Our March visit: Pepys, poets and red wine

On the 19^th of March, the CLG visited Magdalene College – with three different libraries to look round this was a packed evening and after a glass of wine in the College Parlour we split off into groups to begin the tour.

The lovely Magdalene College wine...

Deputy College Librarian Annie Gleeson took us round Magdalene’s modern, working collection, established as a library in its own right in the 1960s and now housing around 26,000 books aimed at the college’s 340 undergraduates. The working library has grown by extensions over time, and this layout lends the space a cosy feel – rooms follow one after the other, providing students with popular, hidden-away study spaces surrounded by books, some with views out onto the Fellows’ Gardens. 

From the working collection, we moved on to the Old Library, where Deputy Librarian (Pepys Libray and Special Collections) Catherine Sutherland was on hand to tell us about some of the College’s ancient treasures. Magdalene was first founded in 1428, and the collection of the Old Library reflects this long history.

In the Old Library 

The Old Library is particularly strong on 18th century sermons, and also boasts a collection of early printed books, some hand-painted, and a number of medieval manuscripts. Many famous names are associated with books, prints and papers held in the Old Library – T.S. Eliot, Nicholas Ferrar, and George Mallory to name a few. And the collection is not just academic – shelves of buttery books, dating from the mid-17^th century, provide an insight into the workings of college life.

College Buttery books in the Old Library

Delightfully retro... collections from the Old Library

The most treasured collection at Magdalene is, of course, the Pepys Library, which came to the Library through the will of the famous diarist. Samuel Pepys died in 1703 and his diary records such iconic events as the outbreak of the plague and the Great Fire of London. Pepys Librarian Dr Jane Hughes talked about just why Pepys’ diary is so important as a resource for social historians; Pepys wrote about all aspects of day to day life – from attending plays to drinking tea. The Pepys Library contains not only his diaries – handwritten in Shelton’s shorthand, and undeciphered until 1819 – but also Pepys’ personal Library, books held in their original bookshelves, and bound in Pepys’ personal binding, bearing his own bookplate with motto – ‘The mind maketh the person.’

The outside of the Pepys Library

As well as a volume of the famous diary, we saw out on display many other treasures testifying to the richness of Pepys’ personal library. A discriminating as well as enthusiastic collector, Pepys ensured his library numbered exactly 3000 books (and Magdalene must maintain this number, neither adding nor taking away, or risk forfeiting the collection to Trinity College...) Among the many beautiful items we saw – which included maritime books, collections of ballads and fragments of medieval manuscripts - a scribe’s model book from c.1410, filled with coloured studies of birds, animals and drapery, was particularly eye-catching, as was the Anthony Roll, open to the only contemporary picture of the doomed ship, the Mary Rose.

Thanks to Annie, Catherine, and Jane for showing us round, and answering our many questions with such enthusiasm!

Contributed by Emily Downes, Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Library.

For more information visit the fantastic Magdalene College Libraries Blog  or follow @magdlibs 

Talk by James Campbell, 12th February 2014

Our February CLG event was a talk about the history of library architecture, by the author of The Library: A World History, James Campbell. He gave us a quick overview of everything, a whistle-stop tour of significant libraries from around the world, accompanied by some stunning slides.

Apparently libraries were originally used merely to house scrolls or books, and instead of studying within the library you would come and take away the item to needed to peruse elsewhere. This impacted on the architecture as there was no need to plan for people to actually use it. James also said that there’s a possibility Greek and Latin libraries might have purposefully been built together, to complement each other when those languages were both vitally important for education. He took us everywhere from a monastery in South Korea, where a huge library houses just one book and its corresponding printing blocks, to Michelangelo’s Medici Library (which is beautiful but apparently not practical at all!), to the Biblioteque Nationale and the National Library of Beijing, shining examples of modern library architecture. We saw libraries change from repositories to interactive study-spaces, and the rise of the public library from the 19th century onwards. From 16th-century stalls to (apparently James’ favourite) 18th-century Rococo designs and 19th-century barrel-vaults, the library has always adapted to the architecture of the time in new and surprising ways, including hidden doors and libraries completely made from iron!

It was a really interesting lecture and made me want to go travelling just to see libraries around the world. Talk about your busman’s holiday…! There really are some amazing library buildings out there. I’m also definitely going to be buying his book, if only to give me something to aim at for future holidays!

By Lucy Woolhouse, Graduate Trainee Librarian at Christ's College.