Author Archives: cloverodgers

Divinity Student book recommendations now available

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All these books (and more) were recommended by Divinity students and are now available to University of Edinburgh Library users – more details on the library catalogue. 100+ book recommendations from Divinity students have been received over the last four months, via the student recommendation form on the Library website.

Historic Papal politics : Platina’s Lives of the Popes

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Platine historici liber de vita Christi ac pontificum omniu : qui hactenus ducenti et vigintiduo fuere. New College Library, Inc. 66

Platine historici liber de vita Christi ac pontificum omniu : qui hactenus ducenti et vigintiduo fuere, 1481. New College Library, Inc. 66

Bartolomeo Platina, (1421-1481) was a writer and member of the College of Abbreviators in Rome, a body of writers in the papal chancery who prepared the Pope’s bulls, briefs and decrees before they were formally written out by scribes. Deprived of his office and imprisoned by Pope Paul II, he left a lasting vengeance for his enemy in his Vitæ Pontificum Platinæ historici liber de vita Christi (1479). As well as being a polemic against his enemy, Platina’s Lives of the Popes was an invaluable early handbook of papal history which had an enduring influence on historical opinions.

New College Library holds this 1481 edition of Platina’s Vitæ Pontificum in the Incunabula Collection, catalogued online as part of the Funk Cataloguing Projects. A manuscript note records the original owner as F. Sargent, the donor of other rare and valuable items to New College Library.

Scotland’s last saint : St John Ogilvie

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Martyr in ScotlandThe 10th of  March is celebrated as the feast day of St John Ogilvie in the Roman Catholic Church. The only post-Reformation saint from Scotland.  John Ogilvie (1578/9–1615) was born and brought up as a Calvinist in Strathisla, Banffshire. After studying at the Protestant University of Helmstedt in northern Germany, he became a Catholic, and after further study took his vows as a Jesuit priest in 1601. Ogilvie volunteered for missionary work in Scotland, and arrived in Leith in 1613. Ogilvie’s work was to administer the sacraments to Catholics, bring doubters back to the fold, and seek new converts throughout  Edinburgh, Glasgow and Renfrewshire. It On 4 October 1614 he was betrayed and captured while walking in a Glasgow street. The authorities’ narrative of his trial and execution was printed as A true relation, of the proceedings against Iohn Ogiluie, a Iesuit … (1615), available  to University of Edinburgh users via Early English Books Online. While other Catholics suffered trial and imprisonment at this time, “Ogilvie was the only Catholic in Scotland ever to be judicially sentenced and executed for his religion” (1).

In the nineteenth century John Ogilvie was rediscovered with the publication of Scottish historical sources, leading to the publication of a number of works on his life. New College Library holds  Jean Ogilvie, ecossais, jesuite : torturé et mis à mort pour la foi  by James Forbes, (Paris : 1901) and Martyr in Scotland : The life & times of John Ogilvie by Thomas Collins (London: 1955). John Ogilvie was beatified in 1929 and canonized in 1976.

(1) Mark Dilworth, ‘Ogilvie, John [St John Ogilvie] (1578/9–1615)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/20586, accessed 28 Feb 2013]

Treasures of New College Library : The Longforgan Free Church Ministers Library

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Longforgan LibraryThe Longforgan Free Church Ministers Library is a collection of handsomely bound volumes, particularly rich in patristic and theological texts. The rare books in the collection include Knox’s Liturgy (1611), the Babylonian Talmud and Athanasii opera (1600). Each volume is embossed in gold with the distinctive stamp of the Longforgan Library.  It is kept in its own custom made glazed shelving, now housed at the entrance to New College Library and in the David Welsh Reading Room.

The Longforgan Library was originally gifted to the Free Church at Longforgan, Dundee by Mr David Watson, son of the Rev Dr Charles Watson,  who was the owner of Bullionfield Paperworks at Invergowrie. The original deed of gift records that the books were given along with the bookcases and £100 invested in stocks and shares for the library’s upkeep(1). The library that was formally handed over to the Deacons Court at Longforgan Free Church (who acted as trustees) had its own printed catalogue in a bound volume, still in use at New College Library today.  Longforgan2

The next chapter in its history came in 1962  when ownership of the Longforgan Free Church Minister’s Library was transferred to New College Library. The move had been set in motion by the Revd James Torrance (who had been minister at Longforgan) and Professor T.F. Torrance (who was then curator of New College Library) (2).

Last week  we welcomed descendants of David Watson at New College Library, who shared details of the Longforgan Library’s original donor, and who were able to see David Watson’s lasting legacy here. The Longforgan Library is due to be catalogued online as part of the Funk Cataloguing Projects 2012-14.

(1) Gould, Four Churches of Invergowrie.  Dundee : 1997, p. 79

(2) Howard, John. In :  Disruption to Diversity. Edinburgh : 1996, p. 193.

Brepols Medieval Bibliographies on trial now

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Brepolis-Medieval-BibliographyBrepols Medieval Bibliographies are now available on trial access to University of Edinburgh Users. Access is available on campus and off campus via the VPN. The trial ends on 5 April. See the eresources trials web page for more information.

The Bibliographie de civilisation médiévale aims to provide a comprehensive, current bibliography of monographs. The database currently comprises 40,000 titles from 1958 to 2003; i.e. the whole of the relevant elements from the famous bibliography in the Cahiers de civilisation medieval.

The International Medieval Bibliography is the leading bibliography of articles concerning the European Middle Ages (c. 450-1500), drawn from the regular coverage of over 4,500 periodicals and miscellany volumes. Not only does the IMB provide full bibliographical information to the entries from the publications, but it provides a comprehensive cataloguing and indexing system to assist the user in identifying all relevant entries.

Brepols Medieval Encyclopedias on trial now

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Brepols Medieval EncyclopediaBrepols Medieval Encyclopedias are now available on trial access to University of Edinburgh Users. Access is available on campus and off campus via the VPN. The trial ends on 5 April. See the eresources trials web page for more information.

Based upon the most important encyclopaedia in the world for medievalists, the International Encyclopaedia for the Middle Ages and Lexikon des Mittelalters contain articles written by 3,000 authors covering all aspects of medieval studies within the period 300 to 1500. Their geographical scope covers the whole of Europe, part of the Middle East, and parts of North Africa to document the roots of Western culture and those of its neighbours in the Byzantine, Arab and Jewish worlds.

Key Church history resources on trial now at Edinburgh University

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Brepols Dictionnaire & Bibliographie d’histoire ecclésiastiques are now available on trial access to University of Edinburgh users. Access is available on campus and off campus via the VPN. The trial ends on 5 April. See the eresources trials web page for more information and feedback links.

Covering the literature of church history from antiquity up to the 20th centuries , the Revue d’histoire ecclésiastique – Bibliographie indexes journal articles, books and reviews. Entries contain links to full text in Brepols publications such as  Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques  and to some full text journal sources. They are published chiefly in French and English, and occasionally in German.

The  Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques is an invaluable reference source on the history of the Christian church, with 70,000 entries covering individuals, ecclesiastical institutions, and church history by geographical region.

New books at New College Library – March

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The lovelorn ghostThe Good MuslimNew College Library has a regular display of new books at the far end of the Library Hall, close to the door to the stacks.

Currently in the display is The good Muslim : reflections on classical Islamic law and theology by Mona Siddiqui. Professor Mona Siddiqui, Professor of Islamic and Interreligious Studies at the School of Divinity, will deliver her Inaugural Lecture ‘Love and Law in Christianity and Islam‘ today,  Monday 4 March 2013 at St Cecilia’s Hall.

Also new is The lovelorn ghost and the magical monk : practicing Buddhism in modern Thailand  by Daniel McJustin.  These titles were purchased for Religious Studies 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.

NexisUK News database now on trial

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ImgLexisNexisLogo The NexisUK Database is currently available on trial to University of Edinburgh users until 11 March 2013. Access is on campus via the eresources trials page.  Please give us your feedback!

NexisUK  is a very large news repository which is also very strong on international sources. The database has more than 20,000 news and business sources, including leading French, Spanish, German and American newspapers (Le Monde, Der Spiegel, New York Times, La Stampa, Times of India, Moscow  Times etc) as well as many trade publications (Forbes, Accountancy Age, Business Week, Fortune, Economist, Economist Intelligence Unit reports etc).