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| A portrait of Galileo forming the frontispiece of
the first edition of Il saggiatore, Rome, 1623 |
Science & Medicine
The Library’s earliest surviving catalogue had a subdivision
for medicine, and its collections of books and manuscripts in the
fields of medicine and natural science have been enhanced by gift
and bequest throughout its existence. The Friends have purchased,
or made contributions towards, numerous notable scientific items,
and one of the most prolific private donors through the Friends
has significantly augmented the Library’s holdings on electron
microscopy. An important group of documents relating to the University’s
greatest scientist, Sir Isaac Newton, was donated in the nineteenth
century, and when the Earl of Macclesfield’s collection of
Newtonian and other scientific papers was offered for sale in 1999,
a timely donation by the Friends spearheaded the Library’s
successful campaign to raise the funds needed to acquire it.
Items on display
Gregorio Dati (1362-1436), La sfera, [Florence, c. 1497-1500]
(Inc.5.B.8.17); Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), Il saggiatore,
Rome, 1623 (6000.c.13); Giovanni Camillo Glorioso (1572-1643), De
cometis dissertatio astronomico-physica, Venice, 1624 (6000.c.35);
John Neale (fl. eighteenth century), The description
of the planetary machine, for which His Majesty has granted his
royal patent, London, 1745 (7350.d.127); Pascal Volino and
Nadia Magnenat-Thalmann (b. 1946), Virtual clothing: theory
and practice, Berlin, c. 2000 (C201.c.1606); Sir Isaac Newton
(1642-1727), letter to John Collins, Cambridge, 2 October 1672 (MS
Add. 9597/2/12); Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727), ‘De modo describendi
conicas sectiones et curves trium dimensionum quando sint primi
gradus etc.’, Cambridge, c. 1667 (MS Add. 9597/2/3, pp. 2-3);
Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakaiya al- Razi (c. 865-923/932), ‘Kitab
al-Mansuri’ (‘Liber Almansoris’), England, possibly
East Anglia, late twelfth century (MS Add. 9213, ff. 4v-5r); Johannes
Dryander (1500–1560), Anatomiae, hoc est, corporis humani
dissectionis pars prior…, Marburg, 1537 (5000.d.70);
Pietro Paolo Magni (fl. sixteenth century), Discorso
sopra il modo di fare i cauterij ò rottorij à corpi
humani …, Rome, 1588 (F158.c.2.15). View
exhibit captions.
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