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Trinity College Library, Cambridge
@trincolllibcam.bsky.social
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The Trinity College Library in Cambridge comprises the modern student library, the Wren Library, and significant rare books, manuscript and archive collections.
https://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/library/home/
https://trinitycollegelibrarycambridge.wordpress.com/
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trincolllibcam.bsky.social
#OTD 277 years ago today 8th November 1798, Byron wrote his first letter. Addressed to his Aunt, Augusta Barbara Charlotte Parker, he ends with "I hope you will excuse all blunders as it is the first letter I ever wrote." R.2.40a/8
archives.trin.cam.ac.uk/index.php/le...
A hand written letter from Byron to his aunt 1798.
November 8, 2025 at 10:00 AM
trincolllibcam.bsky.social
Need help to put out your bonfire after Bonfire Night? This book that once belonged to Sir Isaac Newton could give some tips...or perhaps not.

An Account of the New Method of Extinguishing Fires by Explosion and Suffocation. 1724
NQ.16.162 [2]
lib-cat.trin.cam.ac.uk/Record/06e96...
Title page from a printed book titled An Account of the New Method of Extinguishing Fires by Explosion and Suffocation. 1724
November 6, 2025 at 9:55 AM
trincolllibcam.bsky.social
Happy Halloween from the Wren Library, our Halloween Bat is courageously looking into this spooky hood.
mss-cat.trin.cam.ac.uk/Manuscript/B...
f182v
A drawing of a bat looking into a hood on a pole.
October 31, 2025 at 4:53 PM
trincolllibcam.bsky.social
Not only is it Friday, but the clocks go back on Sunday. Enjoy the extra hour....suggest not wearing a crown in bed.
mss-cat.trin.cam.ac.uk/Manuscript/B...
#FridayVibes
King wearing gold crown lying in bed with a green cover.
October 24, 2025 at 3:33 PM
trincolllibcam.bsky.social
Could this be him as a kitten?
B.11.4 13th c Psalter written in a 'large and noble hand' according to M.R. James. mss-cat.trin.cam.ac.uk/Manuscript/B...
A cat in a medieval manuscript holding a mouse in its mouth.
October 24, 2025 at 10:06 AM
trincolllibcam.bsky.social
Great news from @claire.m.l.bourne about Milton's Library.

The Milton manuscript held in the Wren Library is available to see here:

mss-cat.trin.cam.ac.uk/Manuscript/R...
A flyleaf showing an inscription which says Milton's Juvenile Poems R.3.4 and a printed crest of Trinity College Cambridge
October 15, 2025 at 9:02 AM
trincolllibcam.bsky.social
MSS B.1.20, Instead of manicules, the reader of this 13th c manuscript used tiny faces to mark interesting points in the text. #marginaliamonday

mss-cat.trin.cam.ac.uk/Manuscript/B...
A tiny drawing of a face in profile with a big chin and pointed nose marks the text. I small drawing of a face in the margin of a manuscript to mark part of the text.
October 13, 2025 at 3:17 PM
trincolllibcam.bsky.social
Term has started and a quiet has settled on the library and the river. Don't forget to take a break and look out of the window. It's too beautiful to miss.

#worldmentalhealthday
The Bridge of Sighs with blue sky and autumnal trees reflected in the river.
October 10, 2025 at 8:52 AM
trincolllibcam.bsky.social
Our wonderful DVD collection has had some love already this term. Someone has made a start on watching them all...only 2828 to go.

lib-filmcollection.trin.cam.ac.uk

Look out for new ones being added every week.
A trolly shelf with dvd films on it.
October 8, 2025 at 8:44 AM
trincolllibcam.bsky.social
Signing of the Admissions Books continues today in the Wren Library. Here's Isaac Newton's entry from 1667.
A book from 1667 containing the written entry of Isaac Newton when he joined Trinity College.
October 7, 2025 at 9:13 AM
trincolllibcam.bsky.social
To all those who are braving the weather to travel to Cambridge over the weekend. We are excited to be welcoming students for the new year.

This image is from 13th c MSS B.11.4
mss-cat.trin.cam.ac.uk/Manuscript/B...
A character wearing a scarf on his head is blowing a trumpet.
October 3, 2025 at 10:32 AM
trincolllibcam.bsky.social
Is it coffee time yet? MSS R.9.17
See the whole manuscript here: mss-cat.trin.cam.ac.uk/Manuscript/R...
#marginaliaMonday
Two drawings of jugs in the bottom margin under manuscript text.
September 29, 2025 at 9:25 AM
trincolllibcam.bsky.social
Not in Cambridge? No problem! One of our newest exhibitions has been just been digitised.

Featuring icons such as Lise Meitner, Mary Somerville and Émilie du Châtelet, "𝘐𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘌𝘭𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵: 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘚𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘍𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘦 𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘻𝘦𝘳𝘴" can be found at this link:

www.trin.cam.ac.uk/library/in-h...
Image of a plate created by Marie-Anne Paulze Lavoisier for her husband's publication, "𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘌𝘭𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘦 𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘦". The image features drawings of flasks and tubes and various other scientific equipment.
September 9, 2025 at 3:04 PM
trincolllibcam.bsky.social
For today’s #MarginaliaMonday, we’re heading back to 1686 with Isaac Newton’s own copy of 𝘗𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘪æ 𝘕𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴 𝘗𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘪𝘢 𝘔𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢. Filled with his handwritten notes, we can get a small glimpse into his mind.🧠
Title page of Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica by Isaac newton, published 1686. The title page features some crossings out and words in Latin Image of page 106 of Newton's Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, containing a large amount of inked notes in Latin filling the margin.
September 1, 2025 at 4:01 PM
trincolllibcam.bsky.social
What better use for the back of a letter than to test out some new colours?

These bright swatches were found in the correspondence of antiquary and botanist Dawson Turner (1775–1858).

A little bit of colour living in a world of paper and ink.🎨
Image of the back of a letter in the collection of Dawson Turner correspondence. A paragraph of neat handwriting in black ink tops and tails the page, with swipes of pastel in various blues, yellows, browns and pinks filling the middle.
August 28, 2025 at 3:29 PM
trincolllibcam.bsky.social
Anyone else have that bank holiday Friday feeling?

Time to kick back, relax and... play the flute?🎵

(Trinity College MS B.11.22)
Image of a manuscript from the 14th century featuring an illustration of a man playing the flute. He is quite the character. He is posed rather awkwardly and wears bright orange socks!
August 22, 2025 at 4:23 PM
trincolllibcam.bsky.social
It started as a routine book move. Before we know it, it’s a modern art installation (or perhaps a minor safety concern).

It's hard to say.

#FoundArt
Red filing boxes piled between two pillars in a random and nonsensical way, with some upside down, to the side, or balancing on the corner.
August 19, 2025 at 10:21 AM
trincolllibcam.bsky.social
For this edition of #MarginaliaMonday, here’s a poor puppy stuck in a pot! Spotted in the margins of a 15th century manuscript, he’s clearly been caught in the middle of some questionable decision-making.

(Trinity College MS B.1.46)
Image corner of an illuminated manuscript from the 15th century, including a brown dog whose head is in a golden pot.
August 11, 2025 at 1:23 PM
trincolllibcam.bsky.social
Happy birthday to Alfred Tennyson, born #OTD in 1809! Best known for his poetry, Tennyson was also a keen doodler. The Trinity alum drew this face in his notebook while drafting 𝘐𝘯 𝘔𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘮.

(Trinity College MS, O.15.13)
Page from Alfred Tennyson’s notebook featuring scrawled handwritten notes, “adelantado,” “VIII,” “1842,” “Novaitu,” and “Nov”, alongside a sketch of a man in profile, with prominent sideburns, swished hair, and a decorative, buttoned shirt. Page from Alfred Tennyson’s notebook featuring six evenly-spaced stanzas of six lines each. The writing reads: Nature so far as in her lies, Imitates God & turns her face To every land beneath the skies Counts nothing, that she meets with, base, But lives & loves in every place; Fills out the edging quickset screens And makes the purple lilac ripe Steps from her airy hill & greens The swamp, where hums the drooping snipe, With braided moss & ^braided paddock-pipe; And on my heart a finger lays Saying ‘beat mournful heart: the time Is pleasant & the elm & lime Put forth a feel of gladder clime. Come beat a little quicker not When all things own my quickening breath Thy friend is mute: his brows are low But I am with thee till thy death; Some such kind words to me she saith Yet she is mortal, even as I; Or as that friend I loved in vain. She only whispering, low or high, Thro’ all this cloud of grief & pain I had not found my peace again. But murmurs of a holier deeper voice Going before to some far shrine Are learning me the purer choice Till all my life one way incline With some wide will that closes mine."
August 6, 2025 at 3:51 PM
trincolllibcam.bsky.social
Lise Meitner (1878-1968) was an Austrian physicist whose pioneering work led to the discovery of nuclear fission. Find out all about her story in our latest blog post!

trinitycollegelibrarycambridge.wordpress.com/2025/08/01/s...
August 1, 2025 at 8:12 AM
trincolllibcam.bsky.social
Another day, another ancient artefact...
A hand holds up a floppy disk with a sticker of the Polaroid logo and label saying 'Wavelet analysis'.
July 29, 2025 at 3:37 PM
trincolllibcam.bsky.social
Our new exhibition, '𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦!' investigates socialist anti-fascism and the anti-war movement from 1914-1939.

Explore the history of the international socialist movement, from letters by Spanish Civil War martyr John Cornford to a first edition 𝘋𝘢𝘴 𝘒𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭 signed by Marx!
Image of the front page of a booklet titled 'Cambridge Exhibition: Fascism & War' produced for an exhibition at St Andrew's Hall. The cover shows two illustrated hand prints, one shaded, and another blacked out with ink. Shadows of the two hands are made with lines from a newspaper column. A black and white picture of John Cornford whilst he was a student at Trinity College in the 1930s.
July 25, 2025 at 2:40 PM
trincolllibcam.bsky.social
Happy #marginaliamonday! This medieval man has been chasing away a moth for over 700 years...

Clearly some things never change!🦋

(Trinity College MS B.11.22)
Zoomed-in image of a richly decorated medieval manuscript, featuring a tunic-dressed man waving an orange cloth in the direction of a large white moth.
July 21, 2025 at 4:06 PM
trincolllibcam.bsky.social
Did you know that Florence Nightingale had a soft spot for the Brontë sisters' poems?

In this letter to Richard Monckton Milnes, she asks to borrow his copy of 𝘗𝘰𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘣𝘺 𝘊𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘳, 𝘌𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘈𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘯 𝘉𝘦𝘭𝘭.

Anne’s poem “The Captive Dove” especially moved her.

(Houghton 18/136)
Page one of a letter from Florence Nightingale to Richard Monckton Milnes. Page two of a letter from Florence Nightingale to Richard Monckton Milnes. A typed transcription of the letter reading: 'Dear Mr. Milnes, I thank you very much for your remembrance of me in the beautiful grapes & peaches. You lent us once at Embley, fifty years ago, Currer Bell's Poems. There was one, called, I think, the Captive, which struck me very much. I have since tried to get the book. But it is out of print. Could you lend me the book, if you have it still & by you? Yours affectionately, F. Nightingale.
July 17, 2025 at 1:33 PM
trincolllibcam.bsky.social
On this #BastilleDay, we get a glimpse into revolutionary history with the signature of one of the most influential figures of the French Revolution, Maximilien Robespierre.

He signed this passport in May 1794, just two months before his own execution.

Trinity College: Cullum P 176
Passport signed by the Committee for Public Safety in France, 1794, including Maximilien Robespierre.
July 14, 2025 at 3:31 PM