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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 9d

Everyone loves a ‘Bad Lad’. @theulspeccoll.bsky.social 1930.7.2076.

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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 8d

Some very pointy manicules in this copy of the works of Juvenal, printed at #Venice by Antonius de Strata, de Cremona, in 1486. Love the little red sleeves! Given to @theulspeccoll.bsky.social in 1934 by Stephen Gaselee. CUL Inc.3.B.3.47b[3983].

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Emily Dourish @emilydourish.bsky.social · 7d

In the reading room today: the absolutely wonderful Light Car magazine from 1934. #TrafficLight #Aeroplane #GuildfordBypass @theulspeccoll.bsky.social L429:8.b.20

A beautiful 1930s car next to a small aeroplane, in black and white. "The light car of today and its equivalent in the realm of travel by air."

"The robot traffic controller" also known as a traffic light. Queued up are two light cars, a cyclist, a van and a double decker bus, all mid 1930s models.

"The modern light car really is a go-anywhere vehicle!" A 1930s three-wheeler driving through a river.

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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 1d

Archbishop Laud was born #OTD in 1573. This copy of Lorenzo Traversagni’s ‘Margarita Eloquentiæ’ (St Albans, 1480), was almost certainly in his personal library& went to @bodleian.ox.ac.uk after his death. It was ejected as a duplicate in 1862 & is now @theulspeccoll.bsky.social Inc.5.J.4.1[3632].

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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 14d

Some great side-eye from this French Angel spotted yesterday in a copy of the ‘Via recta et antiqua’ of Jonas, the ninth-century Bishop of Orléans. Printed at Douai in 1645 and now @theulspeccoll.bsky.social U*.8.149(G).

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Cambridge UL Special Collections @theulspeccoll.bsky.social · 14d

Join us for this free research talk at Cambridge University Library!

Cambridge University Library @theul.bsky.social · 14d

Burned, Cut, Faded, but not Lost
Join us for a free talk delving into the discoveries Dr Clarck Drieshen has made whilst researching our Middle English manuscripts.
📅22 October 2025, 5-6.30pm at Cambridge University Library
To book: https://loom.ly/X1bQkAk

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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 15d

LOVE the little face in the border here, not to mention the stonking great golden initial. In Cicero’s Epistolæ ad Familiares printed ON VELLUM at #Venice by the great Nicolaus Jenson in 1471. Came to @theulspeccoll.bsky.social in 1715 from the library of John Moore, Bishop of Ely. Inc.3.B.3.2[1347]

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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 23d

A bookish bookplate by wood engraver Reynolds Stone (1909-79), for the Francis Holland School in Sloane Square. Collected by Will Carter (of the Rampant Lions Press) and now @theulspeccoll.bsky.social MS Add. 9830/A/5.

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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 22d

A lengthy hand-painted initial at the beginning of the book of Genesis. From a Bible printed at #Venice by Franz Renner (originally from the German city of Heilbronn) in 1483. Given to @theulspeccoll.bsky.social by John Charrington in 1916. CUL Inc.5.B.3.6d[1395.1].

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Cambridge UL Special Collections @theulspeccoll.bsky.social · Sep 4

A great visit this morning from delegates at the 'Craft, Texture, & Aesthetics of Letter Forms' conference, to visit our Historical Printing Room & see a range of materials from our collection, including John Baskerville specimens, the Kelmscott Chaucer, & woodblocks & designs by Reynolds Stone!

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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · Aug 31

Some final flowers this Sunday morning. From Humbert Belhomme’s ‘Historia’ of the Abbaye de Moyenmoutier (printed at Paris in 1724) in the Vosges département of eastern France. It was founded in 671, and flourished in the 18thC until its suppression in 1790. @theulspeccoll.bsky.social VI.11.50.

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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · Aug 19

Armorial bookplate of Thomas Bramston (c. 1690-1765) of Skreens, near Maldon (Essex). Student at Pembroke College Cambridge, lawyer & Tory MP for Maldon (1727-34) & Essex (1734-47). In James Ussher’s ‘Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Antiquitates’ (Dublin, 1639). @theulspeccoll.bsky.social Hib.7.63.33.

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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · Aug 20

LOVE this bookplate (1920s?) for Jan Van Eck. In an equally interesting book (‘Le catholicon de la Basse Germanie’), printed at ‘Cologne’ in 1731 by ‘Pierre Marteau’ - a fictitious imprint used in Northern Europe when printers wanted to evade identification. @theulspeccoll.bsky.social CCD.81.267.

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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · Aug 20

A fancy gilt centrepiece on the binding of a copy of Thomas Stafford’s ‘Pacata Hibernia: Ireland appeased and reduced; Or, an historie of the late vvarres of Ireland’ (London, 1633). @theulspeccoll.bsky.social Hib.3.63.1.

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Cambridge UL Special Collections @theulspeccoll.bsky.social · Aug 20

Francis Jenkinson, University Librarian at Cambridge between 1889 and 1923, was born on this day in 1853. Here he seems to have found time away from his books & entomological specimens to have fun with a well-behaved dog. @theulspeccoll.bsky.social Portraits.c.71.

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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · Aug 14

Gorgeous endpapers, spotted yesterday in a religious work printed in the Bavarian town of Pappenheim in 1783-86. @theulspeccoll.bsky.social Acton.d.1.399-401.

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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · Aug 18

A majestically colourful cockerel. From a picture book ABC for children, printed in the Swiss city of Bern in 1860. @theulspeccoll.bsky.social Ud.9.460.

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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · Aug 11

Bookplate of French pianist Alfred Cortot (1877-1962), who played in a trio with Jacques Thibaud (violin) & Pablo Casals (cello). In 1919 he founded the École Normale de Musique. In Diderot’s ‘Mémoires sur différens sujets de mathématiques’ (Paris, 1748). @theulspeccoll.bsky.social Leigh.d.9.11.

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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · Aug 12

Provenance to die for: the works of Tacitus (Antwerp, 1581), edited by Justus Lipsius, and scribbled on by both Isaac Casaubon & Richard Bentley (Master of @trincolllibcam.bsky.social). @theulspeccoll.bsky.social Adv.d.3.14.

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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · Aug 12

The arms of Fynes Moryson (1566-1630), on a presentation copy of his ‘Itinerary’ (London, 1617). Love the tassels! @theulspeccoll.bsky.social Hib.3.61.2.

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Cambridge University Library @theul.bsky.social · Aug 12

Calling all bibliophiles! This year's Munby Fellow talks are now available to watch on YouTube.
@harryspillane.bsky.social, A Maker of Chocolates and Bibles: https://loom.ly/daSHipg
Dr Joshua Fitzgerald, Hidden in Plain White: https://loom.ly/nx8B91Q

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Cambridge UL Special Collections @theulspeccoll.bsky.social · Aug 6

Archbishop Matthew Parker was born #OTD in 1504. He left the bulk of his collection to @parkerlibcccc.bsky.social but in 1574 gave us 100 books, including this new edition of the Gospels in Anglo Saxon type (1571). The notes are by Abraham Wheelock, first Cambridge Professor of Arabic. CUL 1.24.9.

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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · Aug 4

This spine label is giving Pac-Man vibes. On a work by Johannes Baptista Bernardinus, printed at ‘Audomari’ (St Omer) in 1622. @theulspeccoll.bsky.social G*.13.28[G]. #pacman

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Cambridge UL Special Collections @theulspeccoll.bsky.social · Aug 4

Our latest blog features a recent acquisition: a Parisian journal, in medieval style, inspired by the 1900 Paris Exposition. Read all about it here: specialcollections-blog.lib.cam.ac.uk?p=30510

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Dr Jill Whitelock @jillwhitelock.bsky.social · Aug 1

The gender and social politics of Letts’s diaries, 1866:
for Ladies, “small editions, in leather, silk, and velvet bindings”;
for Nobility and Gentry: “enlarged, in Morocco and Russia”;
for Tradesmen: “rough or scribbling diaries”.
@theulspeccoll.bsky.social

Front cover of a ‘Letts’s No. 36. Rough diary, or scribbling journal’.

Advertisement for the many different forms of Letts’s diaries.

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