To mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of the poet and playwright Paul Claudel (1868–1955), a new exhibition in the Cambridge University Library’s main Entrance Hall displays highlights from a collection of letters, postcards, verses and books sent or presented by Claudel to his friend and collaborator Audrey Parr (1892–1940), and donated to the … Continue reading Paul Claudel and Audrey Parr: a Cambridge exhibition
‘The first of rural bards’: Robert Bloomfield in Cambridge University Library
The poet Robert Bloomfield, author of The farmer’s boy, was born in Suffolk two hundred and fifty years ago, in December 1766. Of humble parentage, he worked briefly as a labourer on a nearby farm before moving to London to take up the trade of cobbler. The success of The farmer’s boy, a poem of … Continue reading ‘The first of rural bards’: Robert Bloomfield in Cambridge University Library
Virtual exhibitions from Cambridge University Library
Cambridge University Library has recently been using a generous grant from the Howard and Abby Milstein Foundation to augment its provision of online exhibitions. The re-designed Exhibitions homepage has links to the resources in the new format, which have been created using a customised platform based on WordPress. Two recent virtual exhibitions in particular may be of interest … Continue reading Virtual exhibitions from Cambridge University Library
‘All things go free that have survived’: Seamus Heaney 1939-2013
Seamus Heaney, the most celebrated member of a remarkable generation of Irish poets, died on the 30th of August at the age of 74. His full-length books of verse were published in Britain by Faber and Faber, but he also co-operated with artists and printers in a number of smaller-scale private and fine-press productions of … Continue reading ‘All things go free that have survived’: Seamus Heaney 1939-2013
Peter Scupham at Eighty
A new exhibition in Cambridge University Library celebrates the eightieth birthday of the distinguished poet Peter Scupham. Born in Bootle in 1933, Scupham read English at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. While working as a schoolteacher, and later in semi-retirement as a bookseller, Scupham has produced eleven full-length collections of poetry in addition to volumes of Selected … Continue reading Peter Scupham at Eighty