Funding for Cambridge academics to research rare books and objects

Cambridge humanities scholars can apply for up to £5000 to research rare books, works of art or other objects in a museum, library, gallery or archive in Cambridge.

The Collection-based Research in the Humanities Scheme, funded by Trinity College and administered by the Isaac Newton Trust, offers up to eight grants per academic year, starting 2024-2025.

Professor Sachiko Kusukawa, Trinity Fellow in the History and Philosophy of Science, says the scheme is a great opportunity for academics to delve into Cambridge’s many and varied collections, some of which lack the resources to support research.

Collegiate Cambridge has a wealth of such collections, large and small, as well as collections within collections that may not be well known to scholars or whose research potential is yet to be fully appreciated and realised.

Professor Kusukawa (pictured above) knows firsthand the excitement and new understanding generated by exploring one of the most extraordinary books in the world.

In 1543, a Flanders-born anatomist aged 28 published a large and beautifully illustrated book on human anatomy. Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564) had already wowed students at the University of Padua with his dissection skills.

In publishing the De humani corporis fabrica. Epitome – known as the Epitome – together with the 700-page Seven books on the fabric of the human body, he was reviving a practice the ancient Greeks held dear, to establish anatomical knowledge through first-hand dissection. The books contained spectacular anatomical illustrations describing the skeletal, muscular, circulatory and nervous systems that impressed contemporaries and later collectors alike. Very soon after dedicating these books to the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, Vesalius became imperial physician.

What fascinates Professor Kusukawa about the Epitome is its additional 3-D element: a ‘paper manikin’ or layered anatomical model (as distinct from a clothes mannequin.)

‘We tend to think of books as made up of two-dimensional pages, but there are several examples of early printed books that included such anatomical flaps or ‘pop-up’ shapes to simulate three-dimensional objects,’ she said.

There are several copies of the Epitome in existence some of which include an intact sheet that can be cut up and glued together to make the manikin, for which Vesalius provides instructions.

‘In the Cambridge copy – perhaps the most beautiful of all the surviving copies – the manikin is made up and has survived, almost miraculously,’ says Professor Kusukawa, adding, ‘it is difficult to appreciate the complexity and intricacy of this manikin without an in-situ examination, which is possible thanks to the care and conservation work by the Library.’

Vesalius’ Epitome and Fabrica are considered some of the most influential historical works on human anatomy and as such are very well known. Professor Kusukawa said:

The Collection-based Research in the Humanities Scheme offers an opportunity to shed light on lesser known or yet-to-be-found gems that will advance research in the humanities.

The funding also covers the cost of conservation of items to enable close-up research.

Apply to the Collection-based Research in the Humanities Scheme.

See Epitome on the University of Cambridge Digital Library.