3 Review(s)

The first Student's Guide to the University of Cambridge was published in 1863, and there were subsequent editions in 1866, 1874 (the version offered here), 1880, 1891 and 1893. There is no authorial name on the title page, but the initials J. R. S. on the preface to the first edition are those of Sir John Robert Seeley (1834-95), the distinguished historian who became Regius Professor of Modern History in 1869. The book was 'written for the benefit not of actual students only, but of all persons who may contemplate entering the University'. It was designed to provide in advance information which the student might otherwise acquire only 'by his own experience and mistakes', and also 'the Studies and Examinations of the University', described by the appropriate professors or examiners. As well as the curriculum, the book provides fascinating details of student daily life in mid-Victorian Cambridge.