With a collection of this importance, the greatest difficulty is in selecting just a handful of items to give an impression of the treasures it contains.
- Emily Dourish
His Royal Favour: the Books that Built the Library opened ast week and looks at how the remarkable royal gift transformed the Library’s collections like no other donation before or since.
Painstakingly collected at huge expense by the Bishop of Ely John Moore, the 30,000 books and manuscripts he accumulated include many unique surviving copies. When Moore died in 1714, a day before Queen Anne, the fate of his collection was a hot topic, and the high price asked placed it out of reach of many private book collectors. In the end, the only person who could afford them was George I, who was persuaded to present the collection to Cambridge in recognition of the University’s loyalty to the new Hanoverian king.
The kingly gift trebled the size of the University Library overnight and transformed it into an internationally significant research centre for the first time.
Cambridge University Librarian Anne Jarvis said: “Every book George gave is of great historical significance as an artefact as well as by virtue of its contents. The 300th anniversary of their arrival in Cambridge is the perfect opportunity to celebrate a treasure that remains at the heart of our mission to this day.
“The importance of the collection can be measured by the number of unique early printed books, the number of times books and manuscripts have been consulted by researchers, and the number of items that have featured as star exhibits in many of the previous displays we’ve held at the Library.”
Watch a video and read the full story
Image: A beautifully coloured copy of the earliest world atlas to include cities, produced in the late sixteenth century.
Credit: Cambridge University Library
Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge
____________________________________