Database trial for Chinese and Japanese ancient books

Some of us may have already used Diaolong Complete Si Ku Series (in Databases A-Z) that we have subscribed to for the last few years. This resource is part of a larger database which also contains many more pre-1911 Chinese books as well as several thousand volumes of Japanese books. The database is called Diaolong Full-text Database of Chinese & Japanese Ancient Books — 雕龍中日古籍全文資料庫.

The University Library has now set up a trial of this whole database. The trial will be added to the E-resources Trials website: http://edin.ac/e-resources-trials very soon. Meanwhile, you can access the trial directly at the following website on the University network or via VPN while off campus:

The trial will end on 31 August 2022, with a possible subscription depending on feedback and library budget.

Diaolong Full-text Database of Chinese & Japanese Ancient Books contains about 30,000 ancient books which cover a wide range of subjects including history, religion, philosophy, literature, politics, economics, medicine and local gazetteers. The page display can be in scanned images, in transcribed texts, or in both side by side. The huge number of books are sourced from 21  large series titles which can be searched or browsed. These 21 series are:

  1. Daozang (道藏, 1513 book titles / 5878 vols)
  2. Daozang jiyao (道藏辑要, 299 / 2553)
  3. Sibu congkan (四部叢刊, 472 / 13685)
  4. Xu Sibu congkan (續四部叢刊, 364 / 15328)
  5. Yongle dadian (永樂大典, 813 / 813)
  6. Gujin Tushu Jicheng (古今圖書集成, 33 / 10012)
  7. Dunhuang shiliao(敦煌史料,2952 / 2955)
  8. Qingdai shiliao (清代史料, 113 / 10832)
  9. Zhongguo difangzhi (中國地方誌, 2137 / 52022)
  10. Zhongguo difangzhi xuji (中國地方誌續集,1939 / 37477)
  11. Zhongguo difangzhi sanji (中國地方誌三集,2090 / 18309)
  12. Riben gudian shujiku (日本古典書籍庫, 618 / 7400)
  13. Siku quanshu (四庫全書, 3541 / 92074)
  14. Xuxiu Siku quanshu (續修四庫全書, 5550 / 104703)
  15. Siku cunmu (四庫存目,4350 / 65551)
  16. Siku wei shou shu (四庫未收書,167 / 2479)
  17. Siku jin hui shu (四庫禁毀書,620 / 13342)
  18. Liufu wencang (六府文藏, 7717 / 149576)
  19. Zhongguo minjian wenxue (中國民間文學,203 / 538)
  20. Qingdai keju zhujuan (清代科舉硃卷, 1071 / 7792)
  21. Yi jia ku (醫家庫,1033 / 9362)

Feedback would be much appreciated.

Scoop a student award for using digital library resources in Chinese

The Library subscribes to two databases from CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastruture): China Academic Journals and China Doctoral and Masters Dissertations Full-text Database. These databases are receiving very high usage across all three Colleges of the University, and our overall usage is the highest in the UK.

CNKI is offering database users opportunities to win packs of awards for using CNKI e-resources. Please see https://cnki.mike-x.com/Fe8LP, with links to:

The prizes are:

  1. Zhuang Yuan (状元) Prize: a plaque and $800 BOOK grants( $300 for books at Amazon, $500 for ebook from CNKI)
  2. Bang Yan (榜眼) Prize: a plaque and $500 BOOK grants ($200 for books at Amazon, $300 for ebook from CNKI)
  3. Tan Hua (探花) Prize: a plaque and $300 BOOK grants ($100 for books at Amazon, $200 for ebook from CNKI)
  4. Jin Shi (进士) Prize: a plaque and $100 BOOK grants ($100 for ebook from CNKI) and over 100 other prizes for learning chances of learning and researching on China.

The names Zhuang Yuan, Bang Yan, Tan Hua and Jin Shi are the titles of top winners in the imperial examinations of pre-1911 China.

Europresse trial – French newspapers and magazines, and more…

The Library has arranged a trial of Europresse for a very limited period, for 10 days until 12 Nov 2021. The trial can be accessed from the Library’s E-resources Trials website, or access the following link directly which requires UoE login:

https://nouveau-europresse-com.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/Search/Reading

Europresse provides access to over 6,200 publications including journals, newspapers, blogs, and magazines. Coverage is international with many of the publications included available in their original language and layout. The database includes numerous European national newspapers such as Le Monde, Libération and Le Figaro, along with regional newspapers. English language titles such as The Guardian and The New York Times are also available. Thematically, Europresse titles cover the Humanities and Social Sciences, Politics, Law, Economics, Finance, Science, Environment, IT, Transports, Industry, Energy, Agriculture, Arts and culture (Lire, Le Magazine littéraire, World Literature Today, Télérama, Rock and Folk…), Health, and event Sports (L’Équipe, France Football, Sport 24…). It also includes some TV and radio transcripts, biographies and reports, images, audio and video content.

As an example, it provides the image version of today’s Le Monde newspaper which is a welcome alternative to the text version of Le Monde via Factiva. Le Monde Historical Archive, which we subscribe to, covers only 1944-1999.

You can see the full list of publications provided by Europresse here:

https://nouveau-europresse-com.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/Pdf

Please send feedback via the E-resources trial feedback form.

Miras Maktoob: Persian E-books Collection

The Library has purchased the Miras Maktoob Persian e-book collection available via Brill Online.

The Collection consists of 249 volumes (189 works) originally published by the Written Heritage Research Institute (Miras Maktoob), a non-governmental organisation in Tehran. These e-books, which are exclusively available from Brill, include works in both Persian and Arabic on Islamic history and culture in the broadest sense. Detailed title information will be made available for the entire collection.

Features
– 
Languages: Persian and Arabic
– English title descriptions available
– 249 volumes (189 titles) on the Persianate and Islamic World
– High-level academic texts and resources
– All volumes appearing in digital format for the first time

How to access

You can access these e-books directly on the Brill Online platform with your UoE login:

All the individual titles can be retrieved in DiscoverEd by title or author searches in Persian script or transliteration. Title search by series title Miras Maktoob will retrieve all the titles at once, or simply click here.

Launch of new book on Sir Walter Scott

Frolics in the Face of EuropeOn the occasion of the commemoration of Sir Walter Scott 250th birthday anniversary in 2021, a new book has just been published which will soon be added to the Library collection:

Iain Gordon Brown, Frolics in the Face of Europe : Sir Walter Scott, Continental Travel and the Tradition of the Grand Tour (Fonthill Media, 2020. ISBN: 9781781558096)

The online book launch will take place tomorrow Wednesday evening at 6.00pm, 24th Feb 2021. The event is free and will be in the form of a webinar with Ian Gordon Brown (author) and Professor Joseph Farrell. For more information and to join the event, please visit: https://iiclondra.esteri.it/iic_londra/en/gli_eventi/calendario/2021/02/frolics-in-the-face-of-europe-sir.html

See also:

The Shakespeare’s Collection – new resources from Gale

Several new resources have been added to Archives Unbound, a key primary source database from Gale. Among these is The Shakespeare Collection.

The Collection contextualizes the legacy of this great poet and playwright, containing a selection of over 200 prompt books (annotated working texts of stage managers and company prompters) from the 17th to 20th centuries, the extensive diaries of Shakespeare enthusiast Gordon Crosse documenting 500 UK performances from 1890 to 1953, the First Folio and Quartos, editions and adaptations of Shakespeare’s works from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, more than 80 works Shakespeare is thought to have been familiar with, as well as works composed by Shakespeare’s contemporaries.

The Collection contains 225 monographs and 764 manuscripts. Coverage 1571-1975.

There is now a new Shakepeare Resource page, within the Library Subject Guide for English Literature, which brings together major Library resources for the study of William Shakespeare (1564-1616), the greatest dramatist the world has ever seen.

Ban Dainagon Ekotob : a premium replica of the late 12th-century Japanese emakimono (picture scroll)

The Library has just purchased a beautiful reproduction of a late 12th-century Japanese emakimono (絵巻) – a set of 3 illustrated narrative picture scrolls called Ban Dainagon Ekotob (伴大納言絵詞 The Tale of Great Minister Ban). The full-colour painting depicts the events of the Ōtemmon Conspiracy, an event of Japan’s early Heian period. The painting, attributed to Tokiwa Mitsunaga, is over 20 m (66 ft) long and about 31.5 cm (12.4 in) tall. The original art work is considered to be Kokuhō (國寶, or a Japanese national treasure) among six such rare and invaluable picture scrolls. Information about their replica can be found here.

The reproduction was published by Chikuma shobo (筑摩書房) in 1971-1974 in a limited edition of 1000 copies. Our Library copy has the set number ’84’. The 3 hand-scrolls are placed individually in 3 wooden cases, each accompanied with a booklet. The set has been catalogued for the Centre for Research Collections. See the bibliographic record in DiscoverEd here.

The material has been purchased in response to needs for a Japanese Studies course called “Supernatural Japan: doing Japanology through Yokai”. As the course takes a ‘learning by doing’ approach, allowing students to experience Yokai in art, literature to discover the historical and cultural value of Yokai in Japanese society, this set of 3 hand-scrolls will give a rare opportunity of authentic reading experience for students of Japanese Studies or anyone interested in Japanese art, history and culture.

China Families – New Genealogy Website by Bristol University

This is an edited re-blog of a newsletter from the Scotland-China Association.

Were your ancestors out in China? If so, track them with China Families:

https://www.chinafamilies.net

China Families is directed by Robert Bickers, Professor of History at the University of Bristol. The database platform allows you to search across 60,000 names of men and women who lived, worked or died in China, between the 1850s and 1940s. The information is drawn from ten different sources, and you can search each one of these individually, but you can also search across all of them. There are many Chinese names here, as well as the names of foreign residents.

In the century before 1950, tens of thousands of foreign nationals lived and worked in China. They could be found in large communities in major coastal cities like Shanghai or Tianjin, as well as in tiny countryside missionary compounds, or isolated Customs stations deep in China’s interior. Often thought to be exotic and obscure, these communities created newspapers, and directories, and their lives and activities were widely recorded. But finding out about ancestors who spent time in China can be difficult, for the records are scattered, and even old cemeteries were destroyed in the 1960s. Therefore, China Families helps uncover a hidden past.

Its companion site Historial Photographs of China makes available over 20,000 photographs of the period, many of them supplied by China families.

e-Marefa Arabic databases for trial

E-Marefa is an integrated database of full-text academic journals, statistics, articles, dissertations, e-books, book reviews, conference proceedings and abstracts about the Arabic World. The database is produced by Knowledge World Compahy for Digital Content in Jordan in partnership with many universities in the Arab world.

The database contains 1900 academic & statistical periodicals (full text) in English & Arabic, 400,000 articles & statistical reports (full text) in English & Arabic, 25,000 theses & dissertation, 14,000 e-books & book reviews, 6500 Arabic Reviews for International Theses, and e-Marefa DataBank for Islamic Economics and Finance which Offers a broad range of full text and bibliographic databases.

The trial of these databases can be accessed on the University network from the web links below:

Trial ends: 20 June 2018