19th Century Collections Online: the Corvey Collection of European Literature, 1790-1840

Following consultations with English Literature and French Studies, the Library has just purchased a large digital collection of European literature called the Corvey Collection of European Literature, 1790-1840.

As part of the Nineteenth Century Collections Online (NCCO), this unique collection of monographs includes 7,717 works in English, 6,504 in French and 3,640 in German published in Britain and on the Continent during the Romantic period and the early Victoria era. Sourced from Castle Corvey near Höxter in Germany, the Corvey Collection is one of the most important collections of works from the period in existence, with particular strength in especially difficult-to-find or even previously unknown works – by women writers in particular. The collection’s vast archive of materials documents the nature and scope of literary publication in England and on the Continent during the Romantic period and the early years of the Victorian era. Scholars can research and explore a range of topics, including Romantic literary genres; mutual influences of British, French and German Romanticism; literary culture; women writers of the period; the canon and Romantic aesthetics.

The resource will soon be added to the Databases A-Z list as well as for Databases by Subject for English Literature, French Studies, German Studies, and History. At the moment, it can be accessed from the database entry for another NCCO collection that we purchased last year, Nineteenth Century Collections Online: British Politics and Society.

Related link: The Corvey Project at Sheffield Hallam University

Gale Primary Sources drop-in session Monday 30th Jan in Main Library

gale-primary-sources

Get the most from our digital archives through Gale Primary Sources

Gale Primary Sources is an extensive digital archives programme spanning multiple disciplines and cultures. The platform uses specialist technology and tools to cross-search the Gale digital archives that our institution has access to.

See for yourself!

We have access to Gale Primary Sources through the Library. Join us to see how you can use this platform to enrich your research and improve your grades:

Monday 30th January
10am – 4pm (drop in)
Main Library – George Square

Want to know more about Gale Primary Sources?

When you explore Gale Primary Sources, you’ll discover original, first-hand content – meticulously cross-referenced to bring the facts into focus and the information to life in remarkable new ways. This digital platform provides an enhanced research experience with reliable search results. You can conduct one search and easily see related resources from extensive digital archives in one place. Find out more here » For more information about this drop-in workshop or on Gale Primary Sources, please email emea.marketing@cengage.com

Iranian archives at Durham

Durham University is now home to three important archives containing materials relating to Iranian History, Culture and Politics. The archives originate in the work of three British scholars who worked extensively in Iran in the last century.  The collection combines the work of the late Anne Lambton, the late David Brooks and Sue Wright. In future years the collection will mark Durham out as an important destination for researchers interested to know more about Iran in the 20th century.

Professor Sue Wright, Danish School of Education, Aarthus University, will give a personal reflection herself on the content and significance of these three collections on 31 January 2017, 17:00 in The Learning Centre, Palace Green Library. The public lecture is entitled: Iranian archives at Durham: A personal reflection on people, places and the public record.

Contact Professor Bob Simpson ( robert.simpson@durham.ac.uk ) for more information.

18th Century Drama and other resources for trial

18th-century-drama

The Library has organised a free trial, until 29th Nov 2016, of several literature-related databases of digitised archives and manuscripts:

Eighteenth Century Drama A unique archive of almost every play submitted for licence between 1737 and 1824, and hundreds of documents that provide social context for the plays.

London Low Life is a full-text searchable resource, containing colour digital images of rare books, ephemera, maps and other materials relating to 18th, 19th and early 20th century London. It is designed for both teaching and study, from undergraduate to research students and beyond. In addition to the digital documents, London Low Life contains a wealth of secondary resources, including a chronology, interactive maps, essays, online galleries and links to other useful websites.

Medieval Travel Writing provides direct access to a widely scattered collection of original medieval manuscripts that describe travel – real and imaginary – in the Middle Ages. The project combines:

  • Multiple manuscript sources, detailing the journeys of famous travellers from Marco Polo to John Capgrave, and the stories of legendary figures such as Prester John and Sir John Mandeville.
  • Translations and supporting materials (all of which are fully searchable).
  •  Maps showing the routes of the travellers.
  •  Introductory essays by leading scholars.

Popular Culture in Britain and America (Module I & II) explores the dynamic period of social, political and cultural change between 1950 and 1975. The resource offers thousands of colour images of manuscript and rare printed material as well as photographs, ephemera and memorabilia from this exciting period in our recent history.

Shakespeare in Performance showcases rare and unique prompt books from the world-famous Folger Shakespeare Library. These prompt books tell the story of Shakespeare’s plays as they were performed in theatres throughout Great Britain, the United States and internationally, between the seventeenth and twentieth centuries. *Please note that PDF download options are not available during trials.

The trials are also accessible from the Library’s E-Resources Trials website.

 

Three Japanese e-resources for trial

The Library has arranged a free trial for the following three e-resources from Japan:

  1. Fuzoku Gaho (風俗画報,1889 – 1916)
  2. Toyo Keizai Digital Archive(東洋經濟, 1895 – 1945)
  3. Mainichi Newspaper Maisaku(每日新聞, 1872 – 1999)

To access the trial, go to the Library’s E-Resources Trials website. The trial ends on 30 November 2016.

Fuzoku Gaho  and Toyo Keizai Digital Archive are to be accessed on the JapanKnowledge platform which is in our Databases A-Z list. See the screenshot below:

fuzoku-and-toyo

Database for the History of Contemporary Chinese Political Movements

chinese-political-movementsThe Library has arranged a free trial of the Database for the History of Contemporary Chinese Political Movements, 1949 – 1976. The resource is published by the Chinese University in Hong Kong.

Click here to access the trial or go to the Library’s E-Resources Trials website. EASE login applies. The trial ends on 10 Nov 2016.

The database contains the full-text primary sources for the following four Chinese political movements after the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949:

  1. The political campaigns in the 1950sthe Chinese cultural revolution (1966-1976)from land reform to the state-private partnership (1949-1956)
  2. The Great Leap Forward and great feminine (1958-1964)
  3. The Anti-Rightest Campaign (1957- )
  4. The Cultural Revolution (1966-1976)

Chinese database for trial

We have been offered a free trial of 大成故纸堆 which contains a vast amount of full-text material for Chinese studies. The trial can be accessed on the University network by going to www.dachengdata.com. The trial finishes on 23rd October 2016.

大成故纸堆

The database is produced by the same company that supplies us with Duxiu and Chinamaxx. It contains the following categories of full-text material:

老旧期刊全文数据库 (containing over 7,000 full-text periodicals from the late Qing Dynasty to 1949. There are many titles that are not found in the Late Qing Periodicals 1833-1911 and Minguo periodicals 1911-1949 that we subscribe to.)

民国图书全文数据库 (39,000 digitised books published between 1911 and 1949)

中国各地古方志集 (3,400 local gazetteers published throughout China’s history before 1949, some dating back to Song Dynasty)

古籍文献全文数据库 (15,000 pre-modern and rare Chinese books)

中共党史期刊数据库 (200 full-text periodicals published by the Chinese Communist Party before 1949)

《申报》 1872-1949 全文数据库 (we have already purchased this resource – please see Database A-Z list)

Mango Languages – online language courses for trial

The University Library has arranged a free trial of an online language learning resource called “Mango Languages”. The service offers online interactive courses for learning over 70 languages, including almost all those that are taught at our University:

Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese), Danish, Finnish, French, Gaelic (Scottish), German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Swahili, Turkish, as well as Shakespeare English!

Mango Languages

It consists of two types of resources: Mango Conversations teaches through native-speaker dialogue, cultural insights, and critical thinking exercises, while Mango Premiere teaches foreign languages through the dialogue and culture found in full-length international films. Proprietary technology includes interactive subtitles and colour coding which allow learners t easily understand meaning, word order, and grammatical structures. Applications for mobile devices are also available through Google Play and App Store.

The trial is from now until 31 October 2016.

For access, please go to the Library’s e-resources trial website at http://www.ed.ac.uk/information-services/library-museum-gallery/finding-resources/library-databases/e-resources-trials , or go to trial link directly, EASE login is required:

https://www.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/login?url=https://connect.mangolanguages.com/university-of-edinburgh/try/10c39bacf

Happy learning!

Learning Scottish Gaelic online?

Colloquial Scottish Gaelic.inddThe Library has purchased an e-book version, with an audio file, of Colloquial Scottish Gaelic published in August 2015. The e-book can be accessed via the Library’s DiscoverEd, or click here. Audio material to accompany the course is available to download free in MP3 format from www.routledge.com/cw/colloquials.

Colloquial Scottish Gaelic provides a step-by-step course in Scottish Gaelic as it is written and spoken today. Combining a user-friendly approach with a thorough treatment of the language, it equips learners with the essential skills needed to communicate confidently and effectively in Scottish Gaelic in a broad range of situations. No prior knowledge of the language is required. Continue reading