John Thompson (fl. 1613-1630)

John Thompson gained his BA from St John's in 1616, and his MA in 1620, becoming a Fellow in the same year. He was MP for Cambridge from 1625 to 1626 and served as secretary to John Williams, his fellow Johnian.

Thompson's gift to the Library

Thompson gave around 20 volumes to the Library, mainly concerned with European, particularly German, history, most notably Philip Cluver's work on ancient Germans (Leyden, 1616), with its graphic illustrations of barbarian tribesmen.

Provenance markings

All the volumes given by Thompson bear his arms stamped in gold on both covers, and have an inscription bearing his name and the date 1629 on the title-page.

(Above) Title-page inscription in a volume given by John Thompson.