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Treasures of the Library

Knowing that I loved my books, he furnished me from mine own library with volumes that I prize above my dukedom" Prospero, The Tempest (Act 1, Scene 2)

An important goal of the Cambridge Digital Library is to make available substantial collections, so that researchers, teachers and life-long learners can explore a wide range of resources and uncover their own treasures. We expect the digitisation of our collections to enable interesting discoveries to be made and to open up new avenues for research. As we develop the digital library infrastructure we will look for ways of capturing and publicising new information about items held within the digital library.

However, there are many items within the Library’s collections that already deserve highlighting. This may be because of their historical importance, uniqueness, beauty, fascinating content, or perhaps their personal associations. In this special collection within the Cambridge Digital Library we will draw together books, manuscripts and other items from across our collections that are especially significant. Many of them have been displayed in Library exhibitions in the past – now they can be accessed at any time, from anywhere in the world, and browsed cover to cover.


 
Under the leadership of Dr Leonard Polonsky and as part of its International Digitisation Project, The Polonsky Foundation has provided major funding towards the development of the digital library's infrastructure and the digitisation of a number of important works.