Cambridge University Library

“ The present schools, within the limits of the University Library, are probably in part of the fourteenth century, but, for the most part, belong to the latter half of the next century. They are not very conspicuous, and probably ninety-nine out of a hundred Cambridge men have never been inside them, as the majority of public examinations are held in the Senate House and the various large halls of which the [278] town is full. They are, moreover, so incorporated in the Library as to form part of the building, and have no very distinctive mark. ”

“ In a word, it is exceedingly rich in many departments in which most other libraries are deficient, and it forms altogether one of the noblest collections of which any university can boast.
3. University Library, Cambridge.—This is a library of considerable extent, and contains much that is valuable or curious both in the department of printed books and in that of manuscripts. The printed books comprise a fine series of editiones principes of the classics, and a very large proportion of the productions of Caxton's press. ”

“ They durst not venture on the whole: but advise to advertize them at 30s a Book, and let ye Booksellers have them at 25s....
[92]
I have hopes yt Vailliant may take them all at 25s a book, especially if he be allowed time for payment of the money, & ye University would take some of it in books, which we really want for ye Rustat Library [95] .
Eventually, in 1752, 75 sets were disposed of to T. Merrill (a Cambridge bookseller) at one guinea each and the rest seem to have been exchanged [96] . So ended the most ambitious of the early publishing enterprises of the university. ”

“ The library of Peterhouse is the oldest library in Cambridge, and possesses a catalogue of some 600 or 700 books dating from 1418, in which year it was completed. It is chiefly theological, though it possesses a valuable collection of modern works on geology and natural science, and a unique collection of MS. music. Queen's College Library contains about 30,000 volumes, mainly in theology, classics, and Semitic literature, and has a printed class catalogue. The library of St John's College is rich in early printed books, and possesses a large collection of English historical tracts. ”

“ New types would thus tend to conform more to a common model. Of this first Cambridge book four copies are known, but unfortunately there is no copy in Cambridge, the four copies being in the British Museum, the Bodleian, the Lambeth Library, and Archbishop Marsh’s Library, Dublin. ”

“ In this respect they really do "order things better in France." Why does such indifference to the cause of general learning exist—and in the 19th century too? Let me here presume to submit a plan to the consideration of the syndics of the press; provided they should ever feel impressed with the necessity of informing the literati, of other countries as well as our own, of the book treasures contained in the libraries of Cambridge. It is simply this. Let the books in the Public Library form the substratum of the Catalogue Raisonné to be printed in three or more quarto volumes. ”

“ Although access to the shelves was quite a common feature in the older subscription libraries, and in state libraries like the British Museum and Patent Office, it is only within comparatively recent years that lending library borrowers were granted a similar privilege. Most municipal reference libraries grant access to a large or small collection of books, and at Cambridge, Birmingham and elsewhere in the United Kingdom, the practice is of long standing. So also in the United States, practically every library has its open shelf collection. ”

“ The first book published in the United States was published in Cambridge. The public schools are among the best in the country, and the city has an excellent free public library well-stocked with books. ”

“ These collections include Jeremy Bentham’s library, Morrison’s Chinese library, Barlow’s Dante library, collections of law, mathematical, Icelandic, theological, art, oriental and other books, some of them of great value.
King’s College Library, founded in 1828, has over 30,000 vols. chiefly of a scientific character. In close association with the university of London is the London School of Economics and Political Science in Clare Market, in which is housed the British Library of Political Science with 50,000 vols. and a large number of official reports and pamphlets. ”

“ The pamphlets, of which there is a complete printed catalogue, as well as of the books, form a remarkable series, including those collected by Gibbon and Mackintosh. Next comes the Reform Club, with about 60,000 vols., chiefly in belles-lettres, with a fair proportion of parliamentary and historical works. The National Liberal Club, containing the Gladstone Library, has about 45,000 vols., and may be used occasionally by non-members. The Oxford and Cambridge Club has 30,000 vols. in general and classical literature. ”

“ A copy of this manuscript is now in the possession of the Boston Historical Society.
In the rooms of that society is preserved the Dowse Library. A rare collection of books, formed by a man daily engaged in the mechanic craft of a leather-dresser, is a singular illustration of the visible and invisible of libraries. We recall past days in Cambridge, when, beneath the sign of a white wooden sheep, we entered the unpretending house which contained not only the leather-dresser's shop, but a small gallery of pictures and this valuable library. ”

“ In consequence, though libraries continued to be built on the ancient type with numerous windows close to the floor, it was possible to alter the old cases, or to make new ones, with a far larger number of shelves than heretofore; and when further space for books was needed, low cases were interposed between each pair of tall ones. A splendid specimen of this treatment is to be seen at S. John's College, Cambridge, where the bookcases were put up soon after the completion of the library in 1628. ”

“ The collections of existing digital libraries increase regularly, and new digital libraries come up constantly.
Some digital libraries are created by "traditional" libraries who want to put their documents at the disposal of Internet users. Other digital libraries are "only" digital - their life is 100% on the Web.
Hosted by the Carnegie Mellon University, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the Universal Library defines the digital library as "a digital library of digital documents, artifacts, and records. ”

“ That such an edition was wanted seemed to be generally allowed, and it was thought that Cambridge afforded facilities for the execution of the task such as few other places could boast of. The Shakespearian collection given by Capell to the Library of Trinity College supplied a mass of material almost unrivalled in amount and value, and in some points unique; and there, too, might be found opportunities for combined literary labour, without which the work could not be executed at all. ”

“ If there should happen to be more books than persons, those that remain are to be selected in the same manner.
Bishop Bateman—who had been educated in the priory at Norwich, and whose brother was an abbot—gave statutes to Trinity Hall, Cambridge, in 1350, with similar provisions, and the addition that certain books "are to remain continuously in the library-chamber, fastened with iron chains, for the common use of the Fellows." ”

“ For instance, in the British Museum Catalogue the [98] works of Sir Francis Palgrave are entered under Cohen, a name which not one in ten thousand persons knows to have been the original name of the historian. The reverse plan is therefore more generally adopted. Thus the Cambridge rule is:—
"7. Persons who change their names, or add a second name or a title, to be catalogued under the final form (being a surname) which their name assumes, the previous entries being gathered under this heading by means of written entries on the slip."
And Cutter writes:—
"15. ”

“ Time has robbed me of the pleasure of offering him a work which owes much to his research.
Finally, it should be stated that the book attempts to trace the general history of Cambridge printing and not to enter into the finer points of bibliographical technique. Similarly, only the briefest sketch is given of the growth of Cambridge publishing in the last 50 years; to do more would be to cross the border-line between history and advertisement. In Appendix II I have carried on the work begun by Mr Jenkinson for another 100 years. ”

“ The next award of the Privy Council, made on 29 November, 1623, embodied a compromise: the Cambridge printers were authorised to comprint with the Stationers all books save bibles, books of common prayer, grammars, psalters, primers or books of common law; they were to have one press only and to print only those almanacks of which the first copy was brought to them. ”

“ The Cambridge Manuals of Science and Literature have already conquered a wide audience amongst cultured people. They are short studies of great subjects, and are published by the University Press at one shilling The Cambridge Press is casting its literary net widely. ”

“ But a document of much greater importance in the history of Cambridge printing was the charter granted to the university in 1628: the King, in an attempt to settle the controversy once and for all, ratified the grant made by Henry VIII and declared that the university stationers and printers might print and sell any books which he or his two predecessors had licensed any person or body of persons to sell ”

“ No doubt arguments a priori may readily be found to support the contention that the habit of book-buying is on the decline. I confess to knowing one or two men, not Oxford men either, but Cambridge men (and the passion of Cambridge for literature is a by-word) , who, on the plea of being pressed with business, or because they were going to a funeral, have passed a bookshop in a strange town without so much as stepping inside "just to see whether the fellow had anything." ”

“ Yet printed books must almost always make the greater part of a collection, and it may be well to give some rules as to the features that distinguish the productions of the early press. But no amount of “rules” is worth six months’ practical experience in bibliography. That experience the amateur, if he is wise, will obtain in a public library, like the British Museum or the Bodleian. Nowhere else is he likely to see much of the earliest of printed books, which very seldom come into the market. ”

“ The large stock of these books printed at Cambridge was bought by the London syndicate, who guaranteed to leave sufficient copies in Cambridge to supply the needs of the university, whilst Buck and Daniel undertook not to print further copies of the books for the space of ten years without the consent of the Stationers. ”

“ The stock-books kept at Cambridge show that the bulk of the editions were delivered to Parker's warehouse in London or to [138] Deighton's in Cambridge and the names of both firms frequently appear on title-pages. University publications, together with classical, mathematical, and theological text-books and treatises, predominate in the list and the names of such scholars as Blomfield, Babington, Colenso, Donaldson, Hare, Monk, Paley, Scholefield, Shilleto, Trench, and Whewell are to be found amongst the authors. ”

“ It will neither be wise nor just to the public to purchase, at the outset, rare and curious works: when a sufficient supply of really useful and generally read publications has been obtained, it will be quite time enough to think of indulging the bibliomania. But there is one subject on which this taste may advantageously be indulged—and that is, every town in which a public library is established should take care to collect all works relating to its local or municipal history. A selection of the best books on bibliography should also be possessed by each. ”

“ In the meantime the university had taken steps to ensure the suppression of heretical books. In 1529 a petition was presented to Cardinal Wolsey, begging:
that for the suppression of error, there should be three booksellers allowed in Cambridge by the King, who should be sworn not to bring in or sell any book which had not first been approved of by the censor of books in the University, that such booksellers should be men of reputation and gravity, and foreigners, (so it should be best for the prizing of books,) and that they might have the privilege to buy books of foreign merchants [14] . ”

“ Universities play a major role in advancing scientific research, and academic publishing is a key mechanism for faculty to communicate their findings to colleagues and the public. As organizers of knowledge within institutions, librarians can work together with university researchers to promote access to information. They can do this by educating on the “how” and “why” of open access, answering questions about copyright, and providing guidance and recommendations to maximize the reach and impact of scholarly publishing in particular fields. ”

“ It is pointed out that the reading of fiction in British municipal libraries is much less than commonly believed, being only 24 percent, even after due allowance is made for the reading of fiction in current magazines. Attention is called to the gradual disappearance of the unclassified municipal library, although in 1910 there were over 340 not closely classified, but only arranged in broad numerical or alphabetical divisions. The replacement of printed catalogs in book form by card catalogs and other forms, like the sheaf catalog, easily kept up to date, is noted as growing in favor. ”

“ In such a work the library shewn requires what I may term generalised fittings. An eccentric peculiarity would have been quite inadmissible.
Fig. 62. Elevation of (A) one of the bookcases in the Library at Zutphen; (B) one of those in the Library at Queens' College, Cambridge; (C) one of those in the Library of Lincoln Cathedral.
In the Stadtbibliothek of Nuremberg some of the oldest works on jurisprudence still preserve their chains. Each has [164] a short chain about 12 in. long fixed on the upper edge of the left-hand board. ”