Chinese rare books on display for Peking University at Edinburgh Day

Posted on November 20, 2013 by cloverodgers

New College Library was part of the University of Edinburgh’s Peking at Edinburgh day on Monday 18 November with a display of Chinese items from our Special Collections. These included the beautiful Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting (Inglis 23). This is a classic treatise of calligraphic art on silk, by calligraphers Wen-Yuan T’ang and Chin-Ch’ang in 1682.

Also on display was Robert Morrison’s Chinese New Testament (Inglis 20). Robert Morrison (1782–1834) arrived in China in September 1807, on the commission of the London Missionary Society first to learn Chinese, and then to make a Chinese translation of the Bible.

We were also pleased to have on display a rare item from the Centre for the Study of World Christianity Archives, an Imperial Edition of the New Testament. Thank you to Dr Alexander Chow for providing this information about the item :

“This is a rare edition of the New Testament presented by a group of female missionaries to the Empress Dowager Cixi, on the occasion of her 60th birthday in 1894. The Bible is a Shangdi edition of the Delegates Version, printed in classical wenli Chinese by the American Bible Society. This particular copy was presented to the Church of Scotland missions hospital by the American Bible Society in October 1903. There were 250 copies of this Bible printed.”

In the beginning was the word : Bibles at New College Library

Posted on November 14, 2013 by cloverodgers

: Greek Testament, 1524

: Bassandyne Bible, 1579

: Cranmer Bible 1540

: Geneva Bible, 1599

: Geneva Bible, 1583

: King James Bible, 1611

Yesterday we were pleased to welcome staff and students on exchange from Dartmouth College, USA to a classroom session viewing items from New College Library’s historic Bibles collection. Examples included a 1478 early Bible Latin manuscript version from our Incunabula Collection and our very earliest printed Bible, a Greek New Testament printed in Strassburg in 1524. The English Reformation was well represented by a Cranmer’s Bible (1541), a Matthew’s Bible (1549), a Bishop’s Bible (1585), a 1599 Geneva Bible and a 1611 King James version.

Our 1579 Bassandyne Bible has particular Scottish significance. Bassandyne was a Scotsman, who lived in Edinburgh in a house beside John Knox’s. He printed the first Bible published in Scotland, a Geneva version which became the regular pulpit Bible throughout Scotland.

The rich diversity of Bibles at New College Library was also shown by the Polyglot Bible – The Antwerp (1569), which contains the Bible text in Latin, Greek, Hebrew and Syriac. This was produced under the patronage of Philip II of Spain, at the suggestion of the famous printer, Christopher Plantin. Printed in Antwerp, it was sent to Spain by sea but the ship was wrecked and most of the volumes perished with it, only some 200 being rescued. Of these New College Library possesses one complete copy in excellent condition. The Polyglot Bible relied on the Bomberg Bible for its Hebrew text, which we were also able to have on display. New College Library holds the 1545 or second edition of the Bomberg Bible in its Dalman Christie Collection, which was recently catalogued as part of the Funk Projects.

Ancient Language Encyclopedias from Brill now on trial

Posted on November 11, 2013 by cloverodgers

Trial access is now available to the Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics Online, and the Encyclopedia of Ancient Greek Language and Linguistics, published by Brill.Access is via the eresources trials page or via Brill Reference Online.

The Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics Online offers a systematic and comprehensive treatment of all aspects of the history and study of the Hebrew language from its earliest attested form to the present day.

The Encyclopedia of Ancient Greek Language and Linguistics (EAGLL) is a unique work that brings together the latest research from across a range of disciplines which contribute to our knowledge of Ancient Greek. It is an indispensable research tool for scholars and students of Greek, of linguistics, and of other Indo-European languages, as well as of Biblical literature.

The trial access period ends on 10 December 2013.

Religion by numbers : looking at census data

Posted on November 7, 2013 by cloverodgers

Want to find out more about how the religious landscape of Scotland today?

A significant seminar “The Religious Life of Scotland Today: Insights from the 2011 Census” is being held on Thursday 21st November, 12.30 – 2.00 pm, 19 George Square, Room G2. Organised by Professor Hugh Goddard, Director of the HRH Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Centre for the Study of Islam in the Contemporary World, University of Edinburgh, speakers include Amy Wilson, Head of Census Statistics at the National Records of Scotland.

In 2013 the Library added The World Religion Database (WRD) to its online resources. It contains detailed statistics on religious affiliation for every country of the world. It provides source material, including censuses and surveys, as well as best estimates for every religion to offer a definitive picture of international religious
demography. The Library also subscribes to its partner database, the World Christian Database, which provides comprehensive statistical information on Christian denominations worldwide. Extensive data are available on 9,000 Christian denominations, 13,000 ethnolinguistic peoples, as well as data on 5,000 cities, 3,000
provinces and 239 countries. Information is readily available on
religious activities, growth rates, religious literature, worker
activity, and demographic statistics.

New books at New College Library – November

Posted on November 6, 2013 by cloverodgers

New 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 this month is The anthropology of Buddhism and Hinduism : Weberian themes by David Gellner, on the shelf in Reserve at BQ384 Gel.
Also new is An unusual relationship : Evangelical Christians and Jews, by Yaʻaḳov Ariʼel at BR1641.J83 Ari.

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.

New journal for World Christianity

Posted on October 25, 2013 by cloverodgers

Recently added to the collections for Divinity at New College Library is the Journal of African Christian thought : journal of the Akrofi-Christaller Memorial Centre for Mission Research and Applied Theology. This journal was requested for World Christianity at the School of Divinity. The University of Edinburgh is the only location in Scotland for this journal.

Looking at the Acta Sanctorum – Life of St Cuthbert

Posted on September 25, 2013 by cloverodgers

Acta Sanctorum Martii, vol. iii, (Antwerp, 1668), pp. 117

We welcomed University of Edinburgh MSc Medieval History students today for a tour of New College Library and the chance to see one of the texts they were studying, the Life of St Cuthbert, in New College Library’s first edition of the Acta Sanctorum, which was on display in the Funk Reading Room. Published in the seventeenth century, the Acta Sanctorum, which contains the first printed edition of this work, is a huge Latin work in sixty-eight volumes examines the lives of saints, organised according to each saint’s feast day in the calendar year. This image shows the large folio volume, still in its original leather binding with metal clasps, open at the Life of St Cuthbert. The Acta Sanctorum is also available online to University of Edinburgh users.

New College Library’s Torah Scroll

Posted on September 19, 2013 by cloverodgers

Torah scroll on display in the Funk Reading Room

Phylactery, New College Objects Collection

New College Library’s Torah Scroll (Pentateuch) was on display to visitors today in the Funk Reading Room.

Scrolls such as these are an integral part of Jewish communal life, being read in their entirety in a yearly cycle. The portions of the masoretic texts are divided into weekly portions and their reading in communal worship is followed by a set reading from the prophetic books of the Hebrew Bible.

This scroll is no longer suitable for ritual use, as it is no longer bound onto its original etzim (rollers) or clothed in its original protective and decorative garments. Some letters are damaged, indicating its non-kosher status. Conservation work was undertaken in 2008 to ensure that the scroll was preserved in an appropriate state for study and teaching, and it received new rollers and new box. The funds for this work were raised by the New College Library Book Sale.

The provenance of the scroll is not known, but it may have come to the Library at the same time as other objects from Jewish religious practice in the New College Library objects collection. These include a phylatctory or tefillin, a small, black leather cube-shaped case made to contain Torah texts.

New College Library Rare Books feature in Divinity Inaugural Lecture

Posted on September 12, 2013 by cloverodgers

The Practice of Piety / Lewis Bayly, 1672. New College Library DPL 912

The Redemption of Time / John Wade, 1692. New College Library F7 b1

Today Professor Susan Hardman Moore, Professor of Early Modern Religion, will deliver her inaugural lecture entitled ‘Time’ at 2pm. Professor Hardman-Moore’s lecture features a number of seventeenth century rare books from the New College Library collections, which will be on display in the Funk Reading Room after the lecture between 3-4.30pm.

The titles include John Wade’s The Redemption of Time (1692) and the The Practice of Piety (1672) by Lewis Bayly. The Practice of Piety is part of the recently catalogued Dumfries Presbytery Library, and is inscribed Ex Libris Johannes Hutton, identifying it as part of the original bequest of 1500 volumes from Dr John Hutton.

New College Library welcomes Postgraduate Freshers today

Posted on September 11, 2013 by cloverodgers

New College Library holds over 250,000 volumes, including rich and valuable Special Collections, making it one of the leading theological libraries in Britain. In addition to the books there are online collections – electronic journals, electronic books and databases which the University subscribes to support your studies and research. As the New College Librarian, my role is to help students get the most out of using the Library. Freshers Week is a good opportunity to take a little time to get to know the Library – do this now and you’ll be paid back later on in your studies.

Here’s my top tips for Postgraduate Freshers to get to know New College Library:

1. Come to the Library

Bring your University card to get into New College Library
From next week the Library is open 9am-6pm-10 Mon-Thurs, 9am-5pm Fridays, 12noon – 5pm on Saturdays. Remember that you can also use the Main Library which is open longer at weekends

2. Take a tour

I’m running Postgraduate Library Tours today 10.45-12 noon
You should have received a New College Library Guide leaflet in your welcome pack – it’s also available online.
Or have a look at the Virtual Tour

3. Check out what’s online

The online catalogue is your key to finding what’s in the Library
Explore specialist resources for Divinity in the Divinity Subject Guide
If you can’t find what you’re looking for you can Request @ Book

And don’t be afraid to ask us for help !