The UK Congregational Library was founded in 1831 to encourage study of the Bible and of Dissent. We are at Westminster College, Cambridge. #SpecialCollections
Cambridge, UK
Joined January 2025
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Hello! The Congregational Library, based at Westminster College Cambridge, was founded in 1831 to assist in Biblical studies and Dissenting history. Our #SpecialCollections consist of 50,000+ books and periodicals, as well as manuscript material. We look forward to interacting!
![A row of rare books on a shelf, some with paper slips poking out. Some titles can be made out -- "Christian Tryall [by] Pinke", "Vine on the Lords Supper".](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Gh4zYWuWcAAKE2d.jpg?name=orig)
ALT A row of rare books on a shelf, some with paper slips poking out. Some titles can be made out -- "Christian Tryall [by] Pinke", "Vine on the Lords Supper".
We had a beautiful double rainbow over the @Woolf_Institute this morning in Cambridge!
The Friends of the Congregational Library will be holding their AGM before the Congregational Lecture, at 4:15 (also at St Brides). Anyone interested in finding out more about the library is welcome to attend! conglib.ac.uk/events/2026-co…
The 2026 Congregational Lecture will be at 6pm on 19 November at The St Bride's Foundation, London. Prof. Ann Hughes will talk about "The Restoration of the Church of England in London Pulpits, 1660-1662: perspectives from the Congregational Library".
conglib.ac.uk/events/2026-co…
ALT Photo of Prof Ann Hughes, head shot, smiling, from the Keele University website: https://www.keele.ac.uk/humanities-social-sciences/ourpeople/annhughes/
It's lecture season! The URC History Society's online lecture takes place on 2 November this year: details below.
All are welcome at the URCHS' online lecture on "To Seek out the Sense: William Tyndale and the translation of scripture in early modern England" by Prof Colin Donnelly of Keble College, Oxford
Mon 2 Nov, 10.30 am, online
For link, please email [email protected]
The Congregational Lecture is happening on Thurs 19 November at The St Bride Foundation: conglib.ac.uk/events/2026-co… The Friends of the Library will gather for a tour of St Bride's library treasures at 3pm.
(pic: Photograph by Mike Peel (mikepeel.net). - Own work)
Congregational Library (UK) retweeted
October's #LibraryTreasures
...is this: the most complex hand-drawn monogram we’ve seen in our rare books collections! Dated 1709, it's in ‘Cl. Claudianus, Theod. Pulmanni’: the works of Roman poet Claudian, edited by Dutch scholar Theodorus Poelman and printed 1571.
WM C L.5.7
The library's monthly blog for September is finally up -- a little late, but better late than never! Covers yet more unpacking (what else?), but also 17th century pamphlets and a visit to @AberUni #RareBooks #Libraries #Archives conglib.ac.uk/congregational…
Next month: the annual Congregational Lecture, this year by Ann Hughes on "The Restoration of the Church of England in London Pulpits, 1660-1662: perspectives from the Congregational Library". At St Brides, London, EC4Y 8EQ, Thurs 19 Nov, 6pm. All welcome!
conglib.ac.uk/events/2026-co…
The 2026 Congregational Lecture will be at 6pm on 19 November at The St Bride's Foundation, London. Prof. Ann Hughes will talk about "The Restoration of the Church of England in London Pulpits, 1660-1662: perspectives from the Congregational Library".
conglib.ac.uk/events/2026-co…
ALT Photo of Prof Ann Hughes, head shot, smiling, from the Keele University website: https://www.keele.ac.uk/humanities-social-sciences/ourpeople/annhughes/
This is an amazing opportunity to learn some Biblical languages at Westminster College!
If you enjoy seeing our digitised manuscripts online, why not try one of our intensive 4-10 day courses in ancient and Biblical languages!
Hebrew, Greek, Coptic, Syriac, Arabic
January 2027
Beginners & Intermediate classes
Details at westminster.cam.ac.uk/biblic…
Boxes, boxes, and more boxes ... ooh, and enquiries, unpacking, and heat 🥵: all this and more in August's Congregational Library update! conglib.ac.uk/congregational…
#SpecialCollections #RareBooks #Libraries
Boords, boards, and [very old] books: we skipped June by accident, but here is July's monthly update for the Congregational Library! Also includes a little run-down of the @LondonRareBooks 2026; more on that to follow #RareBooks #libraries conglib.ac.uk/congregational…
(pic CL 131.1.5)
Feeling a little bit snowed under with mess! Operation "Find Out What Colour My Desk Actually Is" has therefore begun...
If you're in the Bedford area this summer, come and see the new exhibition at the John Bunyan Museum behind Bunyan Meeting Church: "Howard 300", celebrating the life of the prison reformer John Howard. Running 6 August to 5 September. bunyanmeeting.co.uk/summer-e…
Sometime in the 17th century George Thickness drew a bird, sorry, a boord in his parents' copy of Thomas Harrison's "The soule's vocation, or effectual calling to Christ" (1638). (CL 129.3.13) #RareBooks #SpecialCollections #BirdsOfTwitter
Nineteenth-century marbled bindings, a hand-coloured eighteenth-century frontispiece, and a tiny bat (not a real one!): only a few of the beautiful books we've unpacked this month. Read more at conglib.ac.uk/congregational…
#SpecialCollections #RareBooks #libraries
It's the end of April, so time for our monthly update! This month's focus: languages. We truly do have some amazing and beautiful books. (Photo credit: Cong. Lib. 112.1.6) conglib.ac.uk/congregational…
#SpecialCollections #RareBooks
Interested in languages? We have the book for you! The British and Foreign Bible Society's "Gospel in many tongues" is not only beautiful: it's very useful for missionaries preaching the Gospel in faraway lands. (Cong. Lib. 113.5.36) #RareBooks #SpecialCollections #libraries
We do have some random things in the Congregational Library, e.g. this article on "flying bridges" (a sort of pontoon bridge) in Cong. Lib. 112.1.2. Not sure why we have it, but the book belonged to Nathaniel Rogers (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan…)#RareBooks #SpecialCollections
I wonder if Hugh Ellis ever got his copy of Burton's "The Wars in England Scotland and Ireland" (1684) back... (Cong. Lib. 107.5.27)
"Hugh Ellis his Book Lent to James Blackmore 1729 Jan: ye 26th"
#RareBooks #SpecialCollections #marginalia
