Cambridge University Library

Come and learn more about the amazing Bible Society library and archive @theul.bsky.social

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

🔎See this manuscript in the #CambridgeDigitalLibrary: loom.ly/Glo6swk

A medieval illuminated manuscript page with calendar miniatures comprising labours of the months and zodiac signs, on punched gold ground under canopies, in outer margins.

In the medieval agricultural calendar, your job for August was threshing!

This image shows a detail from an early fourteenth-century East Anglian Book of Hours, which lists agricultural tasks for each month (CUL MS Dd.4.17). @theulspeccoll.bsky.social

Thank you for sharing! We're delighted you enjoyed visiting #CuriousCures

CURIOUS CURES: MEDICINE IN THE MEDIEVAL WORLD free #exhibition on until 6th December at the University Library, #Cambridge - highly recommended @theul.bsky.social!

We see an illustration of a blonde-haired woman in a blue swimming costume. She is sitting on a rock on the beach, looking out to sea.

A blue and white deckchair on the beach with a red and white striped tent in the background

A person looks out the window of a caravan beside a tent in a grassy field, with hills and fields in the background and camping items like a kettle and box nearby. The scene is illustrated in blue and red tones.

We're dreaming of sand between our toes and nights spent under canvas.

Images are details from the dustjackets of:
1. The English Air by D.E. Stevenson (1940.7.1679)
2. A Devon Summer by Joan White (1941.7.630)
3. The Compass Points North by M.E Atkinson (1938.8.680)

A photograph of Laura Greenfield.

After 11 years at the UL, @lauragreenfield.bsky.social, Director of Services and Engagement, leaves today to become Director of the @rsliterature.bsky.social. We'll dearly miss Laura's rare combination of vision, leadership, humour and compassion, but can't wait to see what she does next!

There be dragons here @theul.bsky.social

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Come to our Curious Cures exhibition to see this manuscript, and many more, in person. You can also re-balance your humours by enjoying the marvelous air-conditioning in our exhibition centre!

Book your FREE ticket: www.lib.cam.ac.uk/exhibitioncu...

An old handwritten manuscript with dense, dark script in Latin. We see aa circular diagram divided into labelled segments, surrounded by additional text. The paper appears aged and yellowed.

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In this fifteenth-century manuscript, we see these factors arranged in a diagram, according to their qualities.

Diagram of quaternities, from Henry Daniel (fl. c. 1379), Liber uricrisiarum
England, 15th century

#CambridgeUniversityLibrary, MS Ff.2.6

An old handwritten manuscript with dense, dark script in Latin. The right page features a circular diagram divided into labeled segments, surrounded by additional text. The paper appears aged and yellowed.

☀️💉 Medieval physicians believed that imbalances in the humours caused disease. When diagnosing illness and prescribing treatment, physicians considered how your humours changed based on your age, where you lived, the season, and even the winds.

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The exhibition is open until December so there's still plenty of time to see it. We hope you are able to visit!

The exhibition is open until December so there's still plenty of time to see it. We hope you are able to come!

An amazing project! & my personal favourite is CUL MS Dd.10.44, for which I was delighted to write the catalogue introduction last year, after studying it for my MPhil manuscript project long ago!: cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-DD-0...

This project was made possible by funding from @wellcometrust.bsky.social

@magdalenecollege.bsky.social, @pembroke1347.bsky.social, @peterhousecam.bsky.social, @stjohnscollege.bsky.social @sidneysussex.bsky.social and @trincollcam.bsky.social

Special thanks to the Fitzwilliam Museum and the following Colleges for their involvement: Clare College, @corpuscambridge.bsky.social, Emmanuel College, @caiuscollege.bsky.social, @jesuscollegecam.bsky.social, @kingscollege.bsky.social...

Illustration of a medieval doctor performing surgery on a seated patient, promoting an exhibit titled "Curious Cures: Medicine in the Medieval World," running from 29 March to 6 December 2025.

Don't forget, our current exhibition inspired by the research project, Curious Cures: Medicine in the Medieval World is open to visit until 6 December: loom.ly/kVqsPRY

Check out the online collection of medieval medical recipes on Cambridge Digital Library: cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/collections/...

Hundreds of medieval medical manuscripts now accessible Over the course of the last three years, the Curious Cures in Cambridge Libraries project has been enhancing the discoverability of medieval medical recipes in historic library collections across the ...

Over 7000 pages of medieval medical recipes are now freely accessible online at the end of the Curious Cures in Cambridge Libraries project.
👉 Discover more about this ambitious project and its achievements: loom.ly/XFJt-Tg

Colourful poster with illustrations of a museum, dinosaur, sloth, and science objects, promoting “Summer at the Museums” with the question, “What will you discover this summer?”.

#SummerAtTheMuseums is here! ☀️

We’re excited about the Marvellous Medicine family event at @classarch on 21 August. It's a perfect activity to pair with our exhibition, Curious Cures!

All events are listed on @camunivmuseums.bsky.social‬s website: https://loom.ly/zksT07o

Cambridge University now has access to Latin American Newspapers Series 2, a comprehensive digital archive of historical newspapers published in Latin America and the Caribbean between 1822 and 1922. To find out more, check out this blog post!

https://loom.ly/NK1xrc4

Always a good start to the week to be greeted by Odysseus @theul.bsky.social.

A copy of Clare Hewitt’s photobook ‘Everything in the forest is the forest’ resting on a Field maple; the photobook next to a volume of nature printing, both on book cushions.

Nature’s book cradle vs library cushion.

A delight and a privilege to have a copy of Clare Hewitt’s ‘Everything in the forest is the forest’ for a while. I took it to a wood, shared it @theul.bsky.social and introduced it to some Darwin nature printing.

www.impressions-gallery.com/borrow-and-s...

This is wonderful!

Detail of a watercolour of The Backs, Cambridge, showing the river with a punt and a boat, Clare College, the old University Library and King’s College Chapel. The grass is a vivid chartreuse.

Excited to find this watercolour of The Backs, Cambridge with a glimpse of the Dome Room at the old @theul.bsky.social between Clare College & @kingscollege.bsky.social Chapel. The Dome Room was completed in the mid-1750s as a showpiece for the manuscripts collection. @theulspeccoll.bsky.social 1/2

Mai Forbes, from our Reader Services team, has painted the most splendid picture of Odysseus! 🐾🎨

#CambridgeUniversityLibrary

Unearthing Curious Cures Live from Milton Road Library, Cambridgeshire

Last week, a panel of gardening historians and medieval medicine experts gathered at Milton Road Library to dig up stories of illness, experimentation and the quest for health.

Here's the recording: https://loom.ly/Lgl3cjQ
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Part of the @britishlibrary.bsky.social‬ Living Knowledge Network

🐝Did you know we keep bees at the UL? Dr Melonie Schmierer-Lee explains how she cares for our colony of bees, including queen bee, Brontë!

#CambridgeUniversityLibrary #UrbanBeekeeping #Beekeeping #Cambridge
@meloniesch.bsky.social‬

Video by Blazej Mikula