An artificial collection of papers relating to the history, fabric, membership, academic life and traditions of St John’s College, received by the Library at various dates over the past 150 years.

Box 1

R[obert] F[orsyth] Scott (1849-1933), Master of St John’s College: ‘Index to list of incumbents of College benefices’, a broadly alphabetical list detailing presentations from the earliest days of the College and maintained until the mid 1920s. The list includes presentations to masterships at schools within the College’s gift.

That Scots had become the official language of the Scottish court is demonstrated by this publication of the laws and transactions of the Stirling Parliament held in 1579, just after James VI (later also I of England), began to assert his own personal rule after the regency of the Earl of Morton.

This volume contains the Sermo de sacrificio in die Pascae of Aelfric, a monk from Winchester, fl. 1006, in Anglo-Saxon and contemporary English. It is the first attempt at printing Anglo-Saxon, and uses a specially designed type incorporating certain characters which do not occur in the Roman alphabet.

A popular success during the author’s lifetime, and the most popular book in English puritan households after the Bible, John Foxe’s Acts and Monuments (known almost immediately and universally as the 'Book of Martyrs') had a colossal impact on English Protestantism for

Born in Belgium, Thomas Gemini came to London to work as an engraver, instrument maker and printer.

Whilst a standard form of English had developed in England from the 14th century, based on the dialects of London and the South East Midlands, in Scotland a related language had displaced Gaelic as the language of the elite. This Scottis (Scots) was based upon northern Anglian dialects spoken in those regions that once formed the kingdom of Northumbria. As can be seen in this printing from the 16th century, spelling and vocabulary differed noticeably from standard English.

This text contains the second and third letters of five sent by Cortes to the Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain, Charles V. These provide an account of his conquest of Mexico, and were written as a justification for his actions as de facto governor of Mexico. However these letters could not bridge the distance to the imperial court, and this enabled his political enemies to weaken his position.

A selection of illustrations from Michael Servetus's (1511?-1553) second edition of Ptolemy's work on geography. This guide to geography, originally written in the 2nd century A.D., became the standard work until the 16th century, and was still having an influence in the 18th century, in spite of its inaccuracies.