Author Archives: cloverodgers

Piping treasure on display in ‘The Piper’s Whim’ Exhibition

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A collection of piobaireachd, or pipe tunes : as verbally taught by the M’Crummen pipers in the Isle of Skye to their apprentices / now published, as taken from John M’Crummen … [by Neil MacLeod, Gesto]. Edinburgh : Printed by Alex. Lawrie & Co., 1828. New College Library Gaelic Collections 137

Currently on display at St Cecilia’s Hall, Cowgate, Edinburgh is an instruction book on the bagpipe  (in Gaelic Pibroch, or, Ceol mor, or, literally, Big music) from New College Library’s Gaelic Collection. Entitled “A collection of piobaireachd, or pipe tunes”  it  includes ” Canntaireachd notation” which was a way of teaching pibroch using verbal sounds. At first sight this looks like a collection of texts, but is actually music in the traditional ‘verbal notation’ that pipers used. It was published by Captain Niel MacLeod of Gesto, in Skye.

The volume is on display as part of THE PIPER’S WHIM: Exhibition of Historic Bagpipes from Scotland, England and Ireland,  a special exhibition showing the full variety of bagpipes played in Britain from the past 250 years. These include Lowland and Border pipes, the more familiar Highland bagpipe, Northumberland smallpipes and Irish union or uillean pipes. The exhibition explores the traditions of piping, pipemaking and bagpipe ownership.

New books at New College Library – August

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Caesar and the LambMigrations of the holyNew College Library has a regular display of new books at the far end of the Library Hall, close to the door to the stacks.

New in this month is Caesar and the Lamb : early Christian attitudes on war and military service by  George Kalantzis, on the shelf at  BT736.2 Kal.

Also new is Migrations of the holy : God, state, and the political meaning of the church by William Cavanaugh, at BV630.3 Cav.

These titles were purchased for Theology & Ethics at the School of Divinity, Edinburgh University.

You can see an regularly updated list of new books for New College Library on the Library Catalogue – choose the New Books Search and limit your search to New College Library. Here’s a quick link to new books arriving in the last few weeks. A word of caution – some of the books listed here may still be in transit between the Main Library (where they are catalogued) and New College Library, so not on the shelf just yet.

From slave trader to ‘Amazing Grace’ – John Newton

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[Newton, John] / An authentic narrative of some remarkable and interesting particularas in the life of ********* ... London, 1786.

[Newton, John] / An authentic narrative of some remarkable and interesting particularas in the life of ********* … London, 1786. New College Library Z.1188

Today marks the anniversary of the birth of John Newton, Anglican clergyman and hymn writer. This volume from New College Library’s Special Collections tells his remarkable story. The Authentic narrative of some remarkable and interesting particulars in the life of Mr. Newton describes Newton’s early career as a seaman on a slave trading ship. He experienced  a profound religious conversion, which when he finally took up life on shore led him to become active in evangelical revival. He pursued private studies in Divinity and taught himself Greek, Hebrew and Syriac.

In 1764, the year he was ordained as an Anglican priest, his Authentic Narrative appeared and quickly became a bestseller. Newton’s early life as a seaman slave trader coloured his experiences in later life, when he wrote and campaigned against slavery and is known to have met and advised William Wilberforce. He was a prominent hymn writer, and his legacy lives on today in the well known hymn ‘Amazing Grace’ .

New College Library has this sixth edition, at Z.1188, published in 1786, but it went through ten British and eight American editions before the end of the century. It was quickly translated into several other languages – New College Library also holds a Gaelic edition at Gaelic Coll. 137.

Sources

D. Bruce Hindmarsh, ‘Newton, John (1725–1807)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2010 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/20062, accessed 18 July 2013]

John Calvin – Works and Correspondence now available online

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By Flemish school (Unknown) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. On permanent display in Espace Ami Lullin of the Bibliothèque de Genève.

John Calvin 1509-1564. By Flemish school (Unknown) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.
On permanent display in Espace Ami Lullin of the Bibliothèque de Genève.

Newly available to University of Edinburgh users is the online version of the Works of John Calvin, including the Institutes of the Christian Religion. This is the edition of the Institutes translated by Ford Lewis Battles and  published by Westminster Press in  1960. Also included are Calvin’s  Tracts and Treatises (3 vols.), translated by Henry Beveridge, originally published by the Calvin Translation Society (Edinburgh) in 1851,and Letters of John Calvin (4 vols.), edited by Dr. Jules Bonnet, translated by David Constable, originally published in 1855-57.  This online version complements the many printed editions of Calvin’s works which are available at New College Library.

Online access for University of Edinburgh users  is available via the Past Masters Database – see http://www.ed.ac.uk/is/databases-a-z under ‘P’.

This resource was purchased for the forthcoming Calvin in Context course at the School of Divinity, University of Edinburgh.

New books at New College Library – July

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Oxford Handbook of Theology and Modern European ThoughtHeidegger on DeathNew College Library has a regular display of new books at the far end of the Library Hall, close to the door to the stacks.

New in this month  is the  Oxford handbook of theology and modern European thought  edited by Nicholas Adams, George Pattinson and Graham Ward, on the shelf at  B803 Oxf.

Also new is Heidegger on death : a critical theological essay by George Pattinson, at B3279.H49 Pat..  This title is also available as an e-book.

These titles were purchased for Theology & Ethics at the School of Divinity, Edinburgh University.

You can see an regularly updated list of new books for New College Library on the Library Catalogue – choose the New Books Search and limit your search to New College Library. Here’s a quick link to new books arriving in the last few weeks. A word of caution – some of the books listed here may still be in transit between the Main Library (where they are catalogued) and New College Library, so not on the shelf just yet.

New Cambridge History of the Bible – and more

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New Cambridge History of the BibleCambridge History of Religions in AmericaThe online version of the New Cambridge History of the Bible  : From 600 to 1450  by Richard Marsden, E. Ann Matter is now available to University of Edinburgh users via the Library catalogue. It joins other Cambridge Histories ebooks which are available via the catalogue, such as the Cambridge History of Religions in America, ed. Stephen J. Stein.

Encyclopedia of Ancient History Online is now available

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Encyclopedia of Ancient HistoryThe Encyclopedia of Ancient History Online (Wiley Blackwell)  is now available  to University of Edinburgh users – find it on the library catalogue. If access isn’t clear, try clicking on Institutional Login and entering University of Edinburgh.

This comprehensive collection of twenty-first century scholarship on the entire ancient Mediterranean world covers not only the Greek and Roman civilisations but also the ancient Near East. Over 5,000 original entries span the late Bronze Age through the seventh century CE, from the Book of Daniel to the Dead Sea Scrolls.

New books at New College Library – June

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Creating Life in the LabAugustine and ScienceNew College Library has a regular display of new books at the far end of the Library Hall, close to the door to the stacks.

New in this month –  and already out on loan – is Augustine and science / [edited by] John Doody, Adam Goldstein, Kim Paffenroth. on the shelf at  BR65.A9 Aug.

Also new is Creating life in the lab : how new discoveries in synthetic biology make a case for the Creator / by Fazale Rana, at  BL255 Ran.

These titles were purchased for the MSc in Science and Religion at the School of Divinity, University of Edinburgh.

You can see an regularly updated list of new books for New College Library on the Library Catalogue – choose the New Books Search and limit your search to New College Library. Here’s a quick link to new books arriving in the last few weeks. A word of caution – some of the books listed here may still be in transit between the Main Library (where they are catalogued) and New College Library, so not on the shelf just yet.

Online resources for Byzantine research on trial now

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Two research resources for Byzantine history and culture are now on trial until 8 July for University of Edinburgh users.

ByzantineByzantinische BibliographieThe Prosopographie der mittelbyzantinischen Zeit Online/Prosopography of the Middle Byzantine Period Online (PMBZ Online) is a comprehensive biographical dictionary for the Byzantine Empire in the early Medieval Period (641-1025 AD) documenting more than 20,000 persons. PMBZ Online is based on the print edition of the Prosopographie der mittelbyzantinischen Zeit which appeared in two parts 1998 and 2013. PMBZ Online documents all persons mentioned either by name or anonymously in the relevant Byzantine and non-Byzantine sources, and secondly all persons mentioned in the Byzantine sources both from Western Europe and from the Arabic and Slavonic areas, together with those from the Christian East.

The Byzantinische Bibliographie Online includes the bibliographic sections of the Byzantinische Zeitschrift from volume 98 (2005) up to the present day. It contains around 30,000 entries in total, and each year about 4,000 entries will be added. The entries are organized systematically by subject area and enriched by short discussions and references to relevant review articles.

Access to the database is via http://www.ed.ac.uk/is/databases-trials. University of Edinburgh users have IP based access on campus, or off campus via the VPN.

Bar Ilan Global Jewish Database now on trial

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logo_small_v1_en-USThe Bar Ilan Global Jewish Database is now on trial until 20 June. The Bar Ilan Responsa Project is the world’s largest electronic collection of Torah literature of its kind. The database includes the Bible and its principal commentaries, the Talmud Bavli and Talmud Yerushalmi with commentaries, Midrash, Zohar, Halachic Law (Rambam, Shulchan Aruch with commentaries), a large Responsa collection of questions and answers and the Talmudic Encyclopedia.

Access to the database is via http://www.ed.ac.uk/is/databases-trials. University of Edinburgh users have IP based access on campus, or off campus via the VPN, and clicking on search or browse should allow access to the content.