Catalogue of the Books and Papers for the Most Part Relating to Cambridge

John Willis Clark, the Cambridge academic and antiquarian, began collecting literature connected with Cambridge in the 1860s. In 1910 he bequeathed to Cambridge University Library his collection of over ten thousand books, pamphlets and pieces of print relating, directly or indirectly, to Cambridge University, including some whose primary reference is to the town or county of Cambridge. Published in 1912, this catalogue documents Clark's extensive collection, listing the literature he amassed from all periods and upon every subject. Clark had a particular interest in college architecture and tracing the growth of the collegiate system, which explains the inclusion of works relating to Oxford and Eton in the collection. Arranged as a dictionary catalogue, with authors and subjects listed alphabetically, the work reflects Clark's aim to illustrate the history and development of Cambridge through its literature, from an historical and biographical point of view.