Ahem. So, um, there are other universities in the United Kingdom as well, like these Oxford and Cambridge places. Today we'll be visiting the town of Cambridge.
The Cambridge University Library is open to the public. It features one or two special exhibitions at any given time. And websites exist for every former exhibition. Yeah, we’re not going anywhere else today. Just look at these! Here’s one on travel through Great Britain, and another on the library’s music collection! Unfortunately, the experience of visiting these sites isn’t quite equivalent to actually seeing the exhibits in person, as there’s something to be said for being able to actually see the items in question. The omission of images is most egregious with regard to the site for “Unregulated Printing: Modern Private Press Books,” which features books which, according to the site, “embody their printers’ individuality, often making use of unusual formats, lavish illustrations and remarkable bindings.” They do, at least, thoughtfully offer several pages of the captions associated with the items that were displayed in the exhibition, which is totally the same thing, right? All right, granted, they surely have many good reasons for the lack of photography, but still. So here, let this page from an edition of Chaucer published by William Morris’s Kelmscott Press suffice:
After spending several days in the library, it might be nice to go out and catch a performance or lecture or something of the like. Let’s see what’s listed on the Visit Cambridge “What’s On?” calendar, according to which, “There’s always too much to do in Cambridge – the list of entertainments and cultural events is endless!” Sounds promising! Well, this week, there’s...hmm. No, no, I think you need to try each of the options for yourself – "Today," "This week," "This month," and "This year." Let’s just say that someone at the Cambridge tourism site is either forgetful, or just a wee bit deceitful.
So, I had been hoping to deviate from the “let’s visit nifty museums!” norm a bit, but it’s patently clear that Cambridge doesn’t want its visitors to do much else, aside from punting on the River Cam, and I suspect that would only result in disaster and a change of clothes. The Fitzwilliam it is! Happily, this museum features a slew of online exhibitions – complete with pictures, Cambridge University Library. Ahem. One exhibit of particular interest to me, and probably no one else, is “J.W. Clark and the Care of Books,” though, I must admit that much of my interest is based on its featuring “photographs of medieval English and continental libraries,” because I rather hope that the process of photographing these libraries involved time travel. Unfortunately, I suspect “medieval” here refers only to date of the libraries’ construction, which...makes the gallery considerably less intriguing. Although there is something oddly creepy about this...
...so that’s sort of exciting. I guess. (Picture from J.W. Clark exhibit gallery, © The Fitzwilliam Museum)
Well. This has been uneventful. We’ll make one last stop, to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, more frequently called the Round Church, because it was built in the mid-twelfth century, now functions as a museum of local church history, and, frankly, looks cool:
Next time we’ll explore England’s other big famous university town. Perhaps their events calendar is actually useful!
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