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Page 1 Friends of Christ’s College Old Library Newsletter 2010 Welcome to the latest Friends of the Old Library Newsletter From Dr Gavin Alexander, Fellow Librarian “I’ve just returned from a year of sabbatical to find things as busy as ever in the Library here at Christ’s. I’ve been working on an edition of a treatise on poetics written in manuscript in the summer of 1599 by a young poet called William Scott – a perfect project for me since it brings together my interests in textual studies and the history of literary criticism. The manuscript was lying forgotten in a stately home (as is often the way) until just a few years ago and is now in the British Library. The task of bringing it – finally – to a readership, complete with detailed annotations and introductory materials, has been an absorbing and exciting one. Cases like this do make one realise the importance of full electronic catalogues of historical collections, something we’re working towards in the Old Library. There have been a number of changes in the Library staff this year. Colin Higgins, our Deputy College Librarian, has left us to be Librarian at St Catharine’s College. Colin began his career as a librarian as our Graduate Trainee, and in a few years made a tremendous impact here. We wish him well. We have been joined by Naomi Herbert, our new Assistant College Librarian, and are delighted with this appointment; Naomi will look forward to meeting Friends at coming events. And finally we say goodbye to Candace Guite, College Librarian for the past fourteen years, who is leaving us to take up an exciting new post at the University of Stirling. Candace has steered the Library through a period of great change and development with energy, focus, and commitment, and we are all tremendously grateful for the work

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Page 1: Friends of the Old Library 2010

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Friends of Christ’s College Old Library Newsletter 2010

Welcome to the latest Friends of the Old Library Newsletter From Dr Gavin Alexander, Fellow Librarian“I’ve just returned from a year of sabbatical to find things as busy as ever in the Library here at Christ’s. I’ve been working on an edition of a treatise on poetics written in manuscript in the summer of 1599 by a young poet called William Scott – a perfect project for me since it brings together my interests in textual studies and the history of literary criticism. The manuscript was lying forgotten in a stately home (as is often the way) until just a few years ago and is now in the British Library. The task of bringing it – finally – to a readership, complete with detailed annotations and introductory materials, has been an absorbing and exciting one. Cases like this do make one realise the importance of full electronic catalogues of historical collections, something we’re working towards in the Old Library.

There have been a number of changes in the Library staff this year. Colin Higgins, our Deputy College Librarian, has left us to be Librarian at St Catharine’s College. Colin began his career as a librarian as our Graduate Trainee, and in a few years made a tremendous impact here. We wish him well. We have been joined by Naomi Herbert, our new Assistant College Librarian, and are delighted with this appointment; Naomi will look forward to meeting Friends at coming events. And finally we say goodbye to Candace Guite, College Librarian for the past fourteen years, who is leaving us to take up an exciting new post at the University of Stirling. Candace has steered the Library through a period of great change and development with energy, focus, and commitment, and we are all tremendously grateful for the work

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she has done.

In this Newsletter you can read more about what we’ve been up to in the Old Library in the past year, and about forthcoming events. I very much look forward to welcoming you to these and we are of course always delighted if Friends can visit us on less formal occasions. If you’re passing and fancy a look at one of the treasures of the Old Library collection – or just a quick browse in an interesting-looking corner – do let us know. Your help in sustaining and conserving our wonderful collection is vital and we are glad of any opportunity to show our appreciation.”

Dr Gavin Alexander

Old Library Events

Open CambridgeFriday 10 & Saturday 11 September 2010

The Old Library will be open to visitors from 10am-4pm on both days. Open Cambridge provides a chance to see spectacular architecture, art collections and gardens normally closed to the public. This is the second year that the Library has been on show over the Open Cambridge weekend.

www.cam.ac.uk/opencambridge

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Friends of the Old Library Autumn EventFrom Pali to Pindar to Pound: the Rouse collection exploredTalk given by

David ButterfieldW.H.D. Rouse Research Fellow and Lector in Classics at Christ’s CollegeSaturday 25 September 2010

William Henry Denham Rouse (1863-1950) was by all accounts a curious man: born in Calcutta as the only son of a Baptist missionary, Rouse duly became one of the most distinctive and provocative figures in British education throughout the Edwardian period as Headmaster of the Perse School (1902-28). Entering Christ’s as a Classics undergraduate in 1882, Rouse performed successfully enough to win a six year fellowship at the College from 1888 to 1894. Although he did not have a formal connection with Christ’s thereafter until his election to an honorary fellowship in 1933, Rouse remained in close contact with the College throughout his life. Shortly before his death, his star pupil, A.L. Peck, then Librarian at Christ’s, selected the most valuable items from Rouse’s immense library for the College’s holdings. This collection, now primarily housed on the ground floor of the Lower Library, amounts to many thousands of books covering an extremely wide range of subjects, from all fields of the Classics, through works in Sanskrit, Pali and Modern Greek, to English modernist poetry. This talk will provide a sketch of Rouse’s life and lively character by surveying some of the most interesting and rare items in the Rouse collection, including a broad selection of material from Rouse’s correspondence (particularly with the revolutionary American poet Ezra Pound) and varied Christ’s memorabilia.

David Butterfield

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Friends of the Old Library Spring Event A gothic revival: G. F. Bodley and the Old LibraryTalk given by

Michael HallSaturday 12 March 2011In 1897 a new extension to the Library was completed, which we know today as the splendid Old Library. The architectural brain behind this impressive yet subtle building was G. F. Bodley. The most influential architect at work in the Anglican Church at the end of the nineteenth century, Bodley also renovated the Chapel and Hall at Christ’s, and was responsible for the striking All Saint’s Church nearby on Jesus Lane. As the College considers investing in its Library’s architecture for the twenty-first century, architectural historian, writer and journalist, Michael Hall, will take us back to the nineteenth century and discuss the findings of his research on an architect who shaped the College.

For information about booking a place please contact:

Rosie Applin, Alumni Officer: [email protected] 01223 768 276

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All change please!In recent months, Christ’s College Library has said goodbye to some familiar faces and welcomed in some new ones.

In the spring, Colin Higgins, our Assistant Librarian, was appointed Librarian at St Catharine’s College. His successor at Christ’s, Naomi Herbert, was formerly the Librarian’s Assistant at St John’s College, Cambridge, where she developed a programme of special collections visits and events for schools and the public. She hopes her enthusi-astic approach to librarianship will contribute to both the special collections and the undergradu-ate library at Christ’s.

Naomi Herbert

Our Graduate Trainee 2009-10, Victoria Gregson was an asset to the Library during her year at Christ’s. Her excellent work included a project to rehouse the Library’s manuscript collections, and a fascinating Old Library exhibition on travel and exploration by members of Christ’s College. Victoria is moving on to a post at Ripon Grammar School where we wish her all the best. A Graduate Trainee 2010-11 has been appointed: Charlotte Byrne will join the Library team from music studies at Royal Holloway and a subsequent year

abroad in France.

Candace Guite

Our congratulations must go to Candace Guite, the College Librarian, who is fulfilling her dream of moving to Scotland at the beginning of August. She will be taking up the post of Subject Librarian in Law at Stirling University. Candace has managed the Library for fourteen years and her expertise and

knowledge of the collections will be missed. You can read Candace’s personal account of the Old Library during her time at Christ’s on p.14.

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Professor David Nokes FRSL

(1948-2009)

Friends of the Old Library will have been saddened to hear of the death of Professor David Nokes, English scholar, writer, and Friend of the Old Library,last November.

David Nokes was an undergraduate and doctoral student at Christ’s, where he gained a first-class degree in English in 1969 and a PhD in 1974. He taught for many years at King’s College, London, frequently returning to visit Christ’s College.

David’s four great biographies - Jonathan Swift: A Hypocrite Reversed (1985); John Gay: A Profession of Friendship (1995); Jane Austen: A Life (1997) and Samuel Johnson: A Life (2009) - contributed a distinguished and distinctive voice to eighteenth-century scholarship. His creative and well-received screenplays, including adaptations of Samuel Richardson’s Clarissa and Anne Brontë’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, made a substantial contribution to the popular understanding of the eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries. In 1994 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and, more recently, a vice-president of the Johnson Society of London. He is survived by his wife, Marie Denley and their daughter, Imogen.

Friends are invited to attend a commemoration of David Nokes’ life to celebrate his many gifts and achievements, at the chapel of King’s College in the Strand, London, WC2R 2LS, at 2.30pm on Saturday 27 November 2010. The chapel will be open from 2pm.

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H.M.S. Beagle sails into the Old Library

The boat which took Charles Darwin to the Galapagos Islands, has docked in the Old Library. A 1 in 32 scale model of H.M.S. Beagle was recently donated to the College by its creator, Mr Wyndham Williams. Mr Williams is a retired architect who has made many maritime models over the past twenty years. The model was based on drawings in John McKay’s Anatomy of the Ship, and took an estimated 1000 hours to build. After a trip to the Cambridge Central Library, where it was displayed to the public, H.M.S. Beagle is now housed outside the Old Library in a glass case donated by Mr Martin Rapaport (m. 1965).

Wyndham Williams and the Beagle

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Dedication to ConservationFrom a chinese silk and paper scroll bearing the Sermon on the Mount to the works of lawyer and legal historian John Selden (1584–1654), items conserved in 2009-10 reflect the variety of the collections housed in the Old Library.

The sympathetic conservation techniques offered by professionals at the Cambridge Conservation Consortium allow items from the Old Library to be made available for research and teaching without compromising the historical record inherent in their fabric. The College is able to maintain its membership of the Consortium through the interest and generosity of the Friends of the Old Library. Subscriptions support 225 conservators’ hours per year. As the Friends of the Old Library scheme has recently been relaunched, there seems to be no better time to bring the focus of the newsletter back to the special collections items that benefit from it.

Manuscript Library Catalogue

Historical library catalogues are invaluable to bibliographers, giving an insight into libraries’ collections as they were at a particular period in history. The volume pictured gives an idea of what was on the shelves at Christ’s in the seventeenth century. The binding of the book was crumbling, making it difficult to use without compromising the order of the document or losing pages completely.

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The catalogue before conservation

After the pages had been thoroughly cleaned and paper repairs carried out where necessary, it was given a new binding of quarter goatskin with Cockerell hand-marbled paper sides to match other catalogues in the collection. The original boards are boxed to be stored with the repaired volume.

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The catalogue after conservation

Archaeological plans and drawings by H. M. Scarth

Harry Mengden Scarth (1814-1890), antiquary, graduated from Christ’s College in 1837. In his lifetime, he ranked among the best English authorities on Roman antiquities, especially the relics of Roman occupation in Britain. From 1841 onwards he held various ecclesiastical positions in Somerset, including prebendary of Wells from 1848 until his death. He left his archaeological library to the College in his will, including a collection of his fine drawings and plans of archaeological sites.This collection of drawings was stored rolled up for many years. As a result, the sheets of paper behaved like springs, making them extremely difficult to handle and consult. The sheets were soiled with thick layers of surface dirt, the edges were fragile and several of the drawings had large running tears across the images. Conservators gently humidified the sheets between damp blotters and Bondina to relax the paper. When sufficiently damp, they were stacked between dry blotters and left under weighted boards to dry flat. They were also cleaned and repaired. They are now rehoused in archival polyester pockets and stored flat in a large portfolio.

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Melvin Jefferson conserving the drawings

The sites recorded by Scarth include many of national interest, such as the Stony Littleton Neolithic long barrow in Somerset. Situated some five miles south of Bath, this is deservedly one of the best-known chambered long barrows in the West of England and its attractive setting makes it well worth a visit. The Report of the Ninth Annual Meeing of the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society, presented on 4 August 1857, states that ‘by a pecuniary grant, under the judicious direction of the Revd H. M. Scarth, the Society has been instrumental during the past year in the timely preservation of the interesting Sepulchral Tumulus.’

A sketch of Stoney Littleton long barrow, before conservation

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Chinese Silk and Paper Scroll of the Sermon on the Mount

The damaged scroll at the Conservation Consortium

This attractive scroll had been damaged by being stored tightly rolled on the very thin, original wooden roller: when unrolled, the paper stood in peaks and was badly cracked. The silk was extremely friable and the whole scroll was stained with dirt and mould. Conserva-tors cleaned and repaired the scroll. Humidification, as carried out to flatten Scarth’s plans and drawings, was felt to pose too great a risk to the silk. It was decided to line the scroll with Japanese handmade paper to pull the document flat and to give it extra strength. The lining was applied in strips across the back of the scroll, the joins being made wave-shaped to avoid the problem of the scroll breaking at these points.

The wave-shaped join after conservation

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The crumbling silk was consoli-dated with Klucel-G applied with a sprayer. In order to prevent the repaired scroll being damaged by re-rolling it on the original roller, it was rolled from the free end on a larger diameter archi-val paper tube and then boxed.

The scroll after conservation

Early modern Greek manuscript [Rouse GG.2.6, MS. 260 in Easterling (1966)]

This Greek manuscript, bound with the remains of a sixteenth-cen-tury blind-stamped binding reused in a later structure, comes from a collection of rare books and manuscripts given to the College by W. H. D. Rouse, classicist, book collector and Fellow of the College.The contents includes model letters and replies by Theophilos Korydalleus (1570-1646), a Modern Greek paraphrase of Homer’s Illiad and Georgios Sougdoures’ work on Aristotle. The early binding fragment incorporates seated figures, possibly the four Evangelists.

Disbound manuscript

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The pages of the manuscript had suffered from water damage and mould and there were numer-ous tears throughout the text. The conservators disbound the volume, and following careful recording of the collation and the binding for use in reassembling the book, it was cleaned and repaired. The binding was badly distorted and was no longer protecting the pages inside, so the book was rebound incorporating the sixteenth-cen-tury binding fragments.

Binding of the Manuscript

The Complete Works of John Selden, Vol. I (London, 1726) [I.18.1]

Also in need of binding repair was the first volume of the 1726 edition of The Complete Works of John Selden. In this case, the volume was in its original full calf binding so the conserva-tors concentrated on removing former repairs which were suffering from red rot, and restoring the binding to its original state. Volume one of Selden’s Complete Works contains some of his Judaic studies, including ‘De anno civili et calendario veteris ecclesiae seu reipublicae Judaicae, dissertatio’ (1644), which argued that Jewish traditions of interpretation could help Christians better to understand passages in the New Testament; ‘De jure naturali et gentium, juxta disciplinam Ebrorum’ (1640); and ‘De synedriis et praefecturis juridicis veterum Ebraeorum’ (1650–55).

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References:

Paul Christianson, ‘Selden, John (1584–1654)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http:// www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/25052, accessed 2 Aug 2010]Pat Easterling, Greek Manuscripts in Cambridge: recent acquisitions by College Libraries, the Fitzwilliam Museum and Private Collectors, Cambridge University Press, 1966L V Grinsell, ‘Stoney Littleton Long Barrow: Department of the Environment Guide Book 1982’, [http://www.bathnes.gov. uk/BathNES/environmentandplanning/Archaeology/Stoney LittletonGuideBook.htm, accessed 2 Aug 2010] William Hunt, ‘Scarth, Harry Mengden (1814–1890)’, rev. Elizabeth Baigent, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford Univ ersity Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/arti cle/24789, accessed 2 Aug 2010]

Goodbye to the Old LibraryFrom Candace GuiteCollege Librarian, 1996-2010

I will soon be taking up a new post at the University of Stirling as Senior Subject Librarian for Law so it is time to say farewell to the Friends, to the Old Library and to Christ’s. I would like to thank you all most warmly for your generous support for conservation work in the Old Library and your continuing interest in the care of our collections. It has been a pleasure to meet many of you at our Friends’ events. Our annual programme with its talks and associated exhibitions give us new opportunities to showcase and to share with you some of the remarkable books and manuscripts in the Old Library.

As a whole, the collections mirror the history of the College. Relatively few books were purchased for the library but Fellows and Members have given generously over the centuries. Our holdings reflect the personal, professional and academic interests of their donors. Above all we are a working academic library. First-time visitors to the Old Library nearly always

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comment on the distinctive but subtle scent of ‘old books’ – a hint that this might be their chief appeal! So I am quick to remind them that the books are actively consulted by scholars interested in the ideas they contain. Their bindings, marginalia and their marks of provenance reveal many clues about the collecting habits and personal tastes of College Members and more generally are of interest to historians of the book.

It has been such a privilege to have played a part in the custodianship of the collections; they form an invaluable intellectual resource, one that we want to share more widely with the research community and also with the public and our local schools.

I was able to explore particular facets of the collection in a more personal way when the College generously sponsored my MA in the History of the Book (1999-2001). This was pure pleasure. The only stipulation was that I did pieces of work that would be useful to the College. So out of that came a Preservation Plan for the Old Library, a thesis on Lady Margaret Beaufort, an essay on Thomas Hollis and another on an unusually early twelfth-century English Book of Hours, and a Pouncing Workshop for the Friends. Taking due care of the collections in order to preserve them for current and future access is our first charge. One of the first recommendations I made on my appointment in 1996 was that we join the Cambridge Colleges Conservation Consortium. Thanks to your generous donations and an initial start-up grant from the College that recommendation became a reality and we are full members with an annual allocation of hours with a very skilled team of conservators.

The Library will continue to seek ways in which we can share scholarly resources within the wider academic community and with the public. Paramount to this is having all our collections fully catalogued online. It is a huge task and with limited staff and budgets will take some time. But slowly on a collection by collection basis records are added. Our most important collections, Milton, Darwin, and Lesingham Smith are now online and can be readily accessed. Your continued support and interest in the Old Library will be vital as we tackle the challenges that lie ahead.

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Rouse Collection Provenance ProjectPenny Kendrick is creating a database of previous ownership for books in the collection of early printed books left to the library by W . H. D. Rouse. She tells us that one need look no further than the Rouse Collection...

Work on the Provenance Project has continued and we have nearly completed entering details of the Rouse Collection into the database. I have been involved with this project for two years and have reached the last shelf of books in this amazing collection.

William Henry Denham Rouse (1863-1950) was born in Calcutta, the son of a missionary. He studied Classics at Christ’s College and became a teacher, professor and author. He was a pioneer in the ‘direct method of teaching Classics’, which brought him much acclaim. He was first a Fellow and then an Honorary Fellow of the college. Rouse donated his collection of books to the College and they are now housed in the Old Library. While many of the books reflect his interest in the Classics, he appears to have been an avid collector of old and rare booksin general.

Many people ask Google or Ask Jeeves for the answers to queries. Fear not, if your computer crashes, the answer to many of your questions will probably be found within the 444 volumes contained in Rouse’s rare book collection. For help with cookery, health, beauty, travel and advice on life in general enquire within. Among works by Julius Caesar, Homer, Diodorus and Ovid there are also many quirky gems.

Could Delia help with a recipe when you have only a mallard and a cabbage in your fridge? Elizabeth, Countess of Kent in her book A True Gentlewomans Delight published in London in 1659 (Rouse 9.15) gives you the recipe and the serving suggestion. Your only problem might be in finding a pipkin*, perhaps your Le Creuset would suffice?

On health issues, piles would seem to have been a major problem in the seventeenth century. A remedy appears in the collection of medicinal secrets entitled The Queens Closet Opened (Rouse 9.18, L 1661).The ingredients needed for this remedy include white lead (finely scraped) and hog’s lard. While no doubt vital to the efficacy of the potion, the lead would have our current health watchdogs inturmoil.

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Title page from The Queens Closet Opened

Provenance from The Queens Closet Opened

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In Proverbs, collected by James Howell (Rouse 8.8, 1659), there are many wise words we would do well to heed. “Choose thy Friends like thy Bookes, few but choice” or “A woman’s knee and a dogs snowt are always cold”.

Advice on travel and beauty are perhaps for the next Provenance update. The books describing travels in the Congo, France and one of the first mentions of America in an English printed book will provide some of the answers. As will the volume containing the much needed advice on maintaining a “faire, white face” and getting rid of red pimples.

*Pipkin - an earthenware vessel for use over direct heat from a fire.Information on Rouse and the Association for Latin Teaching: http://www.arlt.co.uk/dhtml/rouse.php

Penny Kendrick, Library Volunteer

The Old Library Cataloguing ProjectJane Gregory is currently cataloguing the collection of early printed books given to the Library by Charles Lesingham Smith. She tells us about the man behind the books.

Not much is known about Charles Lesingham Smith’s parentage or early life. He was born in Gloucestershire in 1806 and was admitted to Christ’s College in 1825 to study mathematics. After taking his B.A. as 5th Wrangler in 1829, and his M.A. in 1832, he remained at the College as a Fellow till 1839. In April of that year he was presented by the College to the living of Little Canfield in Essex, and here he remained for the rest of his life.

He appears to have been very happy and integrated into local life at Little Canfield. In 1870 he published a small volume of poems entitled Home Recollections and Village Scenes, in which he writes affectionately of the village church, feast and school, and even his neighbour’s dog! He built a new rectory, which from illustrations appears to be a very large house for a single man and his three domestic servants. He also restored the church at his own expense, in recognition of which he was presented in 1858, by his parishioners and friends, with a magnificent silver salver. This was given to Christ’s College in 2008by the great-great niece of CLS. It was inscribed

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to him “as a memorial of his liberality in improving and ornamenting the parish church”.

It was not till 1870 that he began to keep a daily diary, but the three volumes recently given to the library by his great-great-niece in Australia make delightful reading. In them he writes about family, his neighbours and visitors, his reading material, letters received (sometimes transcribed in full), sermon subjects, church furnishings, world events, nature. He is constantly aware of and full of praise to God for the blessings he enjoys. In later years he had a curate called Backhouse, who seems to have been over-keen to take on the rector’s duties. On December 13th 1874 CLS records that “Backhouse looked most dismal when he saw me enter the vestry”; the following Sunday “I was really sorry to disappoint him, knowing that he felt sure of having all the duty to himself”. On another occasion: “I took my usual share of work in spite of Backhouse’s repeated suggestion that I should stay at home in the afternoon; he had a sermon ready. So had I”. Backhouse, however, got the better of CLS on at least one occasion: on a Sunday of “tempestuous” weather “Backhouse took fright, and having brought sandwiches he stayed where he was [between morning and afternoon service] … I gave in and turned back, doubtless to the great delight of my zealous curate”.

An earlier foray into journal-keeping, when he was much younger, resulted in the publication in 1837 of Excursions through the High-lands and Isles of Scotland. This is a fascinating account of a walking tour undertaken in the summers of 1835 and 1836, written “often in discomfort and fatigue, and occasionally even in hunger and cold”. Since this is Scotland, scenery, people, hospitality, weather and midges occupy many of its pages. Also making an appearance are beautiful and detailed sketches by the author’s own hand. These, together with others done in Venice, Rome and the Lake District, reappear in a sketch book which formed part of the donation to the library.

CLS was an amateur poet, and in 1842 published a volume of poems in which the titles range from ‘Written under Milton’s Mulberry Tree’ to ‘To a Roast Leg of Mutton!’ He also made some notable translations, including Tasso’s ‘Jerusalem Delivered’. AlfredNobel, founder of the Nobel Prize, records that he received a letter in 1868 from CLS praising his (Nobel’s) poem ‘A Riddle’ and almost comparing it to Paradise Lost.

Finally, it is from his passion for book-collecting that Christ’s College has most benefited. An enthusiastic acquisitor of material on art, classics and

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mathematics, he left his collection of mathematics (including physics, mechanics and astronomy) books to the College on his death.

A sketch of Venice from Charles Lesingham Smith’s sketchbook

This handsome collection includes, among other items by Galileo, a rare edition of the Sidereus Nuncius, the first scientific treatise based on observations made through a telescope.

In spite of his generosity to those around him and his collecting habit, on his death in 1878 he left the sum of £16,000, over £1 million in today’s terms.

Jane Gregory, Old Library Assistant Librarian

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C. P. Snow Archive projectMary Tilmouth is creating a structure for the C. P. Snow Archive catalogue, having previously catalogued the Darwin papers of David Stanbury. She updates us on her progress.

Having identified and listed the contents of the six large boxes making up the archive of Dr D. H. W. Dickson’s research papers for his proposed biography of C. P. Snow, the material has now been sorted according to categories of type namely, text, press cuttings, archive material, magnetic tape and photographs. All this material, with the exception of the magnetic tapes, has now been catalogued and boxed into 46 conservation boxes to date under the following headings:-

• Background Reference Material including other material written about Snow, some of Dr Dickson’s work in progress notes and comments and a curious typescript of a novella by Snow entitled ‘Mr March Grows Old’ – a forerunner perhaps to ‘The Conscience of the Rich’• Newspaper Cuttings & Reviews both by and of Snow and other related topics• Book Material divided into Dickson’s multiple texts grouped according to his proposed chapter headings; transcripts of most of the 88 magnetic tapes; Dickson’s correspondence with many contributors and copy correspondence relating to Snow and his family and associates and extensive copy material relating to Snow from the Archives at the Universities of Texas and Maryland• Card Index Material which includes Dickson’s index of his biography references• Photographic material - mainly portraits of Snow in his later years

Work is now progressing on the final category of this archive namely the Magnetic Tapes. These appear to consist of Dickson reading and commenting on letters associated with Snow throughout his career some of which have transcripts and some of which exist in the copy correspondence of the Texas Archives. Once this work is completed it too will be boxed and all the boxes will then be labelled.

As with the Stanbury Archive on Darwin, the cataloguing system for Dickson’s archive has been designed to facilitate the direct entry of this material into Janus, Cambridge University’s online catalogue of archival collections (http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/). Work yet to be completed.

Mary Tilmouth, Library Volunteer

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OLD LIBRARY OPENING TIMES

Friends of the Old Library are welcome to visit outside of events. To arrange for a visit please contact the College Librarian.

Please Contact: Naomi Herbert Assistant LibrarianChrist’s CollegeCambridge CB2 3BU

(01223 334 905)

FRIENDS OF THE OLD LIBRARY

We would be delighted if you would like to suggest topics for forthcoming events and articles.

Best Wishes,

The Old Library