Encyclopedia of Ancient History Online is now available

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

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.

Digital Library of Latin Texts is now available

LLTLibrary of Latin Texts - Series BLibrary of Latin Texts (LLT) Series A & B  is now available  to University of Edinburgh Users. Access is available on campus and off campus via the VPN – find LLT on the A-Z Databases list or the Divinity subject list.

The Library of Latin Texts – Series A (formerly known as the Cetedoc Library of Christian Latin Texts) contains texts taken from the Corpus Christianorum series. These include the Vulgate and the Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, the complete corpus of decrees from the ecumenical Church councils from Nicaea to Vatican II and many Latin versions (ancient, medieval or modern) of works by Aristotle, Averroes, Avicenna, Dionysius the Areopagite, Flavius Josephus, Irenaeus of Lyon, Maximus the Confessor, Origen, Plato and Porphyrus. Each text draws on additional intensive research work undertaken by the Centre ‘Traditio Litterarum Occidentalium’. The complementary Library of Latin Texts – Series B database gathers other Latin texts of all genres and all periods including chronicles, medieval saints’ lives and travel narratives, legal texts, and theological, philosophical and scientific treatises from the early modern period, drawn from existing scholarly editions.

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

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.

Oxford Scholarship Online Classical Studies titles on trial now

Disciplining Christians: Correction and Community in Augustine’s LettersJennifer V. Ebbeler

Disciplining Christians: Correction and Community in Augustine’s Letters
Jennifer V. Ebbeler, 2012

Historical and Religious Memory in the Ancient WorldBeate Dignas and R. R. R. Smith

Historical and Religious Memory in the Ancient World
Beate Dignas and R. R. R. Smith, 2012.

Oxford Scholarship Online Classical Studies titles  published in 2012, and any published so far in 2013 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 12 March. See the eresources trials web page for more information.

Library of Latin Texts on trial now

LLTLibrary of Latin Texts (LLT)  is 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 15 February. See the eresources trials web page for more information.

LLT contains texts from the beginning of Latin literature (Livius Andronicus, 240 BC) through to the texts of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965).The complete works of writers such as  Augustine, Jerome, Gregory the Great, Anselm of Canterbury, Bernard of Clairvaux and Thomas Kempis can be consulted. The texts have been taken from the Corpus Christianorum series and from other leading editions.