'Floreat Bibliomania' – Great Collectors and their Grand Designs

King's College, Cambridge, 28-29 June 2013

Tim Munby pioneered the historical study of British book collecting and the use of sale catalogues to trace the history of taste in books.  His work brought sale catalogues into the academic domain as important literary and historical documents worthy of study.  Munby’s five-volume Phillipps Studies provided the first comprehensive account of bibliophiles and book dealers of the nineteenth century.  His other works include The Cult of the Autograph Letter in England, Connoisseurs and Medieval Miniatures, 1750–1850  and a book of ghost stories, The Alabaster Hand.  

Munby was Fellow and Librarian of King's College, Cambridge, from 1947 to 1974, having worked previously in the antiquarian book trade.  He was Lyell Reader in Bibliography at Oxford 1962-63, a Founding Trustee of the British Library, President of the Bibliographical Society and co-founder of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society.  His scholarship, kindness and sense of fun won him many admirers.

King's College will hold a conference on 28-29 June 2013 to mark the centenary of Munby’s birth. The theme, ‘Floreat Bibliomania – Great Collectors and their Grand Designs’ will provide an opportunity to map current and future developments in the study of collectors and collecting.

Principal speakers include Nicolas Barker, Penelope Bulloch, Christopher de Hamel, Anthony Edwards, Anthony Hobson, Peter Jones, David McKitterick, David Pearson, and Toshiyuki Takamiya.   Reflecting Munby’s generosity to students, the event will also feature panels of young bibliographers and book collectors.  Delegates will have the chance to visit private exhibits in the Founder’s Library of the Fitzwilliam Museum and in the King’s College Library, as well as a special Munby exhibit at the Cambridge University Library.

A celebratory reception and dinner will take place on the first evening of the conference.