This collection was created by Shakespearian scholar Edward Capell (1713-1781), and formed the principal part of his library during the years which he spent in the preparation of his edition of Shakespeare’s dramatic works. After its publication in 1768, and the completion of a commentary, Capell parted with his library in 1779, the most valuable portion being presented to Trinity while the remainder was dispersed. 

The Crewe collection consists of over 7,500 books bequeathed by Mary, Duchess of Roxburghe (1915-2014). Her father, Robert Crewe-Milnes and grandfather, Richard Monckton Milnes both studied at Trinity before embarking on important political careers. Between the 1830s and the early twentieth century they amassed an extraordinary library and one of the most important private collections in Britain. The collection includes major works of English and French literature, rare political pamphlets, trial transcripts and several unpublished literary manuscripts, as well as first editions inscribed by Byron, Shelley, Wordsworth, and Tennyson. Over half of the collection is works in French, reflecting Monckton Milnes’ particular interest in the French Revolution. Cataloguing work on the Crewe collection is ongoing.

Find out more about the history of the collection with our Crewe collection timeline.

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The Grylls collection of around 7000 volumes was bequeathed to Trinity College by alumnus Revd William Grylls in 1863. The collection contains incunabula (books printed before 1501), a Shakespeare First Folio and numerous other individual books of interest including some of Grylls’ correspondence and his own handwritten library catalogue.

Read more about highlights from the Grylls collection.

The outstanding library of German books collected by Charles Julius Hare (1795-1855) was bequeathed to the Wren Library in 1855. It includes works from all the major German writers of the 18th and 19th century, as well as books on classical antiquity, the Romance languages, German and English literature, the fine arts, and all kinds of antiquarian and historical scholarship.

See Paulin, Roger. “17. Julius Hare’s German Books in Trinity College Library, Cambridge”. From Goethe to Gundolf, Open Book Publishers, 2021.

The Kessler Collection of Artists’ Books was donated to the Wren Library by the late Nicholas Kessler, who studied Economics and Law at Trinity in the 1950s. The collection features original works by the likes of Braque, Léger, Miró, Picasso, Matisse and Hockney. 

When Sir Isaac Newton died in 1727 his library comprised around 2,100 volumes. It was kept virtually intact (at Chinnor Rectory, in Oxfordshire) until 1920, when more than half the volumes were auctioned and subsequently dispersed.

Around 900 books are now kept in the Wren Library, after being presented by the Pilgrim Trust in 1943. The collection includes also the first edition of Principia Mathematica, with Newton’s own annotations in preparation for the second edition.

Nathaniel Mayer (Victor) Rothschild (1910-1990) began collecting books and manuscripts in 1932, when he was an undergraduate at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he read Physiology, French, and English. The collection is made up of 18th century first editions, bindings and manuscripts and is particularly rich in works by Jonathan Swift and Swiftiana. It was donated to Trinity College Library by Lord Rothschild in 1969.

Piero Sraffa (1898-1983) was elected as a fellow by Trinity in 1939, and the College remained his home for the rest of his life. He amassed an outstanding library of over 7500 volumes, mostly on the subject of economics and politics, which is now housed in the Wren Library.

This class was created for books containing manuscript notes by former owners, or their signatures. As well as small miscellaneous collections, books include notes by R. Bentley, B. Jonson, R. Porson, P.P. Dobree, T. Kidd, C.J. Blomfield, E.M. Cope, A. Sedgwick, S.P. Tregelles, W.G. Clark, E. FitzGerald, F. Field, H.A.J. Munro, W.H. Thompson, C.W. King, S.H. Butcher, W.A. Wright, H. Jackson, A.E. Housman, Sir J.G. Frazer, H.J.W. Tillyard, J.E. Powell, W.W. Rouse Ball, W.W. Greg, C.D. Broad, G.M. Trevelyan, A.S.F. Gow.