The Wren Library

Photo: Andrew Dunn

While the kids were at school, the grandparents and I ambled over to the Wren Library at Trinity College to take in the very special collection. It was designed by Christopher Wren in 1676 and completed in 1695.

The library is only open to visitors two hours a day, only 15 people are allowed in at a time, but it is very much worth a visit. There is no photography allowed, no talking and no cell phones, a serious library, used primarily by visiting academics. Among the things you will see housed in glass cases:
 

• A. A. Milne's manuscript of Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner.
• Isaac Newton's first edition copy of Principia Mathematica with hand written notes for the second edition.
• The Capell collection of early Shakespeare editions
• A collection of autograph poems by John Milton
• A 14th-century manuscript of The Vision of Piers Plowman
• Several works printed by William Caxton, including the first book printed in English and the first dated printed book produced in England
• Several notebooks written by Ludwig Wittgenstein
• Handwritten notes by Robert Oppenheimer describing the "Trinity" atomic bomb test in New Mexico, U.S.