A Sixteenth-Century Library in Eighteenth-Century Cambridge

Abstract

The Library of Archbishop Matthew Parker (1504–75) was bequeathed to Corpus Christi College Cambridge, where it still remains. Parker imposed strict conditions on the use of the books, and it has often been assumed as a consequence the collection was not well used. In this paper, the authors explore the evidence from eighteenth-century borrowing registers and show that the Parker Library did continue to be used and made a significant contribution to scholarly endeavours in Cambridge and beyond.

Keywords:

• Matthew Parker
• Corpus Christi College Cambridge
• library management
• eighteenth century

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Liam Austin

Liam Austin was formerly the Assistant Librarian at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. He completed his MA in information and library management at Loughborough University in 2010. The dissertation from which this paper was drawn from can be found in the Parker Library at Corpus. He now works in Cambridge University Library.

Correspondence to: Liam Austin. Email: [email protected]

John Feather

John Feather has been Professor of Library and Information Studies at Loughborough University since 1988, having previously worked in publishing and librarianship. His many publications include A History of British Publishing (2nd edn, 2006), Publish-ing, Piracy and Politics: An Historical Study of Copyright in Britain (1994), and The Provincial Book Trade in Eighteenth-Century England (1985), and many papers on the history of books and libraries. His current research interests include the changes in the British book trade in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

Correspondence to: John Feather. Email: [email protected]