Preserving the Dumfries Presbytery Library for the future

A guest post from Finlay West, Funk Projects Cataloguer

The recently completed cataloguing of the Dumfries Presbytery Library Collection housed at New College Library, finally allows the volumes to be readily available after an often fractured history .

Originally held in the Dumfries Presbytery Library until 1884, the collection had to be moved after the roof was damaged and the library was flooded. The volumes were kept in storage until 3rd March 1885 when they were lent to General Assembly Library. There they stayed until 1958 when the entire General Assembly Library was transferred to New College Library where they were dispersed by subject.

It was after John Howard became Librarian in 1965 that he noticed there were many items that had marks of provenance in the form “Ex libris bibliothecae presbyterii Dumfriesiensis ex dono Joan. Hutton M.D. 1714”, and that many were distinctive because of the water damage they received in the flooding a century before. Intriguingly almost all had the words “Ta ano” (ta ano) inscribed on the title page. Having identified them as part of a distinct collection he brought them together again.

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

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

The aforementioned John Hutton was born in Caerlaverock, Dumfriesshire and donated his book collection to the Dumfries Presbytery Library in 1714. He had an interesting history being personal physician to William of Orange and was with the King as his physician and advisor during the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.

The collection is made up of around 1500 volumes from the 16th to 18th century, with a range of subjects including, science, medicine, philosophy, politics, history , travel, and of course bibles, biblical studies and theology. It contains numerous interesting items such as “The Booke of Common Prayer and Administration of the sacraments …” (Edinburgh : Robert Young, 1637). This is the famous “Laud’s Liturgy”, the service book forced on the Church of Scotland by Charles I’s bishops.

After the collection was catalogued, it was surveyed by Caroline Scharfenberg, a specialist book conservator based at the University of Edinburgh’s Main Library, who made a number of recommendations for the future conservation and preservation of the collection.

Serenissimi et potentissimi Principis Iacobi, Dei gratia, Magnae Britanniae, Franciae, et Hiberniae Regis, fidei defensoris, opera … New College Library DPL.25

Serenissimi et potentissimi Principis Iacobi, Dei gratia, Magnae Britanniae, Franciae, et Hiberniae Regis, fidei defensoris, opera …
New College Library DPL.25

Both the cataloguing and the conservation survey for this collection were made possible by the generous donation of the Rev. Dr Robert Funk.

Finlay West, Funk Projects Cataloguer

Imagining Noah’s Ark : Special Collections on display at New College Library

Noah’s Ark has been in the news lately with the recent block buster film Noah. Currently on display in the entrance to New College Library is a nineteenth-century imagining of Noah’s Ark, in a work by Edward Wells (1667–1727), a Church of England clergyman and educationist.Ark

This image from An historical geography of the Old and New Testament (1809) shows a fold out engraved illustration of the ‘Inside of the Ark‘. Wells has attempted to provide a rational plan of how all the animals required could be fitted into Noah’s Ark.  The text on adjoining pages details the precise numbers and nature of the species considered to be housed in each area.This book is part of the Natural History Collection at New College Library, numbering about 175 books. This dates from the early days of New College, where ‘Natural Science’ was taught until 1934. The collection includes examples of the mid-nineteenth century controversies over evolution and natural selection, with geology particularly well represented. The collection was catalogued online as part of the Funk Projects.

Christine Love-Rodgers, Academic Support Librarian – Divinity

Finding love in the Library – new books at New College Library in May

Love OnlineMarriageLove is in the air this month in the new books coming into New College Library. Currently in our new books display is Love online by Jean-Claude Kaufmann ; translated by David Macey edited by Andrew Crome and James McGrath  at  HQ801.82 Kau.   Also new is Has marriage for love failed?  by Pascal Bruckner ; translated by Steven Rendall and Lisa Neal at HQ503 Bru.

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

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.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.

Christine Love-Rodgers, Academic Support Librarian – Divinity

Scotland’s Religious Past : Unique Special Collections at New College Library, Edinburgh

Here at New College Library we’re rediscovering unique Special Collections items which tell the story of Scotland’s radical religious past.

The Lord's Trumpet Sounding an Alarm Against Scotland. Edinburgh, 1731, New College Library S.b.32

The Lord’s Trumpet Sounding an Alarm Against Scotland. Edinburgh, 1731, New College Library S.b.32

This item, The Lord’s trumpet sounding an alarm against Scotland, and waining off a
bloody sword, reprints sermons originally preached in 1682 by Alexander Peden, one of the leading figures of the Covenanter movement in Scotland. Part of the New College Library Pamphlets Collection, it was identified when catalogued as unique on ESTC, or the English Short Title Catalogue, meaning that this imprint had never previously been identified.

The story of Scotland’s religious history is also evident in this eighteenth century pamphlet by Ralph Erskine, brother of Ebenezer Erskine, leader of the Secession Church which broke away from the Church of Scotland in the eighteenth century. Samuel VII and covenant theology. Faith’s Plea Upon God’s Word and Covenant is another example of a New College Library Pamphlet that has been identified as unique in the world.

Faith's plea upon God's word and covenant : a sermon preached on a preparation-day before dispensing the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, at Burnt-island .. New College Library, H.d.288

Faith’s plea upon God’s word and covenant : a sermon preached on a preparation-day before dispensing the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, at Burnt-island ..
New College Library, H.d.288

Both these items were catalogued as part of the Funk Cataloguing Projects at New College Library, University of Edinburgh, where over 700 items unique on ESTC have been discovered.

Christine Love-Rodgers, Academic Support Librarian – Divinity

Index Religiosus Online now on trial

Index ReligiosusNew on trial for University of Edinburgh users from 10 April to 11 May 2013 is the Index Religiosus Online.

The Index Religiosus replaces the bibliography of the Revue d’histoire ecclésiastique and of the ‘Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses’ (Elenchus Bibliographicus). These two tools are internationally recognized as essential working instruments for Theology and Religious Studies.

As a key reference bibliography for Theology, Religious Studies and Church History, it includes publications written in multiple European languages (English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch), and enables users to export records in several formats (EndNote, Refworks, Zotero, etc.)

From January 2014 onwards, the printed version of the bibliography of the Revue d’histoire ecclésiastique and the Elenchus Bibliographicus will no longer be available.

You can access the trial via the link at : http://www.ed.ac.uk/is/databases-trials. Please give us your feedback as this is a key part of making a case to subscribe to resources like this.

Christine Love-Rodgers, Academic Support Librarian – School of Divinity

 

From Noah to New Labour – New books at New College Library in April

The rocks don't lieA political theology of climate changeFloods are a theme linking two of our new books this month. Looking back to the Biblical Flood is The rocks don’t lie : a geologist investigates Noah’s flood, by David Montgomery, available at QE39.5.P3 Mon. Also new is A political theology of climate change by Professor Michael Northcott from the School of Divinity, at Folio BR65.A9 Oxf.

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.

Christine Love-Rodgers, Academic Support Librarian – School of Divinity

New Books at New College Library – March (recommended by students)

Newman and his familyHistorical Reception of AugustineStudent recommendations are in at New College Library! New in this month is Newman and his family, by Edward Short, available as an ebook via the library catalogue.   Also new is The Oxford guide to the historical reception of Augustine,  by Karla Pollmann, at Folio BR65.A9 Oxf.

Students are encouraged to recommend books for the library using the online form at http://www.ed.ac.uk/is/RAB.

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.

Hidden faces of New College Library #ILW2014

Dr Kennedy's Cataloguers

Student cataloguers who worked on the 1893 printed library catalogue. Image from New College Library Archives.

There’s still time to come to the Innovative Learning Week Session : Library Pecha Kucha – Our Favourite Things. Six members of staff will be allowed just 5 minutes to present their work to you. I’ll be presenting on the hidden faces of New College Library, showing that New College Library’s collection story is not just about men and ministers but also women, ordinary people and students.

The session is today, Tuesday 18 February, 11.30-12.20, Main Library – Room 1.11.

 

 

 

Dumfries Presbytery Library Project at New College Library now complete

DPL 59

Exoticarum aliarumque minus cognitarium plantarum centuria prima by Jakob Breyne, 1678. New College Library Special Collections DPL 59.

Serenissimi et potentissimi Principis Iacobi, Dei gratia, Magnae Britanniae, Franciae, et Hiberniae Regis, fidei defensoris, opera … New College Library DPL.25

Serenissimi et potentissimi Principis Iacobi, Dei gratia, Magnae Britanniae, Franciae, et Hiberniae Regis, fidei defensoris, opera …
New College Library DPL.25

We’re pleased to announce that the Dumfries Presbytery Library Cataloguing Project is now complete. This project is one of the Funk Cataloguing Projects at New College Library.

 

This is a collection of just over 1800 sixteenth and seventeenth century books that was first documented in 1710, with the substantial donation of books from Dr John Hutton. It was used as a lending library, for the ministers of Dumfries, for which records survive in a ledger in Dumfries’s Ewart Library. Titles are marked : “Ex libris bibliothecae presbyterii Dumfriesiensis”

 

 

In 1884, the decision was made to transfer the collection to the General Assembly Library in Edinburgh, which was then transferred to New College Library in 1958. In 1965 John Howard took over as New College Librarian and he took a particular interest in the Dumfries Presbytery Library, reassembling it into its original pressmark order as a Special Collection.

In the process of cataloguing, we have discovered both unexpected and familiar treasures. Dumfries Presbytery Library books have featured in displays for the inaugural lecture of Professor Susan Hardman Moore, Professor of Early Modern Religion, and for the visit of the University Chancellor, HRH Princess Anne.

The booke of the common prayer and administracion of the Sacramentes : and other rites and ceremonies of the Churche, after the vse of the Churche of England.1549. New College Library DPL 70

The booke of the common prayer and administracion of the Sacramentes : and other rites and ceremonies of the Churche, after the vse of the Churche of England. 1549. New College Library DPL 70

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

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

 

The ‘Z’ Factor New College Special Collections Project now complete

—Prayers written at Vailima, by Robert Louis Stevenson, 1910. New College Library Z.2233.

—Prayers written at Vailima, by Robert Louis Stevenson, 1910. New College Library Z.2233.

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

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

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We’re pleased to announce that the Z Collection at New College Library, which numbers almost 5,000 Special Collections items, has now been completely catalogued online as part of the Funk Cataloguing Projects.

The Z Collection is formed out of recent donations and out of New College Library books formerly in the General Collections sequence which were identified as Special Collections during a stock management exercise. We follow the criteria used by the Centre for Research Collections at the University of Edinburgh, in particular that all books published before 1850 should be classed as Special Collections.

A big thank you to our Z Collection cataloguers, Janice Gailani, Finlay West and Patrick Murray.

Stark, John. Biographia scotica, or, Scottish biographical dictionary. 1805. New College Library, Z. 1650

Stark, John. Biographia scotica, or, Scottish biographical dictionary. 1805. New College Library, Z. 1650