Incunabula
Item
Country
GB
Name of institution (official language of the state)
Language of name of institution
eng
Contact information: postal address
West Road, Cambridge CB3 9DR
Contact information: phone number
0044 (0) 1223 333000
Contact information: web address
Contact information: email
library@lib.cam.ac.uk
Reference number
Inc.
Type of reference number
Archival reference number
Title (official language of the state)
Incunabula
Language of title
eng
Creator / accumulator
Cambridge University Library
Date note
15th century
Language(s)
deu
dut
eng
fra
heb
ita
lat
others
Extent
over 4,650 volumes
Type of material
Textual Material
Scope and content
This collection is composed of 15th-century printed books from various European countries, especiallly the Low Countries, France, Germany, Italy and England. It is part of this collection a copy of Jacob ben Archer's Tur Orah Haim (Way of Life), produced in Lisbon in 1490 or 1492. The volume is composed of 58 folios in Spanish rabbinical characters.
Archival history
The Incunabula collection of the Cambridge University Library was composed over the centuries due to acquisitions and donations. Earlier benefactors such as Thomas Rustat (1606–94) and the Worts Fund (1709), as well as the efforts undertaken by Henry Bradshaw (1831-86) were particularly important for the composition of this remarkable collection of 15th-century printed books. A five-year project to re-catalogue the incunabula online ran from 2009 until 2014.
Administrative / Biographical history
Founded in the early 15th century, Cambridge University Library is one of the world's oldest university libraries.
A catalogue of the Library drawn up in 1557 lists fewer than 200 volumes. Like other English libraries, it suffered from the destruction and neglect of the Reformation and the years that followed it. In 1574, Andrew Perne (1519-89) engaged the support of Matthew Parker (1504-75), Archbishop of Canterbury, and other benefactors to restore the Library's collections. Their generous gifts stimulated other benefactions, and by the end of the 16th century, the Library's holdings approached 1,000 volumes.
The first half of the 17th century saw a number of important additions, including a collection of Arabic and other manuscripts presented by the Duchess of Buckingham in 1632, and a collection of Hebrew books purchased in 1647. In that same year, Lambeth Library's collection of 10,000 volumes was bequeathed to the Library but returned at the request of the new Archbishop William Juxon (1582-1663) following the restoration of the monarchy in 1660. In its place, the library of Richard Holdsworth (1590-1649) was adjudged to the university in 1664, containing 10,095 printed volumes and 186 manuscripts, including more than 200 incunabula.
The beginning of the 18th century saw two events that prompted a turning point in the status of the Library. The first was in 1710 when the University Library was included among the nine privileged libraries of copyright deposit under the first Copyright Act. This was followed in 1715 by King George I's presentation of the renowned library of John Moore (1646-1714), Bishop of Ely, subsequently known as the Royal Library, which contained some 30,000 volumes and 1,790 manuscripts.
From 1867 to 1886, the librarianship was held by distinguished collector and scholar, Henry Bradshaw (1831-86), who established efficient structures and procedures, some of which survive in practice today, and set about restoring to order the Library's collections of manuscripts and rare books. Bradshaw and his two successors, Francis Jenkinson (librarian from 1889 to 1923) and Alwyn Faber Scholfield (librarian from 1923 to 1949), transformed the Library into a place where scholarship might be pursued and its needs adequately served. This was achieved through their developments of classification and cataloguing systems and their acquisitions of important book and manuscript collections, including the arrival of the Taylor-Schechter fragments from the Cairo genizah in 1898 and the bequest of the A. W. Young in 1933, which included a copy of the Gutenberg Bible.
Under the librarianship of Scholfield and with the generous aid of the Rockefeller Foundation, the Library was built a new, and considerably larger, home designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, which opened in 1934. A number of major acquisitions in all departments came to the Library during the course of the 20th century, prompting the need to build an additional closed-stack extension, which was taken into use in 1972.
Since the turn of the 21st century, as well as continuing to grow its physical collections, the Library has focused on its digital collections through the Legal Deposit Libraries Act which extended legal deposit to include electronic materials in 2003, and the launch of the Cambridge Digital Library in 2010.
A catalogue of the Library drawn up in 1557 lists fewer than 200 volumes. Like other English libraries, it suffered from the destruction and neglect of the Reformation and the years that followed it. In 1574, Andrew Perne (1519-89) engaged the support of Matthew Parker (1504-75), Archbishop of Canterbury, and other benefactors to restore the Library's collections. Their generous gifts stimulated other benefactions, and by the end of the 16th century, the Library's holdings approached 1,000 volumes.
The first half of the 17th century saw a number of important additions, including a collection of Arabic and other manuscripts presented by the Duchess of Buckingham in 1632, and a collection of Hebrew books purchased in 1647. In that same year, Lambeth Library's collection of 10,000 volumes was bequeathed to the Library but returned at the request of the new Archbishop William Juxon (1582-1663) following the restoration of the monarchy in 1660. In its place, the library of Richard Holdsworth (1590-1649) was adjudged to the university in 1664, containing 10,095 printed volumes and 186 manuscripts, including more than 200 incunabula.
The beginning of the 18th century saw two events that prompted a turning point in the status of the Library. The first was in 1710 when the University Library was included among the nine privileged libraries of copyright deposit under the first Copyright Act. This was followed in 1715 by King George I's presentation of the renowned library of John Moore (1646-1714), Bishop of Ely, subsequently known as the Royal Library, which contained some 30,000 volumes and 1,790 manuscripts.
From 1867 to 1886, the librarianship was held by distinguished collector and scholar, Henry Bradshaw (1831-86), who established efficient structures and procedures, some of which survive in practice today, and set about restoring to order the Library's collections of manuscripts and rare books. Bradshaw and his two successors, Francis Jenkinson (librarian from 1889 to 1923) and Alwyn Faber Scholfield (librarian from 1923 to 1949), transformed the Library into a place where scholarship might be pursued and its needs adequately served. This was achieved through their developments of classification and cataloguing systems and their acquisitions of important book and manuscript collections, including the arrival of the Taylor-Schechter fragments from the Cairo genizah in 1898 and the bequest of the A. W. Young in 1933, which included a copy of the Gutenberg Bible.
Under the librarianship of Scholfield and with the generous aid of the Rockefeller Foundation, the Library was built a new, and considerably larger, home designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, which opened in 1934. A number of major acquisitions in all departments came to the Library during the course of the 20th century, prompting the need to build an additional closed-stack extension, which was taken into use in 1972.
Since the turn of the 21st century, as well as continuing to grow its physical collections, the Library has focused on its digital collections through the Legal Deposit Libraries Act which extended legal deposit to include electronic materials in 2003, and the launch of the Cambridge Digital Library in 2010.
Access points: locations
Access points: persons, families
Access points: subject terms
Access points: document types
Access, restrictions
Digital copies of some items are available online at:
Links to finding aids
Author of the description
Joana Rodrigues and Carla Vieira, 2022
Bibliography
Linked resources
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