Dr Virge James visits Old Library following digitisation project

Dr Virge James visited Cambridge in November to mark the completion of the Queens' College Library project to digitise over 13,000 images of its manuscripts, made possible by Dr James' generous gift in memory of her late husband Dr Nigel James (1960). As Cambridge's oldest purpose-built library, the Old Library houses over 30,000 volumes, including rare books, medieval manuscripts, incunabula, and early editions of seminal works.

This mammoth task took over two years to curate, with all manuscripts now available to read online via the Cambridge Digital Library. A range of treasures from the Queens' collection can now be accessed from anywhere in the world, and excitingly, many of the digitised items are, as yet, unknown to scholarship.

Dr James and her guests, Dr Jonathan Dowson (1960) and Lynn Dowson, were shown some of the original treasures in the Old Library that have now been digitised thanks to her support by Dr Tim Eggington (Fellow Librarian) and Emma Sibbald (Rare Books Curator).

Some highlights from the collection include a rare papal indulgence printed by William Caxton [Queens’ College, X.17.12] issued in 1489, correspondence between the Reverend Thomas Sims and the abolitionist William Wilberforce [Queens’ College, MS 61]; and a beautifully illuminated manuscript of Soliloquies (Pseudo-Augustine) once owned by Mary Tudor [Queens’ College, MS 25].

The collection of manuscripts also offers an insight into the College’s history, such as with Queens’ College MS 47, a Donor’s Book spanning from 1562-1820, which records the valuable treasures gifted and bequeathed to the library across the centuries, and showcasing aspiration to preserve the history and ongoing development of the Old Library – a desire we share today, and which drove this project.

In a blog post on their website, the Old Library team said: