Student interns in Stack III this summer

Over this summer, our three student interns, Thomas, Holly and Mila have been hard at work behind the scenes in New College Library’s Stack III. Their task was to work with the X Collection, a collection of large (folio) early printed books. Over the years this collection had gathered a layer of dust, which our interns carefully removed with a museum book hoover. Having our interns handling each of these books was also a great opportunity to learn more about them, and to understand how the collection was composed in terms of date, language and place of publication. These details were logged using methodology adapted from projects on collections in National Trust Houses.

We’re delighted to say that that our interns have tackled three full bays of the X Collection, and cleaned and logged over 1600 books. We now know that the collection (as logged so far) is almost entirely pre-1800 in date, predominantly in English and Latin and pretty equally split between European and UK imprints. All this information will help us to develop future projects to catalogue this collection online.

It was a pleasure to work with our student interns, and through their enthusiasm to rediscover these collections. Hope to do it all again next year!

Christine Love-Rodgers, Academic Support Librarian – Divinity.

With thanks to Margaret Redpath, NCL Library Services Manager and Karen Bonthron, ECA/NCL Helpdesk Team Lead

Jewish Studies Collections at New College library : early books

This week New College welcomes the British Association for Jewish Studies Conference to Edinburgh. Delegates are welcome to visit New College Library where they’ll find a display of Jewish Studies related items from our Special Collections..

Early Jewish sacred texts, biblical scholarship and devotional works in Hebrew can be discovered throughout New College Library’s Special Collections.

leha-Rav rabenu Mosheh bar Naḥman. Perush ha-Torah. Pisa: Bene Sontsino, 1514. Dal-Chr 15.

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Psalm singing and the Reformation

New College Library welcomes delegates to The Cultures of the Reformation: A Colloquium in Honour of Professor Jane Dawson on Thursday 1 June 2017. We have updated our current display of early psalm books and Scottish liturgy to include two new items.

The CL. Psalmes of David in meter : for the vse of the Kirk of Scotland : the contents of this buke follovve in the next page after the kalender. Imprinted at London : By Thomas Vautrollier dwelling in the Black-Friers, 1587.  tUR 77 1587

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Psalms in public and private

New College Library welcomes the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland this week with a display of early psalm books.

The psalmes of David in metre : according as they are sung in the Kirk of Scotland … Edinburgh, 1596. tUR 77 1596

During the period 1564-1644, around 70 editions of the Psalme Buik were produced for used in the Church of Scotland. Continue reading

‘Scotland’s last martyr’ : remembering James Renwick

February was a suitable month to remember James Renwick  (15 February 1662 – 17 February 1688). Renwick was a graduate of Edinburgh University who accepted a call to the ministry within the independent Presbyterian church ‘societies’. These communities were formed by the Covenanters, so named because they bound themselves in ‘covenants’ to maintain the Presbyterian doctrine as the sole form of religion in Scotland. They rejected the attempts of the Crown to control church government and patronage in Scotland.

Renwick’s short career included illegal field preaching, baptizing, and eluding capture by the authorities. His sermons and letter were published as tracts and pamphlets, some of which are preserved in New College Library’s Pamphlets Collection.

Renwick, James. A sermon.

Renwick, James. A sermon. Glasgow? : s.n., 17? .Z.h.49/34

Renwick was arrested in the Cowgate, Edinburgh, on 1 February and hanged for treason in the Grassmarket on 17 February. New College Library holds this manuscript letter of testimony:

Renwick, James. Letter of testimony, Edinburgh, 13 February 1688. MS BOX 4.4.1

Renwick, James. Letter of testimony, Edinburgh, 13 February 1688. MS BOX 4.4.1

Written in prison days before his execution, he reasserts his Christian beliefs and bids a touching farewell :

“Farewell beloved sufferers and followers of the Lamb…farewell, night wanderings, cold and weariness for Christ…farewell, sun, moon, and stars, and all sublunary things…”

James Renwick’s Letter of testimony will be on display at the Centre for Research Collections, University of Edinburgh April-July 2016, as part of the ‘Given in Good Faith’ exhibition.

Christine Love-Rodgers, Academic Support Librarian – Divinity

Kirsty Stewart, New College Collections Curator

Ministry and medicine

Today we’re welcoming a group from the EAHIL + ICAHIS + ICLC 2015 Workshop to New College Library. The Workshop is a collaboration between the European Association for Health Information and Libraries (EAHIL), the International Conference of Animal Health Information Specialists (ICAHIS) and the International Clinical Librarian Conference (ICLC). Along with a tour of the library we have brought out some  Special Collections items on a medical theme to display.

Avicenna, 980-1037. Liber Avicenna. Venice : 1500. New College Library Inc. 22

Avicenna, 980-1037. Liber Avicenna. Venice : 1500. New College Library Inc. 22

This is a detail from Liber Avicenna, a work from the Incunabula Collection. Avicenna was a Persian scholar whose medical texts became standard works at medieval universities.

Piperno, Pietro. De effectibus magicis libri sex ... Naples : 1647. New College Library TR.395

Piperno, Pietro. De effectibus magicis libri sex … Naples : 1647. New College Library TR.395

Part of the TR Collection currently being catalogued as part of the Funk Projects, De effectibus magicis libri sex is a seventeenth century work on medicine, magic and the occult.

Sibbald, Robert. Scotia illustrata, sive, Prodromus historiae naturalis ... Edinburgh : 1684.

Sibbald, Robert. Scotia illustrata, sive, Prodromus historiae naturalis … Edinburgh : 1684. New College Library DPL 9

 

Robert Sibbald was an Edinburgh physician and later the first professor of medicine at the University of Edinburgh. This work, Scotia illustrata, is a descriptive regional guide to Scotland’s natural history, with reference to the health of the inhabitants of each region. It once belonged to another doctor, Dr John Hutton, who was court physician at the court of William and Mary. He gifted his library to the Presbytery of Dumfries, from where it came to New College Library where it is now part of the Dumfries Presbytery Library.

Christine Love-Rodgers, Academic Support Librarian – Divinity

Rare Mass for the Dead from the MH Collection

A guest post from Paul Nicholas, Funk Projects Cataloguer

Title-page MH.83

Missae defunctorum, iuxta usum Ecclesiae Romanae, cum ordine et canone extensae. Tulli Leucorum : Ex officina Ioannis Laurentii, et Ioannis Francisci Laurentii, typographorum Regiorum & Episcopalium, MDCLXXI. New College Library MH.83.

We were delighted this week to discover a rare Mass for the Dead in the MH Collection at New College Library. This folio volume is a Roman Catholic priest’s ‘handbook’ published in 1671 and intended to be used during a ceremonial mass for the dead. The printed text in black would be spoken out loud, the text printed in red forms ceremonial instructions for the priest. The musical notation shows Gregorian chant, scripted in square notation.

Score MH.83

At the time of writing, we have not identified another copy of this item in any of the bibliographic databases of the world’s library collections – so we are hoping it may be unique! This item was catalogued as part of the Funk Cataloguing Projects at New College Library.

Possible printer's device MH.83Paul Nicholas – Funk Projects Cataloguer

With thanks to Elizabeth Lawrence, Assistant Rare Books Librarian

New digital resources for Puritan thought

Herbert, John Rogers. Assertion of Liberty of Conscience by the Independents of the Westminster Assembly of Divines (c) Palace of Westminster; Supplied by The Public Catalogue Foundation

Herbert, John Rogers. Assertion of Liberty of Conscience by the Independents of the Westminster Assembly of Divines (c) Palace of Westminster; Supplied by The Public Catalogue Foundation

I’m pleased to report that we now have access to digital collections from Oxford Scholarly Editions, including the seventeenth-century prose collection. This contains several titles of interest to researchers in Puritan history and thought, including the Minutes and Papers of the Westminster Assembly 1643–1652 and the Calendar of the Correspondence of Richard Baxter, Vol. 1 & 2.  Scholarly editions of the works of John Bunyan –  Pilgrim’s Progress, Grace Abounding and the Holy War as well as thirteen volumes of smaller works by this Puritan writer are also now available. All titles can be access via the online library catalogue.

Christine Love-Rodgers – Academic Support Librarian, Divinity

Jewish scholarship on display at New College Library

Babylonian Talmud. Sulzbach,1766. Folio, in 12 volumes

Babylonian Talmud. Sulzbach,1766. Folio, in 12 volumes. Longforgan Collection.

In celebration of the public lecture on The Bible and the Mishnah by Professor Shaye J D Cohen, Harvard University on Tuesday 5 May, we currently have Jewish texts from our Special Collections on display in New College Library.

This Babylonian Talmud is part of the Longforgan Free Church Ministers Library, an extremely well preserved example of a Manse library which came to New College in the 1960s. It is currently being catalogued as part of the Funk Donation projects. As well as this 12 volume Babylonian Talmud, works by Maimonides and Isaac ben Jacob Alfasi ha-Cohen are evidence of the importance of Hebrew scholarship to the Scottish Church.

Seder Ṭohorot Mishnayot mi-Seder Kodashim im perush / ha-Rambam. Venice : Daniel Bomberg, 1528.

Seder Ṭohorot Mishnayot mi-Seder Kodashim im perush / ha-Rambam. Venice : Daniel Bomberg, 1528. New College Library Dal-Chr 58

This image is from Maimonides’s commentary on the Mishnah which was one of the first to be published. It is part of the the Dalman-Christie Collection, which was transferred to New College Library in 1946 from the Church of Scotland Hospice in Jerusalem. This collection was recently catalogued as part of the Funk Donation Projects.

Mischna, sive, Totius Hebraeorum juris : rituum, antiquitatum, ac legum oralium systema. Amsterdam : Gerardus & Jacobus Borstius, 1698. New College Library Dal-Chr 45

Mischna, sive, Totius Hebraeorum juris : rituum, antiquitatum, ac legum oralium systema. Amsterdam : Gerardus & Jacobus Borstius, 1698. New College Library Dal-Chr 45

This is the frontispiece from one of the volumes in this six volume set of the Mishnah with text in  Hebrew and Latin. It also contains commentaries of Maimonides and Bertinoro in Latin. New College Library holds copies in both the Dalman-Christie and the Longforgan Collections.

Christine Love-Rodgers, Academic Support Librarian – Divinity

Easter Greetings from New College Library

New College Library is open as usual for semester time over the Easter period, see Library Opening hours for more detail. When visiting, take a moment to look at our Special Collections display, which currently features a 1637 Book of Common Prayer written for the use of the Church of Scotland, edited by Archbishop William Laud, open at the readings for Easter Day. We also have on display a 1602 New Testament, open to show a map of the Holy Land and the beginning of St Matthew’s Gospel.

In the Funk Reading Room display case, you can see a selection of more modern titles relating to Easter.

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Christine Love-Rodgers, Academic Support Librarian – Divinity