Old Library

Photograph of Old Library

Overview

Queens’ College Old Library has several features of special interest:

  • It can claim to be the oldest college library in Cambridge, having occupied this room continuously since this part of the college was built in 1448. Although there are older colleges with libraries, those libraries are no longer in their original locations.
  • Its bookcases provide a physical record of conversion from the original reading desks, and subsequent library expansion over the centuries.
  • Although it was fashionable in the 18th century to re-bind books in order to make them look regular on the shelves, this was never done at Queens’, resulting in the survival of many early bindings of interest.
  • The north windows contain 15th century stained glass from the former adjacent Carmelite monastery, and their stone frames retain the foliate cusps which were original features of all the windows in Old Court.

Chronology

1448: The Library was constructed as part of the original buildings of the college (now Old Court). This space on the first floor was clearly intended from the original design to be a library, as evidenced by the close spacing of the windows, which maximise natural light and establish the spacing of the reading desks inbetween. The Library has been in continuous occupation of that space since the building was erected.

1472: The first President, Andrew Dokett, compiled an inventory of all volumes in the college Library. None of the items listed in 1472 remain in the present library.

ca. late 1530s: The antiquary John Leland compiled a list of notable books in the Library, which appeared as an item in Book 3 of his de rebus Britannicis collectanea.

ca. 1540: Stained glass containing roundels depicting heads of monks, probably dating from late 1400s, was acquired from the recently dissolved Carmelite monastery, directly north of the college. At some date unknown this glass was mounted in the five north-facing windows of the Library.

1580: A partial shelf-list [MS30, f.21r–​22r] of books in the Library was compiled.

1612: An entry in the accounts for July shows a payment to Andrew Chapman (a carpenter-joiner active also in Trinity College in this period) of £10 for work in the Library, and it is assumed that this relates to the woodwork in Jacobean style now at the top of each bookcase, and at the west end. It is a matter of conjecture whether this was the time when the original reading desks were converted to bookshelves, or whether that had occurred earlier.

1631: A Donors Book [QC MS 47] was started: it contained partial information of donations from 1562 onwards, and was maintained until the 1820s.

1671: A new catalogue [MS.100] was started, arranged alphabetically by author. It now shows two shelf-mark systems: an original one, where cases are numbered 1–11, and a later one, where cases are lettered A–M. The older numeric system shows 14 shelves per double-sided case, and the newer lettered one shows 20 shelves per double-sided case. This suggests that the numeric system was used before the addition of the extra shelves (see below), and the lettered system was used after that alteration, when three shelves were inserted on both sides of the double-sided cases. The latest date of publication of a book that had an old numeric shelf-mark was 1717, from which we may infer that the new shelf-mark system must have been introduced in or after that year, and therefore that the new shelves were added in or after that year. The latest date of publication of any book in the catalogue was 1719, indicating perhaps that the catalogue ceased being updated shortly after the introduction of the new lettered shelf-mark system. And yet, by that time, every volume still existing had been assigned a shelf-mark in the new lettered system. The catalogue contains over 2000 entries which never had an old numeric shelf-mark, and which have been assigned a new lettered shelf-mark (presumably quite hurriedly in the few years 1717 onwards, while the catalogue was still being updated), from which we might infer that there was a large backlog of unshelved stock before the extra shelves were inserted and the new shelf-mark system adopted. The catalogue lists in total over 5800 titles.

1717: The President Henry James died. His bequests included £50 and all his books to the college library.

17xx: At an unknown date in the 18th century (possibly not long after 1717), the original bookcases were extended upwards by the insertion of three extra shelves with plain boarded ends, between the remains of the ancient reading desks at the bottom, and the 1612 Jacobean shelves at the top. As the cases are double-sided, this resulted in six extra shelves per case.

Photo of Old Library with hammerhead bookshelves1xxx: at an unknown date, hammerhead shelves were added to the inner ends of each of the original bookshelves, resulting in a quite different appearance of the Library: see the 1929 photograph on the right.

1772: the Library was extended to the east by absorbing most of a first-floor set of rooms formerly occupied by a Fellow (the remainder forming a new pew for the President’s family at the west end of the Chapel). This extension is now marked by a raised floor level, taking the Library over the passage from Old Court to Walnut-Tree Court, and over the former ante-chapel. The bookshelves in this raised area are of later design than the originals, and do not contain any Jacobean features.

1774: the stone frames of the windows of Old Court, including the south windows of the Library, were “scraped” to remove the foliate cusps from the tops of each light. A similar order was made in 1775 to treat the north windows of the Library in the same way, but this appears not to have been carried out, as the cusps remain. This was the same period as much redevelopment of the college Chapel was taking place.

1804: The Chapel Bell-tower became unsafe and was demolished. Plans of the period do not permit us to establish with accuracy the exact position and ground-plan of the bell-tower, but it was an ancient structure, possibly original, attached to the north of the building somewhere between the original Library and the original Chapel. (It might, for instance, have provided access to the first-floor set assimilated in 1772, or it might have provided access to the Library itself). In 1805, the current Library extension building was erected in its place, although initially with a different internal layout to that which it has at present: for details, see: Library Extension. The chapel bell and clock were transferred to a new clocktower on the ridge of the library roof: this can be seen in the Storer print of 1829.

1819: Around 1819, embattled parapets were added to Old Court (including the south side of the Library), including new downpipes to drain them. In 1820, the Library was re-roofed and repaired (possibly part of the same project).

1821–27: The College engaged Thomas Hartwell Horne to compile a catalogue of the Library: it was published by the college in 1827, in two volumes, listing over 30,000 volumes. The catalogue was ordered by classified topic, something of a novelty in those days. Horne had earlier [1825] proposed to the British Museum that their new library catalogue should be made upon his classified principles, but they had not accepted his proposal: so it is probable that this Queens’ catalogue was the first made to his design. The catalogue was the fourth and last college publication of the 1820s to use decorated capital initials made from woodcut views.

1838: The College erected “party walls” as a fire precaution: these walls (probably an extension or reinforcement of existing walls) extended upwards above the roofline (to prevent fires spreading horizontally in attic spaces), and are visible in later prints and photographs. Such a party wall was the one between the Library and the President’s Lodge: it is probable that the iron door in the west wall of the Library, and in the same wall in the attic above, date from this time.

1845: The rooms on the ground floor below the Library were originally two sets, known as rooms D1 and D2. From 1837/8, these two rooms ceased being residential accommodation, and were both listed as “Lecture Rooms”. From 1845, the rooms were allocated to the Library. It seems that all internal walls and partitions were stripped out, to make a single room roughly the same size as the Library above. In order to support the weight of the bookshelves above, iron pillars were placed under each ceiling beam of the room (floor beams of the Library above). At about the same time, it appears that the internal structure of the 1805 extension was changed: fireplaces in the west wall were blocked, the chimney removed, and a staircase made to connect the Library on the first floor with the new Lower Library on the ground floor, through a new door cut through at the north-east corner of the room. The previous entry to D1 and D2 from Old Court was blocked, so that the only access to the Lower Library was the new door from the 1805 extension.

1848: The 1804 clock and bell-tower above the Library was replaced by a new tower of neo-gothic design by Brandon. This new tower was so large and heavy that some reinforcement of the ceiling of the Library must have been required to take the weight.

1864: New tower-clock mechanism by T. Cooke & Sons of York installed in attic above Library.

1891: The new Chapel opened, so the old Chapel space, directly east of the Library and Lower Library, became available for other purposes. There is little historical record, but it appears that the old chapel began to acquire bookcases, and function as some sort of library and reading room long before its formal redevelopment as the War Memorial Library in 1951–2. Certainly, by 1951, it was recorded as accommodating approximately 7000 volumes.

1901: A central heating system was introduced for the Chapel, Library, and Hall. The boiler was located underground, beside the 1805 extension, and its flue re-used the chimney of the former fireplace of one of the ground-floor ‘D’ sets.

1910: Library and old chapel re-roofed, embattled parapets of c.1819 removed, party wall of 1838 cut down below roof line. Brandon tower replaced by the present small clock and bell tower.

Photograph of Old Library in 19331932: The new President (Venn) gifted to the Library the use of the small room between his study and the Library. The hammer-head bookcases (?18th c.) were moved from the Library into the new West Room, thus revealing the end panels of the original bookcases, and giving the Library much of its present appearance: see 1933 photograph on right.

1932: A bequest of books on semitic languages from Canon Robert Hatch Kennett (1864–1932, Fellow 1888–) formed the core of a new Oriental Library created in the second-floor attic above the Library.

1951–2: Old Chapel internally redeveloped as student library: the War Memorial Library.

1964: The Lower Library room was removed from the Library estate and converted into the Munro Room.

1971: The Oriental Library in the 2nd floor attic was converted to a Law Library. The collections from the former Oriental Library were sent on loan to the Library of the Faculty of Oriental Studies.

1972: After the demolition of the walled Fellows’ Garden to make way for Cripps Court, the wrought-iron former entrance gate was relocated to the entrance to the Old Library, to keep the Library secure while the staircase and office were in use.

1980: Installation of fire detection and gas-based extinguisher system: the large gas cylinders were hidden from sight behind bookshelves in the Law Library, and in the West Room. Wrought-iron gate to Old Library from main staircase lined with glass to make room air-tight. Installation of intruder detection system. New secure locks and keys to all doors.

1990: An active book-worm infestation was discovered in the Library. An air-tight fumigation tent was erected in the middle of the library, and every volume in turn spent some weeks in an atmosphere of carbon dioxide. While the books were off their shelves in the tent, the bookshelves were treated with anti-woodworm fluids.

1993: The War Memorial Library was internally rebuilt, with a new mezzanine reading floor. The staircase rising from the ground floor lobby, past the east door of the Old Library on the first floor, up to the Law Library in the second-floor attic, was renewed, and some 16th century wall decorations were rediscovered from behind former dry lining at first floor level. There are similar dry linings in the 1772 extension of the Old Library, and it is possible that more such decorations remain hidden there.

2004: The gas-discharge fire extinguisher system was renewed, and extended downwards to protect the Munro Room, immediately below the Library.

2012: The Law Library was ceased, as the Law Reports were by this time more easily consulted on the internet. The general collection of student books expanded into the space thereby released.

Links

Sources, References, and Further Reading

1472: Inventorium omnium et singulorum bonorum Collegii Reginalis Cantebrigie, factum et renovatum ibidem per Andream Dokett presidentem ejusdem, primo die mensis Septembris, Anno Domini Millesimo cccclxxij. [MS30, inventory of college, first part of which (f.1v–​8r) is catalogue of books in library, published in 1862, see below] 

c.1538: In bibliotheca collegii Reginei, in de rebus Britannicis collectanea, by John Leland, Book 3, pp. 15–​16; (Bodleian Libraries MS. Top. gen. c. 3) [List of notable books in Queens’ library]
1715: printed edition, edited by Thomas Hearne, Vol. 4, pp. 17–​19; (OCLC 561689360)
1770: second edition, Vol. 4, pp. 17–​19; (OCLC 1415277)
1774: another edition, Vol. 4, pp. 17–​19. (OCLC 561689383)

1580: Shelf-list of books in Library. [MS30, f.21r–​22r, possibly incomplete?] 

1631: Queens’ College Library Donors Book [MS47, record of donations to the library 1562–​1820] 

1677: Catalogue of Queens’ College Library. [MS100] 

1825: Outlines for the Classification of a Library; respectfully submitted to the consideration of the trustees of the British Museum, by Thomas Hartwell Horne. (OCLC 265433191)

1827: A Catalogue of the Library of the College of St Margaret and St Bernard, commonly called Queen’s College in the University of Cambridge, by Thomas Hartwell Horne, Volume 1; Volume 2. (OCLC 4654492)

1829: The Book Rarities in the University of Cambridge …, by Charles Henry Hartshorne, pp. 266–​7. (OCLC 4887607)

1862: Catalogue of the Library of Queens’ College in 1472, by William George Searle, in Proc. Cambridge Antiquarian Society, Vol. XII (1862):165–​94. (ISSN 0309-3603)

1867: The History of the Queens’ College of St Margaret and St Bernard in the University of Cambridge, by William George Searle, Volume 1, 1446–​1560, Cambridge Antiquarian Society Octavo Publications No IX;
1871: Volume 2, 1560–​1662, Cambridge Antiquarian Society Octavo Publications No XIII. (Both vols OCLC 3279381)
[In QC Old Library there are (a) a manuscript index for the two published volumes, (b) interleaved editions of the two published volumes with manuscript corrections and updates, (c) preparatory manuscript materials for further volumes].

1874: First Report of the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, Appendix pp. 72–​73, by Henry Thomas Riley. (OCLC 264969008)

1878: An annotated list of books printed on vellum to be found in the university and college libraries at Cambridge, by Samuel Sandars, p. 47. (OCLC 3284906) [H.6.24] 

1881: Material for the section on Queens’ College in the Architectural history of the University of Cambridge, by John Willis Clark. (CU archives MS Add.5066, 2 vols)

1886: The Architectural History of the University of Cambridge, by Robert Willis and John Willis Clark, Volume 1; (OCLC 6104300)
1886: Volume 2 (incl. Queens’ pp. 1–​68 and 770–​1); [Library pp. 50–​51] 
1886: Volume 3 with Index;
1886: Volume 4 plans.

1897: Cambridge Described and Illustrated, by Thomas Dinham Atkinson (intro by John Willis Clark), pp. 373–​384.

1898: The Queen’s College of S. Margaret and S. Bernard (1448–​1898), by John Willis Clark (OCLC 55865473) [for 450th anniversary]

1899: The Queens’ College of St Margaret and St Bernard in the University of Cambridge, by Joseph Henry Gray; (OCLC 8568413)
1926: New edition, updated. (OCLC 79562186)

1901: The Care of Books, by John Willis Clark, pp. 151–​3. (OCLC 1344711)

1903: Two Anglo-Saxon Fragments of the Eleventh Century, by Walter William Skeat, in Proc. Cambridge Philological Soc., No. 61–​63, pp. 12–​16 (Mich. 1902). (ISSN 0068-6735 eISSN 20535899)

1905: A Descriptive Catalogue of the Western Manuscripts in the library of Queens’ College, Cambridge, by Montague Rhodes James. (OCLC 4654545) [MS14–​47] 

1907: An Old College Bill, by Francis Giffard Plaistowe [Fellow], in The Dial No. 3, 1907 Lent, pp. 106–​10.

1910: Early Printed Books to the year 1500 in the Library of Queens’ College, Cambridge, by Francis Giffard Plaistowe [Fellow]. (OCLC 4654601)

1911: Cambridge under Queen Anne : illustrated by memoir of Ambrose Bonwicke and diaries of Francis Burman and Zacharias Conrad von Uffenbach, ed. John Eyton Bickersteth Mayor, pp. 144–​5. (OCLC 8529087)

1913: The College Library in Andrew Doket’s Day, by Francis Giffard Plaistowe [Fellow], in The Dial No. 17, 1913 Easter, pp. 223–​6.

1917: John Laski and the College Library, by Francis Giffard Plaistowe [Fellow], in The Dial, No. 28, Lent 1917, pp. 9–​14. (offprint OCLC 56008373) [C.2.9] 

1921: Old plans of Cambridge, 1574–​1798, by John Willis Clark and Arthur Gray. (OCLC 264986701)

1922: A Supplementary Hand-List of the Muḥammadan Manuscripts: including all those written in the Arabic Character preserved in the libraries of the University and Colleges of Cambridge, by Edward Granville Browne. (OCLC 4653794) [MS1–​13] 

1925: Queens’ College [earliest surviving edition 1925/26, published annually: most editions include a Library report, listing donations, etc.] (OCLC 265498990)

1929: Bindings in Cambridge libraries, by Geoffrey Dudley Hobson (1882–​1949) et al. (OCLC 3835390) [MS25, MS29, C.2.9, C.11.20, F.9.4, G.16.7] 

1930: A Dutch Book of Hours, by Francis Giffard Plaistowe [Fellow], in The Dial No. 66, 1930 Michaelmas, pp. 7–​9. [MS50] 

1931: Queens’ College Cambridge, by Arthur Stanley Oswald, Part 1, in Country Life, Vol. LXIX, No. 1779, February 21, pp. 222–​8; (ISSN 0045-8856)
1931: Part 2, in Vol. LXIX, No. 1780, February 28, pp. 262–​8; [Photos of Old Library in its pre-1932 condition at p. 226]
1931: Part 3, in Vol. LXIX, No. 1781, March 7, pp. 290–​6.

1931: The Chained Library, by Burnett Hillman Streeter, pp. 27–​35. (OCLC 1824200)

1932: The College Library, in Queens’ College 1931–​32, p. 4. [Removal of hammer-head book-cases to West Room, and creation of Oriental Library] 

1932: Les Carmes aux universités du moyen age, by Benedict Zimmerman (Benoit-Marie de la Croix), in Études Carmélitaines, XVII vol. 1, pp. 82–​112. (OCLC 504206625)

1935: Two Samaritan MSS in the Library of Queens’ College, Cambridge, by Clifford W. Dugmore, in The Journal of Theological Studies, Vol. 36, No. 142 (April 1935), pp. 131–​146. (ISSN 0022-5185 eISSN 1477-4607) [MS??, MS98] 

1948: A Short History of the Library of Queens’ College, by “P.S.” [probably an error for Charles Theodore Seltman], in The Dial, No. 97, 1948 Easter, pp. 21–​26. (OCLC 265448755)

1951: A Pictorial History of the Queen’s College of Saint Margaret and Saint Bernard, commonly called Queens’ College Cambridge, 1448–​1948, by Archibald Douglas Browne (1889–​1977) & Charles Theodore Seltman. (OCLC 7790464)

1959: Queens’ College, by Robert (Robin) George Dalrymple Laffan [Fellow] in A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 3, the City and University of Cambridge, ed. John P.C. Roach, pp. 408–​15. (OCLC 10778399)

1959: An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in the City of Cambridge, by the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), Part I; (OCLC 1110231118)
1959: ditto, Part II, including Queens’ at pp. 167–​78 (online version);
1959: ditto, Map and Plans;
1988: reprint: Part I, Part II. (ISBN 978-0-11-300023-4)

1967: Catalogue of books printed on the continent of Europe, 1501–​1600, in Cambridge libraries, by Herbert Mayow Adams (1893–​1985). (OCLC 892641)

1988: Catalogue of dated and datable manuscripts c. 737–​1600 in Cambridge libraries, by Pamela Rosemary Robinson, 2 vols. (ISBN 978-0-85991-249-5)

1993: Ten Carmelite Roundels at Queens’ College Cambridge, by Hilary Wayment, in Proc. Cambridge Antiquarian Society, Vol. LXXXII, pp. 139–​56. (ISSN 0309-3603)
1995: Ten Carmelite Roundels at Queens’ College Cambridge, by Hilary Wayment, in Teresianum: Ephemerides Carmeliticae, 1995, Vol. 46, fasc. 1, pp. 163–​195. (ISSN 0392-4556)

1994: Conservation of the Wall Paintings in the Memorial Chapel Library, Queens’ College Cambridge, by Tobit Curteis, Curteis Paine Associates.

1994: Queens’ College Library: a history, by Clare Sargent. (OCLC 84986149)

2001: Two sixteenth-century book lists from the Library of Queens’ College, Cambridge, by Clare Sargent, in Trans. Cambridge Bibliographical Soc., Vol. 12, No. 2, pp. 161–​178. (ISSN 0068-6611)

2002: Corpus of British Medieval Library Catalogues : The University and College Libraries of Cambridge, ed. Peter D. Clarke, intro. by Roger W. Lovatt, pp. 558–​90 and plate 5. (ISBN 978-0-7123-4773-0)

2006: The early modern library (to c. 1640), by Clare Sargent, in The Cambridge History of Libraries in Britain and Ireland Volume 1: To 1640, by Elisabeth Leedham-Green and Teresa Webber. (ISBN 978-0-521-78194-7, eISBN 978-1-139-05530-7)

2009: New miniatures by Pacino di Bonaguida in Cambridge, by Stella Panayotova, in The Burlington Magazine, 151(1272, 2009 Mar):144–​148. (ISSN 0007-6287) [MS77b,c,d] 

2009: Illuminated Manuscripts in Cambridge : A Catalogue of Western Book Illumination in the Fitzwilliam Museum and the Cambridge Colleges, by Nigel Morgan and Stella Panayotova, Part 1; (ISBN 978-1-905375-47-9, 2 vols) [MS50] 
2012: Part 2; (ISBN 978-1-905375-85-1, 2 vols) [MS77a, MS77b,c,d] 
2015: Part 3 Vol. 1; (ISBN 978-1-909400-37-5)
2014: Part 4 Vol. 1; (ISBN 978-1-909400-04-7)
2017: Part 5 Vol. 1. (ISBN 978-1-909400-85-6) [C.4.11, F.2.18, H.6.10, U.1.4] 

2013: A Remarkable Tale of Manuscript Sleuthing: the Ely Farming Memoranda, in British Library Medieval Manuscripts blog.

2015: Rediscovered manuscript fragments of The Prick of Conscience in the library of Queens’ College Cambridge, by Daniel Sawyer, in Trans. Cambridge Bibliographical Society, Vol. XV Part 4, pp. 515–​40. (ISSN 0068-6611)

2016: The Ely memoranda and the economy of the late Anglo-Saxon fenland, by Rory Naismith, in Anglo-Saxon England, Vol. 45, Dec. 2016, pp. 333–​377. (ISSN 0263-6751 eISSN 1474-0532)

2022: Queens’ College, Cambridge, by John Goodall, photos by Will Pryce, in Country Life, Vol. CCXVIII, 2022: Part 1 in No. 5, February 2, pp. 62–​67; Part 2 in No. 6, February 9, pp. 46–​51. (ISSN 0045-8856)