The University Library's Spanish manuscripts are not held as a separate collection. The following finding aids will help identify materials written in Spanish or relating to Hispanic studies.
La Anatomia de Espanna. 1598 (Gg.6.19).
- The slip index of Incipits
- The subject index
- CMLUC-the nineteenth century printed catalogue of the Two-letter classes
- Medieval Additional Manuscripts
- Early Modern Additional Manuscripts
- Western Illuminated Manuscripts
- The Conway Collection
- J.B. Trend's correspondence and papers
1. The slip index of Incipits
Available in the Manuscripts Room, this is a list of works by incipit-the first lines of the text. It was compiled in the main by Dr B.F.C. Atkinson, Head of the Manuscripts department in the middle years of the twentieth century, and includes manuscripts held in other Colleges. It is arranged by languages, from Bohemian to Spanish, and includes Greek. The College entries are based on the incipits recorded by M.R.James in his catalogues. While such a list can never be perfect, this index can be an excellent aid to locating copies of a particular text throughout Cambridge University. An attempt has been made to keep the list of Incipits of University Library manuscripts up to date, but this has inevitably not been possible with College accessions.
This consists of two volumes kept behind the counter in the Manuscripts Room. It lists manuscripts in classmark order under broad categories. It was first begun by Dr B.F.C.Atkinson, and like many other lists in the room contains entries in his characteristic hand. There is a list of subjects a the beginning of the first volume, with about 75 very broad categories.It is always worth checking in more than one category.
3. CMLUC-the nineteenth century printed catalogue of the Two-letter classes
The basic catalogue of the Two-letter classes, covering all volumes of all dates to the early nineteenth century, is still A catalogue of the manuscripts preserved in the library of the University of Cambridge, 5 volumes plus index (Cambridge 1856-67; reprinted München : Kraus; Hildesheim : Olms, 1980, c1979. 360100187X). This is available in the Manuscripts Reading Room at A122.2.5, with a second set behind the counter. The standard preferred abbreviation for citing this work is CMLUC. It may also be consulted online through the website of the Internet Archive, as follows:
Vol 1: http://www.archive.org/details/catalogueofmanus01cambuoft
Vol 2: http://www.archive.org/details/catalogueofmanus02cambuoft
Vol 3: http://www.archive.org/details/catalogueofmanus03cambuoft
Vol 4: http://www.archive.org/details/catalogueofmanus04cambuoft
Vol 5: http://www.archive.org/details/catalogueofmanus05cambuoft
(Index volume): http://www.archive.org/details/catalogueofmanus00cambuoft
Alternatively, go to "Internet Archive" on the internet, and in the field "texts" search on the terms <Catalogue> <manuscripts> <preserved> <Cambridge>. In downloading and using this Catalogue it should always be remembered that the digitized copy may not show up-to-date foliation or numbering of the articles within the manuscripts, often undertaken when manuscript volumes were rebound.
4. Medieval Additional Manuscripts
For the medieval manuscripts not in the "Two-letter" classes, see Jayne Ringrose, Summary catalogue of the Additional medieval manuscripts in Cambridge University Library acquired before 1940. (Cambridge, D.S.Brewer, 2009).
5. Early Modern Additional Manuscripts
La Anatomia de Espanna. 1598 (Gg.6.19).
These include the following relevant items from the 16th , 17th and 18th centuries (a small number of items dating from the early 19th century have also been included here):
Add. 2883 : Diego de Prado y Touar. La Obra manual y platica de la Artilleria MS., 1603
Add. 4130 : Perez de Medinilla (J). Carta executoria, c1576
Add. 4355 : Salamanca privileges, 1546
Add. 6625 : Fuentes y Guzman. Historia de Goatemala, 1690
Add. 7192 : Bonete. Family Certificate of Lineage and Arms, 1697 (Latin & Spanish)
Add. 7193 : Martin (Jayme) of Saragossa. Certificate of Infanzonia, 1598 (Latin & Spanish)
Add. 7638 : Papeles Curiosos (works by L & B. Argensola etc), 17th century
Add. 7812 : Spanish poetry and prose, 17th-18th century
Add. 7813 : Nicholas Fernandez de Moratin. 'Arte de Putear', 18th century
Add. 7814 : Juan Alfonso Guerra y Sandoval. Poems, 1699-1719
Add. 7815-7816 : Diego Hurtado de Mendoza. Poetry and prose, late 16th century
Add. 7817 : Juan Antonio Mayans. Bibliographical notes, 1779-1780
Add. 7818 : Diego de Molina Linan. Poems, c. 1638-1652
Add. 7819 : Bartolome Cairasco de Figueroa. Esdruxulea, 1611
Add. 7820-7822 and 7825 : Francisco de Quevedo. Poetry and prose, 18th century
Add. 7823 : Antonio de Solis. Obras, 17th century
Add. 7824 : Lope de Vega. La Dragontea, 1597
Add. 7873 : Francisco de Quevedo. Obras satyricas, 17th century
Add. 7939 : Poesias varias, Mid-17th century
Add. 7940 : Joseph de Pellicer de Salas. Lecciones solemnes de Gongora, 1709
Add. 7941 : Diego Hurtado de Mendoza. Poems, Early 17th century
Add. 7942 : Poems on sacred subjects, 17th century
Add. 7943 : Luis Vélez de Guevara. El cerco de Peñon, 18th century
Add. 7944 : Francisco Martinez de la Rosa. Lo que puede un empleo, 1813
Add. 7945 : La cautiva Espanola, c. 1800
Add. 7946 : Poesias serias y morales, c. 1703
Add. 8079 : Poesias profanas a diversos assumptos, 17th-early 18th century
Add. 8150 : Juan de Jáuregui. Orfeo, 17th century
Add. 8152-8153 : Joseph Laynez de Torreluenga. Poetry and prose books, late 17th century
Add. 8154 : Spanish prose and verse, c. 1784
Add. 8155 : The Inquisition, Decrees, 1743-1747
Add. 8156 : Poems and notes on the Corral family, 1625
Add. 8157 : Family of Espinosa de Los Monteros. Proofs of lineage, 1759
Add. 8158 : Edicts on book censorship, 1756
Add. 8159 : Fausta de Jesus Maria. Poetical works, 18th century
Add. 8161 : Materia Farmaceutica, c. 1833
Add 8162 : Respuesta al discurso Serio-locoso…, 17 century
Add. 8588 : Gil (Francisco). Patent of nobility, 1518
Add. 8864 : Trumbull papers. Spanish political history, c. 1588-1612
Add. 8992 : Alonso de Cardenas (1592-1664). Relation of events in England, 1638-1656
Add. 9224 : Geronimo de Areviano (1576-?1651). Documents re beatification, 1651-1652
Add. 9412 : Louis de Lully(1664-1734). Opera Alcide, score, c. 1693
6. Western Illuminated Manuscripts
Paul Binski and Patrick Zutshi, with the collaboration of Stella Panayotova, Western illuminated manuscripts, a catalogue of the collection in Cambridge University Library (Cambridge University Press, 2011. Classmark: A122.2.48. This volume contains one only Spanish manuscript: Add 1845, no 473, page 453).
7. The Conway Collection
The Conway Collection, also known as Transcripts from the National Library of Mexico, was bequeathed to the University Library by G.R.G. Conway towards the end of his life. George Robert Graham Conway was born in Southampton, England in 1873 and died in Mexico City in 1951. He was educated as a civil engineer but his real research interest was Mexican history. He bequeathed printed and manuscript material to the Library of Congress, the University of Aberdeen and Cambridge University Library.
The Cambridge collection is held in the Department of Manuscripts and University Archives at Cambridge University Library. It consists of 81 volumes of transcripts from Mexican Archives (dated 1500-1700), mainly relating to the Inquisition. The volumes occasionally contain photographic facsimiles.
Ask in the Manuscripts Reading Room for Add 7226-7306.
General enquiries about the collection may be addressed to the Manuscripts Department.
References and further reading:
"The C. R. G. Conway Collection in Cambridge University Library: a checklist" by Schaffer Williams in Hispanic American Historical Review vol. 37(1) (1957), pp.60-81.
"The C. R. G. Conway Collection in the Library of Congress: a checklist" by Schaffer Williams in Hispanic American Historical Review vol. 35(3) (1955), pp. 386-397.
"The C. R. G. Conway Collection in the Library of Aberdeen: a checklist" by A. P. Thornton in Hispanic American Historical Review vol. 36(3) (1956), pp. 345-347.
COSTELOE, MICHAEL P.. Mexico State Papers, 1744-1843: a descriptive catalogue of the G. R. G. Conway Collection in the Institute of Historical Research, University of London. London: Athlone Press for the Institute of Latin American Studies, 1976.
HILTON, RONALD. Who's Who in Latin America. Detroit: B. Ethridge, 1971. 3rd ed. (2 vols.).
8. J.B. Trend's correspondence and papers
John Brande Trend (1887-1958) was the first Professor of Spanish at Cambridge University. He was appointed to the chair of Spanish in 1933. His friendship with Edward Joseph Dent, Professor of Music at Cambridge between 1926 and 1941, was to play an instrumental part in Trend’s passion for Hispanism. His first degree was in Natural Sciences, but he soon developed a keen interest in Spanish life and culture and would later become a prime figure in Spanish musicology. Trend admired Luís de Góngora, one of the most influential poets of the Golden Age, and Manuel de Falla, possibly the greatest Spanish composer of the twentieth century.
Four box files of Trend’s correspondence and papers (dated ca. 1930-1955) are held at the Manuscripts and Archives Department of the University Library. His correspondence shows various aspects of the way he worked – in particular, his research activities in Spain. The papers include drafts of essays, translations of poetry, and lectures and letters to Trend, mostly from the last decade of his life. Amongst his correspondence, there are letters from Rosalía de Castro, Ruben Darío, Federico García Lorca, Jorge Guillén, Juan Ramón Jiménez, Antonio Machado, José Ortega y Gasset, Alfonso Reyes, Marqués de Santillana and Miguel de Unamuno.
Ask in the Manuscripts Reading Room for Add.7673.
General enquiries about the Archive may be addressed to the Manuscripts Department. Alternatively, click here for further details.