Cambridge Bibliographical Society

About Us

The Cambridge Bibliographical Society was founded on 20 January 1949 for the promotion and publication of bibliographical studies. The Society holds regular meetings at Cambridge University Library and its summer AGM is usually accompanied by a visit to a Cambridge library. Membership of the Society is open to all those interested in bibliography, and members receive the publications as part of their annual subscription. The Society publishes occasional monographs as well as the annual, peer reviewed Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society and welcomes offers of papers from members and non-members alike. General correspondence and applications for membership should be addressed to the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, University Library, West Road, Cambridge CB3 9DR (email: cbs@lib.cam.ac.uk). For further information, see Membership and Subscriptions.

Events (all 5.00pm in the Milstein Rooms, University Library)

Friday 7 November 2025: Dr Irène Fabry-Tehranchi, Błażej Mikuła & Maciej Pawlikowski on A medieval Merlin fragment rediscovered: digitisation, analysis and edition.

• A fragment from a manuscript of the medieval French story of Merlin the magician was recently re-discovered at Cambridge University Library, reused as the binding of a 16th-century archival manuscript. This talk will show how advanced digitisation techniques allowed the virtual unfolding of the fragment (whose handling is particularly delicate) and increased the readability of the text, proving essential to the production of its edition.

Wednesday 28 January 2026: Dr Justine Provino (Cambridge University Library): ‘I hesitated before untying the bow that bound this book together’: Agrippa (a book of the dead) (1992-) or the conservation of a self-destructive book within and beyond the library

• In 1992, the writer William Gibson, the visual artist Dennis Ashbaugh and the publisher Kevin Begos Jr collaborated to make a hybrid artist’s book that would self-destruct in the act of reading: Agrippa (a book of the dead). Gibson’s contribution takes the form of an electronic poem located on a diskette which can only be read once. Ashbaugh’s work illustrates Gibson’s poem with images designed to fade over time and bound in the codex-form. But in a twist of fate Agrippa survived despite its makers' intent. Drawing on her PhD thesis ‘The Self-Destructive Book and The Library’ (2024), this talk will discuss what it has meant for Agrippa as a multimedia work of literature to be preserved by the library and the Internet.

Wednesday 6 May 2026: Professor Peter Wong (City University of Hong Kong) on The Unlikely Birth of the First Big Bamboo Book in Ancient China.

• The big book as a textual form is so firmly established in our imagination that its prominence seems natural, timeless, and universal. In ancient Greece, voluminous literary works (such as Herodotus’ Histories) were prevalent as early as the fifth century BCE. But the multi-chapter big book was a latecomer and a rare species in the textual ecosystem of ancient China. For centuries, Chinese sages, writers, politicians, philosophers, and historians relied solely on short, self-standing essays—each generally under two thousand words and written on bamboo strips sewn together like a sushi mat. What, then, motivated the merchant Lü Buwei (291–235 BCE) to compose a 100,000-word tome on the eve of Qin's unification of China? In this talk, Peter will examine the conditions that made possible, the unforeseen challenges that accompanied, and the consequences that followed the creation of the first big bamboo book in China. 

Wednesday 10 June 2026: Dr Kelly Minot McKay on The Limits of Letterpress: How publishers of shorthand books printed without type (1588–1700)

• From 1588 through the seventeenth century, approximately two hundred shorthand manuals were published in England, each marketing a new kind of writing said to be so fast the pen could keep pace with the tongue. Shorthand was a vital component of early modern English manuscript culture, used by many people for many purposes and popularized by the many shorthand manuals peddled in London and beyond. But because shorthand is designed to be written, rather than typeset, the publishers of these manuals faced an unusual challenge: printing a script that was inherently incompatible with metal type. This paper offers a typology of how early modern printers collaborated with scribes, woodcutters, and engravers to produce complicated, hybrid books, which challenges traditional bibliographical analysis and offers a remarkable case study in the cooperative manufacture and distribution of books in and outside of London.

Wednesday 1 July 2026: Annual General Meeting & visit to Newnham College Library

• Refreshments (from 4.45pm) and AGM (5.00pm) in the Sidgwick Hall, followed at 5.30pm by a visit to the college library and viewing of the Jaffé collection of books by and about women engravers, assembled by alumna and engraver Patricia Jaffé.

Journal Submissions

The Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society is a blind refereed journal, publishing high quality articles on all aspects of bibliography. Issues include substantial articles as well as brief notes. Whilst submissions on all subjects are welcome, the Editor particularly welcomes those which have, in the widest sense, some Cambridge connections—those, for example, which deal with manuscripts or printed books in Cambridge libraries, books printed at Cambridge or written by Cambridge authors. Offers of papers for the Transactions and requests for the stylesheet should be addressed to the Editor, Dr Liam Sims, Rare Books Specialist, Cambridge University Library, West Road, Cambridge, CB3 9DR (email: ls457@cam.ac.uk). Most issues of the journal are available via JSTOR and may be purchased in print using the Paypal links at this page. The next double issue of the Transactions: XVII, part 3-4 (2022-23) is in print (Autumn 2025).

The most recent published issue of the Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society for 2021 (vol. XVII, part 2), appeared in November 2023 and may be purchased by non-members via the Paypal link below:

Roger Lovatt: 'Register of scribes & members of the book trade in medieval Cambridge' / David Carlson: 'Early printing in Cambridge: Richard Croke & the authorship of John Siberch's 1522 Hermathena' / Scott Mandelbrote: 'Humanist, Galenic Physician and Royal Doctor: the books of Thomas Wendy' / N. Scott Amos: 'BL Lansdowne MS 931, fols. 1r-27r and the disappearance (and rediscovery) of items in the Parker Library' / C. D. Preston: 'Financing a county flora in the eighteenth century: Richard Relhan's Flora Cantabrigiensis (1785)' / Laure Miolo: 'Practising the scientia stellarum in the Franciscan custody of Cambridge: Thomas de Wyndele (fl. 1390-1424) and his astronomical book'.

The issue for 2020 (vol. XVII, part 1) contained the following papers and may be purchased by non-members via the Paypal link below:

Rosalind Lintott: 'Cuttings of history in a Trinity Hall manuscripts' / Matthew Coulter: 'Hec est quedam profetia que fuit inventa': a prophecy in Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 372 / Dunstan Roberts: Books owned by Sir Thomas Hoby (1530-1566) / Jonathan Reimer: Selling forbidden evangelical books in early Tudor Cambridge / Micha Lazarus: Inventory booklists in legal context / F. J. Norton†: A brief account of paper sizes and printed formats in nineteenth-century Spain / Scot McKendrick: Collecting Greek manuscripts in eighteenth-century England: the origins, scope and legacy of the collections of Richard Mead and Anthony Askew / James Freeman: Unpublished descriptions of western medieval manuscripts at Cambridge University Library.

The 2019 issue of TCBS (XVI, part 4), of papers from the 2017 conference on University Librarian Henry Bradshaw can be purchased using the link below.

Membership & Subscriptions

Applications for membership should be addressed to the Treasurer, Cambridge Bibliographical Society, University Library, West Road, Cambridge CB3 9DR (email: cbs@lib.cam.ac.uk). Subscriptions (£15.00 or $25.00 a year for individuals, £25 or $30 for institutions) cover the twelve months from 1 January. Members will be invoiced each autumn for the following year's subscription.

Existing individual members may renew their membership for a small additional fee via the Paypal links below. Please note that institutional members cannot renew by this method.

To renew your individual membership for one year (includes 50p administrative charge), click below:

To renew your individual membership for two years (includes £1 administrative charge), click below:

To renew your individual membership for three years (includes £1 administrative charge), click below:

The Commissioners of Inland Revenue have approved the Society for the purposes of Section 16, Finance Act, 1958, and the whole of the subscription paid by a member who qualifies for relief under that Section will be allowable as a deduction from emoluments assessable to income tax under Schedule E. Any member entitled to relief should apply to the tax office as soon as possible for form P358.

Officers 2024-2025