Highlights by theme
A selection of unusual and colourful items in SC&A collections.
Christmas | Science & Technology | Travel and Transport | Valentines
Christmas
Christmas Cards
Details of a century of Christmas cards in the collections, with images from Bhopal, India to Mount Fuji in Japan, including handmade examples from the University archives. See more...
Illustrated London News 1858
Special Christmas supplement from 1858, as Christmas that year fell on the day of publication. The supplement included a selection of 'merry games for merry parties', Christmas carols, puzzles, and various other festive illustrations. SPEC AP4.13
Science and Technology
Victorian Marine Biology
A colourful depiction of ‘The Ancient Wrasse’ in Philip Henry's Gosse's The Aquarium, 1854, an example of the wealth of rare books on aquatic life and natural history within the University Library. SPEC JUV 1384:3
David Wooster's Alpine Plants (1874)
A guide aimed at amateur gardeners keen to grow at home the species seen on their European travels, with plates engraved by Benjamin Fawcett, the best Victorian colour printer. SPEC Ness QK297.W91
Travel and Transport
Through Albania with Lord Byron
John Cam Hobhouse (1786-1869), politician and classical scholar, became a close friend of the poet Lord Byron at Cambridge, and Byron accompanied him on this journey, during which he was writing Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. SPEC Y81.5.155. Read more...
The Liverpool to Manchester Railway (1831)
The hand-coloured aquatint plates include views of Rainhill, the scene of Stephenson's Rocket's triumph in 1829, and the station at Parkside, where Huskisson fell during the opening ceremony. SPEC Y83.5.75
Launch of the Queen Elizabeth
The QE was conceived as the big sister to the Queen Mary, larger in both weight and length (a colossal one fifth of a mile), and was at the time, the largest passenger liner ever built.
Jigsaw puzzle of the Cunard liner Queen Mary
This wooden jigsaw was produced by the puzzle-makers Chad Valley in the 1930s, as one of a series of promotional jigsaws made for Cunard in the heyday of ocean-going liners. Cunard deposit D958
The QE2 under construction
Photograph from a collection deposited by The Architectural Press of images of the construction, launch, exterior and interior of the QE2.
Valentine's Day
St Valentine's Day menu at sea
The romantic theme of this menu cover from a 1983 cruise on the QE2 was not always borne out by the food offered onboard, which might include Pickled Lambs’ Tongues or perhaps the opportunity to finish your Valentine's day meal with a mug of Horlicks.
John Wyndham's 1944 Valentine
The John Wyndham archive includes hand-made Valentines and poems sent to his lifelong partner, Grace Wilson, a school teacher, whom he met at the PEN club in London. They married in 1963, the year in which Grace retired. Wyndham 8/1