additions to this
section are the collection of Malay manuscripts and
printed books presented by Mr. R. J. Wilkin-
son, and the Turkish printed books which the
late Mr. E. J. W. Gibb brought together as
materials for his projected history of Turkish
poetry.

THE CHINESE LIBRARY. — In the Chinese Library,
brought together by Sir Thomas Wade during his
forty years' residence in China, and presented by
him to the University in 1886, the Library possesses
one of the most valuable assemblages of Chinese
literature in existence outside that country. In
making the collection, Sir Thomas Wade was careful
not only to select the particular works, but also
to secure the best editions of them. Some impor-
tant features are the Confucian canon, the dynastic
histories of China, encyclopaedias, and works of
reference; there is also a section devoted entirely
to Manchu (and a few Mongol) books. The
extent and value of the library has been increased
appreciably by gifts and judicious purchases. In
1915 were added the complete works of Liu Tsung-

28 UNIVERSITY LIBRARY, CAMBRIDGE

yuan (t 819), dated A.D. 1167, now the oldest-printed
book in the Library.

JAPANESE BOOKS. — The foundation of a good
library of Japanese literature has been laid by the
acquisition of the books of W. G. Aston (f 1911),
formerly Japanese Secretary at Tokio. These books
comprise some 1,900 works in about 9,500 volumes.
They are, to a great extent, the old block-printed
editions, which are now so difficult to procure, and
a large proportion are illustrated. Almost every
kind of literature is represented, and the collection
is especially strong in Shinto, classics, history,
topography, fiction, poetry, and the drama. In
1912 and 1913 Sir Ernest Satow added a valuable
collection.

III.— THE USE OF THE LIBRARY
(ADMISSION, ETC.).

THE Library is one of the primary institutions
within the University, and is designed and organ-
ized with a view to ministering to the various needs
of members of the University, but at the same time
it places its resources freely at the disposal of other
students who, for longer or shorter periods or for
special purposes, desire to pursue their researches
within its walls. The conditions under which
those who are not members of the University are
admitted to read in the Library are set out in the
University Calendar (also in the Ordinances of the
University), but the arrangements may be briefly
stated here. Persons who are desirous of using the
Library for the purpose of study and research are
required to fill up a form of application and furnish
letters from two members of the Senate, certifying
from personal knowledge that the applicant is a
student of some specified subject, and is a fit and
proper person to be admitted to the Library for the
said purpose. These applications are submitted to
the Library Syndicate for their approval. The
fee for these tickets of admission is one guinea for a
year, or half a guinea for a single quarter. Holders
of these tickets have full use of the Library in the

29

30 UNIVERSITY LIBRARY, CAMBRIDGE

same manner as members of the University, except
that they cannot take books out of the Library, this
privilege being confined to members of the Senate
of the University.

A person who wishes to consult some particular
manuscript or printed book, or desires admission
to the Library for a brief period for some special
purpose, may be admitted at the discretion of the
Librarian upon presenting a suitable introduction.

The hours during which the Library is open are
from 9.30 to 4 o'clock from January 15 to Novem-
ber 14, and from 9.30 to 3.30 from November 15 to
January 14. On Saturdays the hours are 9 to
2 o'clock. The Library is closed (for the annual
inspection, cleaning, etc.) from September 1 to
15 inclusive; also on the Thursday before Easter
and the next five days; on Christmas Eve and the
four following days; on the two weekdays following
March 31, June 30, and December 31; and on all
Sundays.

The chief key to the printed books is the General
Catalogue. This catalogue, which was begun in
1854, consists of printed slips pasted into folio
volumes of special construction. The entries are,
for the most part, arranged alphabetically under
the names of authors, while those titles which do
not lend themselves to that treatment are grouped
under such headings as Academies (publications of
learned societies), Periodical Publications, Parlia-
ment, the names of countries, etc. New titles
printed for the catalogue are also issued as a weekly
Bulletin, and accessions are exhibited each week

THE USE OF THE LIBRARY 31

in the Dome Room, where they may be examined
before they are placed on the shelves.

In addition to the General Catalogue there are
published catalogues of certain collections, of which
particulars will be found in Notes for Readers, sold
at the Library, price 6d.

From time immemorial it has been the custom
in the Library that readers should go to the shelves
for their books, and those who have the privilege of
using the Library at the present day have direct
access to some 460,000 volumes. This privilege
naturally involves some responsibility, both in the
manner in which the books are handled and in the
care exercised in returning a book to its right place
on the shelf. The importance of the latter point
will be apparent when it is realized that a book put
up in the wrong place is for the time being lost, and
not available if wanted. Certain books, on account
of their value or for other reasons, are placed in
reserved classes. These can be consulted in
Room Theta. In this room also enquiries respecting
manuscripts should be made. A selection of manu-
scripts and printed books of special interest are
exhibited in the show-cases in Cockerell's Build-
ing, and some portraits of University celebrities and
other historical personages are hung on the south
staircase. In the South Room is a series of por-
traits of Librarians of the University.

LIBRARY
UlSTvrr?TTY OF CALIFORNIA

Further information concerning the Library will
be found in :

Annals of Cambridge University Library. By
Charles Sayle. Cambridge, 1916.

Guide to the University Library. Second edition.
Cambridge, 1905.

The Collected Papers of Henry Bradshaw. Cam-
bridge, 1889.

The Annual Reports of the Library Syndicate,
published in the Cambridge University Re-
porter.

Willis and Clark's Architectural History of the
University of Cambridge. Vol. III. Cam-
bridge, 1886.

The Organization and Methods of the Cambridge
University Library, by H. G. Aldis, in The
Library Association Record for December, 1905.

PRINTED IN ORKAT BRITAIN BY
BILLING AND SONS, LTD., OVILDFORD AND KSHER

HELPS FOR STUDENTS OF HISTORY (contd.)

19. AN INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF AMERICAN DIPLO-
MACY. By Carl Russell Fish, Ph.D., Professor of American
History in the University of Wisconsin, la. net.

20. HINTS ON TRANSLATION FROM LATIN INTO ENGLISH.

By Alexander Souter, D.LItt. 6d. net.

21. HINTS ON THE STUDY OF LATIN. (A.D. 125-750.) By

Alexander Souter, D.Litt. 8d. net.

22. REPORT OF THE HISTORICAL MSS. COMMISSION, By

R. A. Roberts, F.R.H.S., Sometime Secretary of the Com-
mission. 2s. 6d. net.

23. A GUIDE TO FRANCISCAN STUDIES. By A. G. Little.

Is. 6d. net. ppi?

24. A GUIDE TO THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION. By John W.

Adamson, Professor of Education in the University of
London. 8d. net.

25. INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF RUSSIAN HISTORY.

By W. F. Reddaway. 6d. net.

26. MONUMENTS OF ENGLISH MUNICIPAL LIFE. By W. Cun-

ningham, D.D., F.B.A. Is. net.

27. LA GUYENNE PENDANT LA DOMINATION ANGLAISE, 1 1 52 -

1453. Par Charles Bemont. Is. 4d. net,

28. THE HISTORICAL CRITICISM OF DOCUMENTS. By R. L,

Marshall, M.A., LL.D. Is. 3d. net.

29. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. By G. P. Goocu, 8d. net.

30. SEALS. By H. S. Kingsford, M.A. la. 3d. net.

31. A STUDENTS GUIDE TO THE MANUSCRIPTS OF THE

BRITISH MUSEUM. By J. P. Gilson, M.A. 13. net

32. A SHORT GUIDE TO SOME MANUSCRIPTS IN THE LIBRARY

OF TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN. By Robert H. Murray,
Litt.D. Is. 9d. net

33. IRELAND, 1494-1603. By R. H. Murray, Litt.D. la. net.

34. IRELAND, 1603 1714. By R. H. Murray, Litt.D. ls.net.

35. IRELAND, 1714-1829. By R. H. Murray, Litt.D, ls.net.
(No*. 33, 34 and 35 In one volume, a loth, 3s. 6rt. not.}

36. COINS AND MEDALS. By G. F. Hill, M.A., F.B.A.

is. 6d. net.

37. THE LATIN ORIENT. By William Miller, M.A. ls.6d.net.

38. THE TURKISH RESTORATION IN GREECE, 1718-1797, By

William Miller, M.A. Is. 3d. net

[Continued on p. 4.

HELPS FOR STUDENTS OF HISTOHY (contd.)

39 SOURCES FOR THE HISTORY OF ROMAN CATHOLICS IN
ENGLAND, IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. From the Refor-
mation period to that of the Emancipation, 1533 to
1795. By John Hunger ford Pollen, S.J. 19. 3d. net.

40. ENGLISH TIME BOOKS.— VoL I. ENGLISH REGNAL YEARS

AND TITLES, HAND-LISTS, EASTER DATES, Etc. Com-
piled by J. E. W. Wallis, M.A. 4s. net.

41. KNIGHTS OF MALTA, 1523-1798. By R.Cohen. 2s.net.

42. RECORDS FOR THE EARLY HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA.

By C. Graham Botha. Is. net.

43. THE WESTERN MANUSCRIPTS OF THE BODLEIAN LIBRARY

By H. H. E. Cr aster, D.Litt Is. 3d. net.

44. GEOGRAPHICAL FACTORS. By H. J. Fleure. 6d. net.

45. THE COLONIAL ENTRY BOOKS. A Brief Guide to the Col-

onial Records in the Public Record Office before 1696.
By C. S. 8. Higham, M.A. Is. 6d. net.

(Others to follow.)

SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE

London ; Northumberland Avenue, W.C.