In 1652 John Smith, a philosopher and “founder” of the so-called Cambridge Platonists, left his collection of 680 books to Queens’ College. Eight years earlier he had been elected to the Queens’ fellowship and appointed lecturer in Hebrew. His generous donation is itemised in a donors’ book, initiated in 1631, that records gifts to the library from the period 1562 to the late 18th century. Noted alphabetically by author and title, Smith’s gift reveals an eclecticism rare today, comprising humanist learning (Plato, Plotinus and Plutarch), the newer philosophies (Descartes, Galileo, Harvey, Kepler), as well as medicine, geography, travel and much else.
The donors’ book is one of several historic books on display in a small exhibition at Queens’ College Old Library which will be open to visitors on a drop-in basis from 10am to 3pm on Saturday, 8 September as part of Open Cambridge 2012. The display features books acquired by Queens’ in the 17th century, a period when libraries were undergoing a transition as the result of the spread of new ideas and the emergence of new technologies.
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Image: Book of Common Prayer, interleaved with 16th/17th century English servce music
Credit: Queens' College Old Library
Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge
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