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The Hanson Collection of the Cruising Association and the University Library of Cambridge

Cambridge University Library is the oldest library in continuous existence in Britain. Over its long history it has established a reputation for scholarship which today is internationally recognised. It is one of the six British libraries of copyright deposit and its holdings, not only of English but of foreign materials, compare with the best in the country. Its stock exceeds five million volumes and contains the collections formed by many individuals and institutions, whether acquired by purchase or as gift. All the collections are named after their original owners and institutions, where they continue to function, enjoy a specific connection with the University Library.

When the Cruising Association approached the University Library about its rare books collection, the University Library was prepared to consider either outright purchase or deposit. In the event sale was preferred and the University Library was prepared to proceed on the terms agreed with the Council. Among the reasons for recommending sale, apart from the sum it would realise, were the acute security problems surrounding the housing of such a collection, the rising costs of insurance and conservation, and the virtual imprisonment of a fine collection in the absence of any permanent staff with the necessary expertise to make the material properly available.

The rare books collection was formed largely in the early decades of this century by the late H J Hanson, O.B.E, MA, the man who spurred much of the impetus to the development of the Association itself. His intention was to bring together a comprehensive collection of books and atlases, both British and foreign, relating to the history of shipbuilding and navigation. In this he was magnificently successful and the collection is characterised by the coherence of its subject matter and the single-mindedness of the man who inspired it. This is such that the unity of the collection, as a matter of national maritime scholarship, must be maintained. The books will accordingly be kept together as a collection in the University Library to be known as the Hanson Collection of the Cruising Association.

Much of the Hanson Collection complements in an extraordinary way material already held in the University Library. The Library's collection of over 13,000 atlases, one of the best in the world, has been strengthened where it is weakest, namely, by the early material of the Hanson Collection. At the same time certain existing University Library collections are especially important to the Hanson Collection. The Jardine Matheson Archives, which contain much descriptive material of the voyages made by the company in the opening up of trade in the Far East, the archives of the Royal Greenwich Observatory or the White Collection of fine mathematical books, all contain rare and important items directly of interest to navigation and maritime history. The Hanson collection has found a splendidly congenial berth among such materials.

The Hanson Collection is wholly concerned with maritime matters. About a third of the books contain narratives of sea-voyages, another third maritime and general atlases, navigational manuals and text-books, and the rest include ship design, reports of shipwrecks, diseases at sea, naval history, sea battles and maritime life. The collection is also important for aesthetic reasons. Many of the maps and plates are perfectly coloured exquisite examples of the map-makers' art It is certain that anyone studying the history of navigation in the future will have to use the Hanson Collection and related materials in Cambridge because of their outstanding significance for the subject. It is of the utmost importance that such a collection, which can never be brought together again, should not be dispersed.

The proposal enabled the Association to find a solution to its long-term accommodation needs and at the same time promote and protect the Hanson Collection which has to be secured as an entity in the national interest. It does not separate the Association from its great collection. On the contrary, it is preserved on terms which would enable members today, and in the future, to have access to it in the context of the wider resources of a major national library. It would create an important link with the great Library of an ancient University which the Library for its part would value and seek to promote.

Dr FW Ratcliffe
Librarian
Cambridge University Library
18 September 1990

With minor editing by Chairman of Library Committee now that transfer has been effected, 26 September 1997

Page updated 7 October 2005