Description

The college, which was founded by Edmund Gonville in 1348-49 and refounded by Dr John Caius in 1557-58, has had a well-deserved reputation for looking after its books. Over 300 of the manuscripts now in the library have been there since the medieval foundation. More than half of the fifty-five manuscripts indexed in this Handlist come from the bequest of William Moore (1590-1659), fellow of the college and University Librarian. Major religious works in the Caius collection include a thirteenth-century copy of the 'Ancrene Riwle', Rolle's 'Forme of Living' and the English translation of his 'Emendatio vitae', the 'Apocalypse of Jesus Christ', Mirk's 'Festial', the 'Pilgrimage of the Soul', the 'Seven Points of True Love and Everlasting Wisdom' and the apparently unique English translation of the Wycliffite 'Rosarium theologie'. Medical writing is well represented, typically in a number of extensive compilations which also contain medical recipes. Uroscopy texts include the 'Practica urinarum' and two copies each of the shorter and the longer versions of Henry Daniel's 'Liber uricrisiarum'. Other important medical texts are the first book of Guy de Chauliac's 'Chirurgia magna', the shorter English version of John of Burgundy's treatise on pestilence and two versions of the bloodletting treatise attributed to Henry of Winchester. KARI ANNE RAND SCHMIDT is Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Oslo.