THE MATTHEW CABLE COLLECTION ON OLIVER CROMWELL

Turnbull Library Record, Volume XV, 1 November 1962, Page 16

THE MATTHEW CABLE COLLECTION ON OLIVER CROMWELL

This rather small but specialised collection was presented in 1961 by Drs. J. V. and M. R. Cable in memory of their father Matthew Cable, who had gathered the books and portraits. In the group of sixty items, apart from about thirty engraved portraits, there were many contemporary publications concerning Cromwell himself, the Civil War and the Commonwealth periods. The literature on Cromwell is vast, as one can tell from a glance at Abbott’s great Bibliography, but the Library already holds good representation in seventeenth century material, as part of the background to Milton studies.

For any study of Milton's life from about 1640 to 1660, a full appreciation of the political impact of the times is essential. Cromwell and his influence are thus vital to such study, and it was surprising to find among the pamphlets in the Cable collection, only one by Milton, and that, a title the Library had hitherto lacked. This was "A copy of a letter from an officer of the Army in Ireland, to His Highness the Lord Protector" 1656. It was, incidentally, unidentified as by Milton in the Cable collection. Subjects such as the trial of the regicides, the Court of Star Chamber, affairs in Ireland and Scotland, Parliamentary issues, the Civil War and aspects, lives of notabilities of the time, including several of Cromwell and Charles I, Puritanism and international relations, are among those covered in varying degrees, mostly supplementing previous resources.