The tower will reveal its secrets

The mysterious contents of Cambridge University's famous library tower are to be revealed.

That's what the Cambridge Evening News says. You might be disappointed, however, to hear that there are no big secrets there, though plenty of curious little things. That is: no Wuthering Heights or Agnes Grey manuscripts and certainly no Emily's second novel but still enough decent material such as first editions of Brontë novels. So it's no bad news for Brontë lovers after all:

A familiar sight on the Cambridge skyline, the imposing 12-storey structure has no reader access - leading to rumours materials consigned to its walls are pornographic in nature.
Now the 170,000 publications stored there since the 1930s are to be made more widely accessible, thanks to a £536,000 grant from the Andrew W Mellon Foundation to fund the creation of an online, searchable catalogue.
Rest assured - Cambridge University says the tower's content is entirely innocent.
Inside are thousands of Victorian books, pamphlets, maps, calendars, games, photo albums and trade catalogues once considered too populist, low-brow, or otherwise unsuitable for inclusion in the primary catalogues of an academic library.
The definition of "academic" in the 19th century was very restricted - even valuable first editions of novels by Dickens, Conan Doyle, the Bronte family, Henry James and Sir Walter Scott were locked away.
Vanessa Lacey from the library, who will manage the project to produce the online catalogue, said: "This project will uncover the overlooked treasures in our attic.
"The new cataloguing will make a significant impact on what researchers can discover about the Victorian era."
The collection is of historic value because it provides a rare record of everyday life.
Many of the books are in mint condition, with their original bindings.
The project starts this summer and is due to be completed in 2010.
The books include:
Cheap, Nice and Nourishing Cookery- a book that recommends boiling carrots for two hours
How to Mesmerise
A large collection of "penny dreadfuls"
* cheap novels
Map of the route of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee procession
The Victorian Album, a 1897 photo album
School registers
Trade catalogues, and brochures on women's fashions and social issues

So there's lots of things to sort of wrap around the Brontës there! (We love the How to Mesmerise book :D)

Believe us, reading this from a country where the National Library can only be entered into with an authorisation makes us dreadfully jealous of libraries that follow the motto that books are for all.

Anyway - here's the website of the Cambridge University Library, though the contents of the tower will take a while to filter there, as you have read.

Categories: Victorian_Era, In_the_News