3 Review(s)

S. C. Roberts, a senior officer of Cambridge University Press as Secretary to the Press Syndicate, wrote several works for Cambridge, including a history of the Press and this handy visitors' guide to the University. After its first publication in 1934, this book went through a number of editions and was thoroughly updated after the Second World War. Roberts introduces the reader to the University from within, covering its history, its finest buildings, the way the University was run and the daily life of the undergraduate. The informal style makes this a highly entertaining introduction to the Cambridge of the 1930s and 40s: the entrance examination, the midnight curfew for undergraduates, the then new University Library, and the systems of governance. For everyone connected with Cambridge, this little book provides fascinating insights into what has and has not changed in the ancient university city since the Second World War.