Cambridge University Library

Pressed female Goat willow catkins with seeds, on top of a printed botanical illustration and text.

Think these are female Goat willow catkins with seeds in a copy of William Salmon’s ‘Botanologia: the English herbal’ (London, 1710) (along with several other pressed botanical specimens). CCA.46.31 @theUL.bsky.social

This image from a medieval manuscript shows a swineherd (a person who tends pigs) beating acorns from a tree for his pigs with a big stick or club, who wait eagerly below.

🐖 Good morrow, swineherd. It's time to fetch your big stick and beat the acorns from the trees!

Here we see an image 14th-century Book of Hours (CUL MS Dd.4.17), depicting a man beating acorns from a tree for his pigs. November was the month to fatten pigs for December's slaughter.

A photo of Alexander Masters talking to a staff member at Cambridge University Library. We see bookshelves in the background, full of old leather-bound volumes.

✍️ Need help with your academic writing?

Support sessions with our Royal Literary Fund Fellow, Alexander Masters, start on 15 Oct 2025 for all current Cambridge University students and staff.

To book, email alexander.masters@rlfeducation.org.uk.

A medieval manuscript image of a blonde-haired person wearing a pink tunic. Their arms are thrown up in despair. The figures' eyes are blank, rendering their expression curiously mask-like.

When you realise there’s a word in the Cambridge Dictionary to describe the way you feel about Taylor Swift.

PARASOCIAL is Cambridge Dictionary's Word of the Year! It's the connection felt with a famous person, a fictional character, or AI, despite not knowing them personally.

Image: MS Dd.5.5

Previous Gordon Duff Prize winner Dr Ruth Abbott standing outside Cambridge University Library. Dr Abbott is holding up her prize-winning essay.

Write an essay to win £500 📝

The Gordon Duff Prize is now accepting proposals on the science of books and manuscripts and the arts relating to them.

Find out more and how to enter: https://loom.ly/xZZOdOc

Detail of a German wall chart depicting fossil amphibia.

Detail of a painted wall chart depicting trilobites.

Painted wall chart depicting Darwin's theory of coral reef formation.

Just witnessed the ceremonial unrolling of some beautiful and often rather intriguing geological wall posters at the @theul.bsky.social. Here's a selection.

Delighted to hear that Victorian Jewish writer Amy Levy's papers will now be more accessible.

You can read more here: www.theguardian.com/books/2025/n...

I've also written about her writing on dance in my @stanfordpress.bsky.social book and @jofvictculture.bsky.social: jvc.oup.com/tag/ballroom/

📚We have over fifty copies of the Eikon at Cambridge University Library. You can read more about this fascinating collection in this blog post by @liamsims.bsky.social: loom.ly/bKxd3zs

A woodcut of Charles I, which forms the heavily symbolic frontispiece to Eikon Basilike. We see Charles I kneeling, with light appearing to shine from his head. The crown in the upper right corner is inscribed with the words ‘beatam & aeternam’ (blessed & eternal), which is to be contrasted with the temporal crown at the King’s foot, ‘splendidam & gravem’ (splendid & heavy). He holds the martyr’s crown of thorns, ‘asperam & levem’ (bitter & light).

#OnThisDay in 1600, Charles I was born.

This highly symbolic image of Charles holding the martyr’s crown of thorns is the frontispiece to the Eikon Basilike (The Royal Portrait). Published soon after his execution in 1649, it claimed to be Charles's spiritual autobiography.

London: 1649 – CCD.8.9

A promotional graphic for ‘The Really Popular Book Club,’ hosted by Cambridge University Libraries. The top half has a bright pink background with the title in bold yellow text and a yellow vertical banner reading ‘Book Club.’ Below, two upcoming book selections are shown. On the left, under the date ‘25 November,’ is the cover of The Tap Dancer by Andrew Barrow, featuring the silhouette of a tap dancer against a large yellow circle. On the right, under the date ‘16 December,’ is the cover of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis, showing illustrated children and a lion in motion. The bottom background is yellow.

📚 The Really Popular Book Club has two fantastic reads coming up!

📖 25 November
The Tap Dancer by Andrew Barrow

📖 16 December
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis

🎟️ FREE tickets — register here to join us online: https://loom.ly/PlR2sr0

A promotional poster from the University of Cambridge Libraries and Archives advertising ‘Research Skills Training.’ The poster features a stylised tree-like graphic with circular icons labeling different training topics: Open research practices, Managing research data, Publishing and fair attribution, Literature searching and note-taking, and Academic writing and referencing. Text at the bottom says ‘Webinars and workshops to boost your research and information skills.’ Booking information includes a shortened link and an email address, with a QR code on the right.

Cambridge students, researchers, and staff can access free skills sessions with the University of Cambridge Libraries and Archives Research Skills programme. Explore a range of skills sessions on topics including academic writing, reading, note-making and publishing. https://loom.ly/sBak5xw

🧪Hold on to your urine flasks, there are only a few weeks left to visit Curious Cures!

📍 Open until 6 December 2025 at the University Library
🔗Book your FREE ticket: https://loom.ly/kVqsPRY

Music by Vlad Bakutov from Pixabay

Bookings just opened for December's Really Popular Book Club @theul.bsky.social . Come listen to me ruin all your fond childhood memories of Narnia.

Engraved title-page of vol. 2 of August Johann Rösel von Rosenhof’s ‘Der monatlich-herausgegebenen Insecten-Belustigung’, with coloured illustrations of various insects.

Insects on the engraved title-page of August Johann Rösel von Rosenhof’s ‘Der monatlich-herausgegebenen Insecten-Belustigung’ (Nuremberg, 1746-61), vol. 2. S391.c.74.1-4 @theul.bsky.social

The archive of enigmatic 19th-century writer Amy Levy has a new home at Cambridge University Library.

Find out more: https://loom.ly/RHh3bbc

Thank you to our supporters, including: @thefnl.bsky.social, Arts Council England, Rothschild Foundation, The Polonsky Foundation, T. S. Eliot Foundation.

An image of a poppy from a sixteenth century herbal book. The petals of the poppy are a soft red. There are multiple green stems with unopened buds.

In Flanders' fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place: and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

John McCrae, In Flanders' Field.

Image: Fuch's herbal (Sel.2.81)

#ArmisticeDay #RemembranceDay

Poster for "Comedy Improv at the UL!" featuring a collaboration between Medieval Manuscripts and The Cambridge Impronauts. Includes images of a medieval illustration and an improv performance. University of Cambridge Libraries and Archives logo at the bottom.

Laugh out loud at the library! Comedy improv inspired by our latest Curious Cures exhibition 🎭😆

Thursday 20 November. 5.30-7pm. Tickets £5. More info and to book: https://loom.ly/ctOh268

#CuriousCures #CambridgeUniversityLibrary #ImprovNight #CambridgeEvents #ComedyNight

We're delighted to digitally contribute to @theul.bsky.social Curious Cures project

Curator James Freeman highlights some of way Middle English medical writings have survived to us:
specialcollections-blog.lib.cam.ac.uk?p=30906

One more month to catch the physcial exhibition, do not miss it!

Montage showing items from Cambridge University Library’s Special Collections, set out for a class.

Excellent afternoon with second-year History students at @theul.bsky.social today to look at sources for their ‘Women in Cambridge c.1900-1950’ Research Project. @theulspeccoll.bsky.social

Medieval manuscript illustration of a salmon-coloured griffin grasping a man’s entire torso in its beak, gripping a leg with its forefeet; the man is bleeding a lot but appears to be alive.

atel, adj: dire, terrible. (AH-tell / ˈa-tɛl)
Image: Bestiary from a didactic miscellany; England, 1220-1240; @theul.bsky.social Kk.4.25, f. 67v.
#OldEnglish #WOTD

A photo of Caylin Smith in the Catalogue Hall at Cambridge University Library

For #DigitalPreservationDay we spoke to Caylin Smith, Head of Digital Preservation, about her team's efforts to foster a culture of digital stewardship that protects our digital heritage for future generations.
#WDPD2025

Read more: https://loom.ly/UFJLE40

💾🖥️

An illustration from a seventeenth-century book on fireworks showing a fire-breathing dragon on wheels

The illustrated title page from a seventeenth-century book on fireworks

An illustration from a seventeenth-century book on fireworks

Look no further than John Babington’s Pyrotechnia (London, 1635) for inspiration for your #fireworks display. There are 'fizgigs' and fire-breathing dragons galore!🎆

Adams.4.63.1. #bonfirenight

A week to go until the Sandars Lectures 2025 📚
Join us in celebrating archival collections in Cambridge and beyond, on 11 & 12 November 2025, 5-6pm. Online spaces still available.
Book your free tickets: https://loom.ly/Du7jSUs

A medieval manuscript featuring handwritten text and hand-drawn anatomical illustrations. There are sketches of human figures and medical instruments related to surgery on the anus. The ink is dark brown, and the pages are aged and yellowed, giving the book a well-used appearance.

A medieval manuscript featuring handwritten text and hand-drawn anatomical illustrations. There are sketches of human figures and medical instruments related to surgery on the anus. The ink is dark brown, and the pages are aged and yellowed, giving the book a well-used appearance.

How did medieval people treat an anal abscess?

🌹 John Arderne, a 15th-century English surgeon, relieved the pain with a suppository of oil of roses and raw egg yolk.

This manuscript (@trincolllibcam.bsky.social , MS O.2.49) is on display at our Curious Cures exhibition.

Tickets: loom.ly/kVqsPRY

An old printed woodcut illustration of a witch riding a broomstick over clouds.

An old printed pamphlet titled A Visit to a Witch! with a woodcut illustration of a witch riding a broomstick over clouds. The text reads: "A Visit to a Witch! Giving an account of the Hovel she resides in, the Fear she occasions in the Neighbourhood of it, And the curious charges brought against her before a Justice of the Peace." Below the illustration, it says: "London: Printed and sold by J. Evans and Sons, Long Lane, West Smithfield. Price One Penny." The paper is aged and slightly tattered around the edges, with handwritten library markings at the top.

A Visit to a Witch!

Giving an account of the hovel she resides in, the fear she occasions in the neighbourhood of it, and the curious charges brought against her before a justice of the peace.

London: J. Evans and Sons, [1814?] (CCD.7.50.28)

#Folklore #Witchcraft #History #Superstition

Listen to two new choral works from the Timeline Choir inspired by our #CuriousCures exhibition! 🐀

‘A Charm Against Rats’ by composer Charlotte Baskerville is inspired by a 15th-century manuscript (@caiuscollege.bsky.social, MS 457/395, f. 1v).

Hear the full version: https://loom.ly/2fJO_xs

Don't forget to join us for this spine-chilling event!

Half-term planning got you hot under the collar?

Fear not, our FREE exhibition on medieval medicine is here to keep you amused with all the leeches, urine flasks and weasel testicles you could ever wish for.

🔗Book now: https://loom.ly/kVqsPRY

Image: MS O.1.20 @trincolllibcam.bsky.social

This kitty was not a great mouser, but did catch a pear! (Still my favourite design from my days as a herald). #heraldry #catsofbsky

Arms of Diane Marie Cecile Perry, Public Register of Arms, Flags and Badges of Canada, vol. 6, p. 55.

www.gg.ca/en/heraldry/...

Oh, there he is!