Catalogues and Research Tools
A significant proportion of the Pepys Library and Old Library collections can be searched online using the British Library's English Short Title Catalogue and Incunabula Short Title Catalogue.
Some of the Pepys Library and The Old Library medieval manuscripts are described in the Bodleian Library's Medieval Libraries of Great Britain.
Pre-17th century books printed outside of the British Isles in our collection can be found in the reference book compiled by Adams, H.M.: Catalogue of Books printed on the Continent of Europe 1501-1600 in Cambridge Libraries. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1967.
Pepys Library
The Guide to Catalogues and Research Tools covers the printed catalogues of the Pepys Library, research tools for the Broadside Ballads Collection, Naval Manuscripts, State Papers and Pepys' diaries.
An excellent general overview of resources available for Pepys scholarship can be found on the Catalogue of English Literary Manuscripts website.
Pre-17th century books printed outside of the British Isles in our collection can be found in the reference book compiled by Adams, H.M.: Catalogue of Books printed on the Continent of Europe 1501-1600 in Cambridge Libraries. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1967.
The Pepys Library's Medieval music manuscripts (PL 1236, PL 1594 and PL 1760) are digitised on the Digital Image Archive of Medieval Music. It is a free resource, researchers are required to complete an online registration process.
Pepys' collection of Broadside Ballads have been digitised by the University of California's English Broadside Ballad Archive.
The National Archives have a copy of the Will of Samuel Pepys of Westminster.
Old Library
We are currently working on various projects to provide online research tools for the Old Library collection, including cataloguing our books to appear on the University of Cambridge's 'LibrarySearch' and 'Newton' Catalogues.
17th-century Italian books in the collection can be found in the following printed catalogue: Bruni, Roberto L. and Evans, D. Wyn: Italian 17th-century books in Cambridge libraries: a short-title catalogue. [Firenze]: Leo S. Olschki, 1997.
A list of the College's manuscripts can be found in the publication by James, M.R.: A descriptive catalogue of the manuscripts in the college library of Magdalene College Cambridge. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1909. Please note that there have been subsequent donations of manuscripts to the collection since this catalogue's publication.
The collection of Ferrar Papers have been digitised and available via a subscription-based service at Adam Matthew Digital.
For further information there is also our Ferrar Forum, including a collaborative handlist of the Ferrar Papers.
Valerie Eliot Bequest
In 2013, the College received a bequest of books from Valerie Eliot, wife of T.S. Eliot. They are fully catalogued on the University of Cambridge's 'LibrarySearch' and 'Newton' Catalogues. There is also a PDF document available of the complete list of the books from the bequest.
College Archives
We are currently working on the digitisation of printed handlists and catalogues of the Magdalene College Archives.
Below you will find catalogues that have been completed:
- IA Richards Catalogue: The archive may be consulted by prior application and by permission of the College Archivist.