Cards, books and prints

Quentin Blake notecards, postcards and prints

Own a little piece of Newnham's history! We are pleased to be able to offer a very special range of postcards, notecards and an exclusive print produced by Quentin Blake especially for Newnham.

Quentin Blake was commissioned to draw a series of cartoons illustrating key moments and individuals in Cambridge University’s 800-year history, two of which depicted Newnhamites Dorothy Garrod and Rosalind Franklin. The artist very kindly drew the third – The Storming of the Clough Gates – especially for Newnham, inspired by events of October 1921, when the question as to whether women should be allowed to receive their degrees from the Vice-Chancellor in the Senate House was again put to the vote. The decision went against women and a crowd of male undergraduates marched to Newnham and grabbed a coal trolley which was used as “a battering-ram to smash down the Clough Memorial Gates”. In Quentin’s painting, the crowd races towards Pfeiffer Arch. Beyond the gates the Principal, Blanche Athena Clough, faces them – strong and brave but isolated. She is symbolic of Newnham’s determination to ensure that women would insist, quietly yet surely, on the right to be treated equally.

You too can enjoy this powerful and engaging representation of an event so important to the history of women’s education and to Newnham - we still have some limited edition prints of The Storming of the Clough Gates available. Or why not buy a set of postcards or notecards? All proceeds go towards the Changing Lives Campaign. We are extremely grateful to Quentin Blake for his generosity and for supporting the Campaign in this way.

Limited edition mounted print of The Storming of the Clough Gates: £40
Pack of 6 note cards (148 x 105mm) with two each of the drawings below: £6.50 (blank inside)
Pack of 6 postcards (148 x 105mm) with two each of the drawings below: £2.75