Category Archives: Collections

Dec 17 2019
1 Comment
Collections, Featured, Library

The Christmas Book Flood

Image: Engraving by F. Barnard from Christmas Books by Charles Dickens, (LRA.S.6660/1). Title page.

Here at the UCF, things are feeling firmly festive – the tiny office tree has been bedecked, mince pies are heaped in the break room, and staff are sporting some of their best knitwear – it’s definitely almost Christmas! Beyond all the feasting and gift-giving, one of my favourite moments of the season is having the time to slow down and relax, to cosy up in front of a warm fire and read a good book by the glow of fairy lights. And this is exactly the Christmas custom in Iceland. Every year in the few months approaching December, publishers release all their new titles in the prevailing tradition of Jólabókaflóðið, or the “Christmas book flood”. This practice dates back to World War II, where currency restrictions limited the amount of imported giftware. This did not extend to paper however, and therefore the humble book became the default gift. Christmas Eve is the main gift-giving day in Iceland, and after receiving their crisp new books many Icelanders spend the night cosied up and reading away, as in my idyllic winter image.

In the same spirit, I hope to introduce you to a deluge of Christmas books held here at the UCF. Amongst the more literary offerings, there are some unexpected instructive volumes; The history of the Christmas card (.74168 Bud.) for example, a guide to eradicating Christmas tree pests (Reference seq.) and the slightly less seasonal, An investigation of the coconut-growing potential of Christmas Island (F 634.616 Dir.). I’m not sure those titles are exactly what I’m hoping to find under my tree this year!

Offering us a more festive read is Robert Louis Stevenson’s A Christmas Sermon (LRA.S.3773). First appearing in the pages of Scribner’s Magazine in 1888, these musings were subsequently published in their own slim little volume by Chatto & Windus in 1906. Here, Stevenson considers how Christmas is a period of both reflection and celebration:

“There is no cutting of the Gordian knots of life; each must be smilingly unravelled. To be honest, to be kind – to earn a little and to spend a little less, to make, upon the whole, a family happier for his presence, to renounce when that shall be necessary and not be embittered, to keep a few friends, but these without capitulation – above all, on the same grim condition, to keep friends with himself – here is a task for all that a man has fortitude and delicacy. He has an ambitious soul who would ask more; he has a hopeful spirit who should look in such an enterprise to be successful…But Christmas is not only the mile-mark of another year, moving us to thoughts of self-examination: it is a season, from all its associations, whether domestic or religious, suggesting thoughts of joy (p. 14-16)”

A handwritten inscription in the opening pages, “With much love from…” shows us that this book too was originally given as a gift, which is a cheering thought.

Furthermore, I cannot think of Christmas and not think of Dickens. This may be because The Muppet Christmas Carol is the most beloved film in my household at this time of year, but I am firmly of the opinion that in this tale, Dickens created the best and most enduring Christmas story of all time. We hold several editions of this classic at the UCF, including within a collection of Dickens’ Christmas books published in 1892 by Chapman & Hall (LRA.S.6660/1). In the preface, Dickens writes of the volume: “My chief purpose was, in a whimsical kind of masque which the good-humour of the season justified, to awaken some loving and forbearing thoughts, never out of season in a Christian land.” Bound in an appropriate holly-green with gold lettering on the spine, this beautiful volume is further illustrated inside with 28 engravings by F. Barnard. Above you may see the decorative title page, whilst below is Ebenezer Scrooge encountering the ghost of Jacob Marley, and a transformed Scrooge carrying Tiny Tim through the streets on Christmas day.

Image: Christmas Books, opposite title page.

Image: Christmas Books, p. 8.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My family will most definitely be receiving some rectangular-shaped packages this Christmas, although perhaps not a first edition Dickens. During my most recent bookshop trip I even accidentally picked up a little gift for myself – Stuart Kells’ The Library: a catalogue of wonders (Counterpoint, 2018). The blurb calls it, “A love letter to libraries and to their makers and protectors”, and I can’t think of anything better to curl up with on Christmas Eve. A Merry Christmas to us all, and happy reading!

 

Daisy Stafford, UCF Library Assistant

Tagged , , ,
Oct 31 2019
Leave a comment
Collections, Featured, Library Link

Halloween Highland Superstitions

Image: Title page of a manuscript copy of The secret commonwealth by Robert Kirk, 1692. Held in The Laing Collection (La.III.551).

The day of Halloween is upon us and here at the UCF we’re marking the occasion the only way we know how…with some seriously spooky books! A quick click through the catalogue reveals some absolutely terrifying reading material. Titles such as Bats in roofs: a guide for surveyors (699.878), A bibliographical ghost revisits his old haunts (.01 Fra.), and Safe handling of corpses containing radioactive substances (WN650 Nat 1966) are lurking on our shelves. It’s enough to make even the most stoic librarian shudder!

Continuing to search for the magical and mystical amongst our collections, I came across a title by Robert Kirk; The secret commonwealth of elves, fauns & fairies: a study in folk-lore & psychical research (tOD 91 KIR). Kirk was a Gaelic scholar, folklorist, and alumnus of The University of Edinburgh. He collated this collection of folklore between 1691 and 1692 but died without seeing it published, which wasn’t until over a century later in 1815, by Sir Walter Scott. Several copies are held amongst the universities collections, whilst an 1893 edition, digitised by the HathiTrust, can be found here. Besides being a very significant work in its own right, it has recently served as the inspiration for the title of the second volume in Philip Pullman’s Book of Dust trilogy.

We only hold one item however, with the word Halloween actually in its title. This is Alexander Macgregor’s Highland superstitions; connected with the Druids, fairies, witchcraft, second-sight, Hallowe’en, sacred wells and lochs, with several curious instances of Highland customs and beliefs (SSSA.S.841). Published in Stirling in 1901 it lives amongst the School of Scottish Studies collection. A slim, unassuming volume, bound in forest-green, it details the events of All Hallows Eve as follows:

“Hallowe’en in Gaelic means “Samhuinn,” that is “Samhtheine,” the fire of peace. It is a Druidical festival, at which the fire of peace is regularly kindled. There is no night in the year which the popular imagination has stamped with a more peculiar character than Hallowe’en. It was the night, above all others, when supernatural influences prevailed. It was the night for the universal walking abroad of all sorts of spirits, fairies, and ghosts, all of whom had liberty on that night. It was customary in many parts of Scotland to have hundreds of torches prepared in each district for weeks before Hallowe’en, so that, after sunset on that evening, every youth able to carry a blazing torch, or “samhnag,” ran forth to surround the boundaries of their farms with these burning lights, and thereby protect all their possessions from the fairies. Having thus secured themselves by these fires of peace, all the households congregated to practice the various ceremonies and superstitious rites of that eventful evening. (p. 44)”

Some of the rites and ceremonies Macgregor describes we might recognise, such as ducking for apples or the reading of fortunes in teacups. Others, less so, “the wetting of the shirt sleeve, the sowing of hemp seed, pulling the stalks of corn, throwing the clue of blue yarn into the pit of the kiln, the white of eggs put into a glass of water” (p.46) do not feature in our modern autumnal festivities. An evocative account of the latter ceremony follows, in which a fresh egg is punctured with a pin and allowed to drip into a glass of pure water, to reveal one’s destiny:

“The glass is then held up to the candle, and some important event in the future of the life of the inquirer is found exhibited hieroglyphically in the glass, – the egg droppings assuming an endless variety of shapes, in which the skilful in these matters discover a resemblance to things, which, by association, clearly point out coming circumstances and events. All this was done by an old, weird Sybil, who had been invited for the special purpose of reading to the young folks the various signs and indications of this privileged right. (p.49)”

Perhaps you will take a leaf out of our book (and Macgregor’s) by adding this early 20th century rite into your revelries this evening. The Beltane Samhuinn Fire Festival is keeping the smahnag tradition alive with their yearly blazing display on Calton Hill. Happy Samhuinn!

 

Daisy Stafford, UCF Library Assistant

Tagged , ,
Jan 13 2015
Leave a comment
Collections, Library

Edinburgh University Press and the Library Annexe

Part of the Special Collections material we keep here at the Library Annexe is the published output of the Edinburgh University Press; leading scholarly publisher of academic books and journals in Scotland. EUP publishes a range of research publications (in a wide variety of subjects), from research monographs and serials; to textbooks and materials which are available online (it is a part of University Publishing Online, the online platform of Cambridge University Press). It was established in 1940s and became wholly owned by The University of Edinburgh in 1992. All publications carry the imprimatur of the University and the University Library acts as a deposit library for all publications printed by the Press. This helps to ensure that EUP’s publications are collected systematically, to preserve the material for future use and to make it available for readers here and now. EUP material is available on a strictly reference basis under the same conditions as any other rare book or Special Collections item. Readers can consult the material either here or in the CRC (6th floor of the Main Library). The deliveries are twice a week, Mondays and Wednesdays at 1pm

To show the variety of material published by EUP, I did a quick search (key words Slovenia and Zizek) and found quite a few interesting articles and monographs.

Žižek and Politics: A Critical IntroductionŽižek and Communist Strategy: On the Disavowed Foundations of Global Capitalism

Slavoj Žižek is undoubtedly the most renowned Slovenian author; philosopher and cultural theorist sometimes referred to as “Elvis of cultural theory” or “academic rock star”. Žižek achieved international recognition after the 1989 publication of his first book in English, The Sublime Object of Ideology.

Edinburgh University Press Official Site

About the University’s Special Collections

Marko Mlakar, Library Annexe Assistant

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,
Sep 15 2014
Leave a comment
Collections

Fifty Shelves of Gray (and Nelson)

The Laird of Glenfernie by Mary Johnston (Nelson Archive)

The Laird of Glenfernie by Mary Johnston (Nelson’s Continental Library)

Springtime by H. C. Bailey

Springtime by H. C. Bailey

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While the cover of Fifty Shades of Grey displays a degree of restraint, publishers and consumers of the romance genre did not always have such a taste for understated dust-jackets. Instead, they favoured a more direct approach.

The Prize-Winner. A comedy in one act by Macdonald Watson (Repertory Plays. no. 86.)

The Prize-Winner. A comedy in one act by Macdonald Watson (Repertory Plays. no. 86.)

The King's Wooing by Conal O'Riordan (Repertory Plays No. 71)

The King’s Wooing by Conal O’Riordan (Repertory Plays No. 71)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In these examples from Gowans and Gray’s playbooks of the 1910s to 30s and Nelson’s Novels from the 20s onwards, it’s clear that previous generations wanted to get right to the action.

Marcella by Mrs. Humphry Ward

Marcella by Mrs. Humphry Ward

Over 500 books from the Nelson publishing archive have been shelf-marked and catalogued by rare books cataloguing interns Beth and Fiona. There are only around another 9,500 left to go!

The books in the collection reflect the decades of the 20th century- beginning with the staid, uniform editions of the New Century Library; progressing through stylish art deco illustrations; austere WWI and WWII paper; bright, pulpy dust-jackets from the ‘40s and ‘50s; and into rainbow-hued classics of the later decades.

Interesting examples of the changing book styles of the 20th century will be exhibited in the 6th floor display wall at the Centre for Research Collections next year.

The Thomas Nelson Archive contains these Gowans and Gray playbooks; a handsome series of repertory plays with fragile glassine dust wrappers.

Fiona Mowat and Beth Dumas , CRC Cataloguing Interns

Items from Nelson’s Library on the On-line Catalogue

[Blog] The AnneXe Factor: Full Nelson Archive

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,
Jul 11 2014
Leave a comment
Collections, Library

Centre for the Study of World Christianity Update

With the print collections of the Centre for the Study of World Christianity (CSWC) Library, set up by Professor Andrew F. Walls, now having been in our care at the Annexe for a year, the time to say goodbye again is approaching.

Over his long career spanning over 50 years Professor Walls has held posts (among others) at the UK universities of Aberdeen, Liverpool Hope and, of course, Edinburgh. The scope and nature of his research led the magazine Christianity Today to describe him in 2007 as ‘a historian ahead of his time’ and ‘the most important person you don’t know’.

Professor Andrew F. Walls

Professor Andrew F. Walls set up the Centre for the Study of World Christianity at Edinburgh

As the topic of the influence exercised by different religious groups within British society is at the forefront of the public interest the moment, Professor Walls’s outlook on the way Christianity has moved and developed over the years is certainly pertinent. And his unique outlook is reflected in this collection that he gradually built up over the years of his career as a missionary and academic. Apart from Professor Walls’s main interest in the development on Christianity and Christian mission in Africa (which he saw as a reflection of the future of Christianity as a whole), the collection contains material that illuminates the way that the Western world has viewed eastern religions and vice versa. The CSWC collection is a unique resource on the topic. However, previous access to this collection was irregular.

When the collection was added to the fold at the Annexe, it was partially to make it accessible on a wider basis (via intra-library loans available to all users), but also to allow work to be performed on this diverse collection. Indeed, over the past year requests for CSWC items became a regular part of our workflow at the Annexe. As the collection has gradually grown over the years since its donation to the New College library by Professor Walls, now was an opportunity to streamline it and make easier to both access and manage.

To this end, here at the Annexe we have used our time with the World Christianity collection, in collaboration with colleagues throughout Information Services, in order to carefully work through the 11,000 items contained in it. A number of projects were set up to ensure that the material is consolidated, itemised, and re-classified. Each item (books and pamphlets) will be individually processed and the collection streamlined, ready for its re-integration to the Library of Congress stock at New College library later this summer. As an off-shoot of this process, a small part of the collection will be divided and sent to complement the Andrew Walls Collection currently held at Liverpool Hope University, forging a strong collaborative link.

Iraklis Pantopoulos, Library Annexe Assistant

[Article] Christianity Today: Historian Ahead of His Time

[Blog] The AnneXe Factor: Library of the Centre for the Study of World Christianity now at the Annexe

About the Centre for the Study of World Christianity

About New College Library

Overview of the Andrew F. Walls Centre, Liverpool Hope

Tagged , , , , , , , ,
Jul 18 2013
Leave a comment
Collections, Featured

ECA Collection at the Annexe : Dame Blackadder

A series of articles on the relationship between the Library Annexe and the ECA.

One of the gems being stored out at the Annexe amongst the ECA Collection is the below oil panting by Dame Elizabeth Violet Blackadder.

(c) Elizabeth Blackadder; Supplied by The Public Catalogue Foundation

Tuscan Landscape by Elizabeth V. Blackadder, Oil on paper, 51 x 71 cm, Collection: ECA part of University of Edinburgh Fine Art Collection

A Scottish painter and printmaker, in 1962 Blackadder began teaching at Edinburgh College of Art where she continued until her retirement in 1986.

She is the first woman to be elected to both the Royal Scottish Academy and the Royal Academy.

Her work can be seen at the Tate Gallery, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and has appeared on a series of Royal Mail stamps.

If you are interested in the paintings stored out at the Annexe, the BBC have digitised the collection and made it available on the web page ‘Your Paintings’.

 

Stephanie Farley (Charlie), Library Annexe Assistant

Tagged , , , ,
Jun 21 2013
Leave a comment
Collections, Featured

ECA Collection at the Annexe: British Art

A series of articles on the relationship between the Library Annexe and the ECA.

Among the items from the ECA Collection being stored at the Annexe are some stunning examples of British Art that were purchased in the 50s with funding provided by the Carnegie Trust.

Including some works by Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, and Augustus John.

Library of Congress, Bain Collection

Augustus John poses for the American press on board a ship.

If you are interested in the paintings stored out at the Annexe, the BBC have digitised the collection and made it available on the web page ‘Your Paintings’.

 

Stephanie Farley (Charlie), Library Annexe Assistant

Tagged , , , , ,
Jun 10 2013
Leave a comment
Collections, Featured

ECA Collection at the Annexe : Storage

A series of articles on the relationship between the Library Annexe and the ECA.

The Annexe provides a great space to store, sort, preserve and work on collections.

Improvements to the storage of materials are always on-going. Recently staff from the ECA have been working hard out at the Annexe lining shelves with Plastazote, a hard foam, to protect the paintings.

Volunteers, lining shelves with Plastazote to protect paintings stored at the Library Annexe

Volunteers, Siobhan & Catriona, lining shelves with Plastazote to protect paintings stored at the Library Annexe

Plastazote is used in conservation for many purposes. It is used for packaging and the protection of various fragile objects and artifacts. Also, to create book rests and display supports.

So what is it? Plastazote foam sheets are a high density light weight chemically neutral and inert polyethylene foam material. Catch all of that? This means that the foam is inert and acid free so it won’t react chemically with any conservation material it comes into contact with. The high density foam can be cleanly cut and sculptured to most shapes. Both of these factors make it great for packing archival boxes to fit the object, such as rare books and other valuable items that are subject to potential damage.

Plastazote lined shelves at the Library Annexe

The finished product.

By lining the shelves out at the Annexe, we are creating a more secure, safe, preserving space for the ECA Collection to ensure that the Collection will be in top condition to be enjoyed for many years to come.

 

Stephanie Farley (Charlie), Library Annexe Assistant

Tagged , , , , ,
Jun 04 2013
Leave a comment
Collections, Featured

ECA Collection at the Library Annexe: Student Paintings

A series of articles on the relationship between the Library Annexe and the ECA.

When the Edinburgh College of Art merged with the University of Edinburgh in August 2011, they brought with them a fantastic collection of art and archives. Including a large collection of paintings which were stored off site in Livingston and have now been moved to the Library Annexe.

Paintings at the Library Annexe

ECA Collection

What are these paintings and where do they come from?

The vast majority of the ECA paintings at the Annexe are student works from final year degree shows. The additional storage space provided by the Library Annexe has been a boon to the ECA. This space allows room for the expansion and growth of the collection.

ECA Collection at the Library Annexe

Safe, secure, storage.

In an exciting move, the ECA will this year re-start acquiring final year student work from the Degree show as part of a purchase prize.

If you are interested in art and would like to have a look at what our student’s are creating, the Edinburgh College of Art Degree Show 2013 is currently taking place until Sunday 9 June 2013. Check it out!

 

Don’t fear though, if you miss the Degree show, the ECA Post Graduate Degree Show 2013 will be happening from Saturday 17 August to Sunday 25 August 2013.

Stephanie Farley (Charlie), Library Annexe Assistant

Tagged , , , ,
Apr 30 2013
Leave a comment
Collections, Featured

Full Nelson Archive

Repertory Plays Series, Thomas Nelson Archive

Repertory Plays Series, Thomas Nelson Archive: These picturesque little plays are just some of the gems amongst the collection.

The Thomas Nelson collection of books arrived at the Annexe on Tuesday 14th August 2012. We were very excited to be receiving this collection of books and materials forming the back catalogue of the publishing firm that began in Scotland in 1798. The books date back to the time when Nelson moved away from Scotland to become part of the Wolters Kluwer Group. Edinburgh University already acts as guardians to the Thomas Nelson business archives up to 1960, so it made perfect sense to keep the collection together.

The Interlude of Youth

The Interlude of Youth

We foolishly thought the packed boxes would come straight off the van and onto our shelves before lunch time. However, after only a couple of the 13 pallets were unloaded, we realised that this was unlikely to be the case. The collection is made up of a vast range of materials from cassette tapes to oversized picture books. Each pallet had to be unwrapped and unpacked individually, which involved fighting through layers of dust and dirt (most of which was many years old). The first task we had to undertake was the weeding of duplicates. At first glance there were many copies of the same item, but closer inspection revealed that each item bore tiny differences, which from a bibliographical perspective are potentially huge.

Gods Throw Incense by Katharine Trae

Gods Throw Incense by Katharine Trae

Many weeks later, the collection was finally in its new home at the Library Annexe. After the weeding of duplicates the collection still covered an impressive 275 meters.

Under the Skull and Bones by Ronald Gow

Under the Skull and Bones by Ronald Gow

Whilst unpacking, Library Annexe Assistant Stephanie (Charlie) Farley discovered a first edition of “When Wendy Grew Up” by J.M. Barrie, which is an epilogue to peter Pan (dating from 1957). What made this book stand out was a signature from Mr Sydney Blow, who was not only an actor in the original production of Peter Pan, but the author of the foreword. It was dedicated to Hilda Trevelyan, who played Wendy in the production and to whom the manuscript “When Wendy Grew Up” was dedicated to in 1908. Although not overly valuable, this item is certainly unique. It was the sheer mystery and excitement of not knowing what you might find that helped us get through 13 pallets of material.

Scott Docking, Library Assistant (Special Collections and Archives)

Tagged , , , , , ,
← Older posts