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December 16, 2025
Here comes the rain again …
Prayers written at Vailima, by Robert Louis Stevenson, 1910. New College Library Z.2233.
The rain is pouring down this afternoon in thundery showers.
Here’s a rainy day item from New College Library’s collections. Robert Louis Stevenson wrote this prayer in time of rain as part of a collection of prayers written in Vailima, Samoa where he made his home in the 1890s. It was later published in this 1910 illuminated edition, designed by Alberto Sangorski.
This item is held in New College Library’s Special Collections, in the ‘Z’ Collection.
Planned changes to New College Library photocopying services
The University is introducing a new system of copying and printing over the summer of 2012.
New Xerox multi-function devices (MFDs) are due to be installed for the beginning of semester in September. University users will continue to be able to charge their University smartcards with credit for photocopying. However, for external users, the old prepaid copy cards will cease to function. Instead, the New College Library helpdesk will be able to charge visitors cards with credit to enable external users to copy. After the new machines have been installed, New College Library will no longer be selling the prepaid copy cards.
We are still selling the prepaid copy cards but advising users to only buy for what they need right now. If you have a copy card, please try to use up any prepaid copy card balance now while you can. If you do have a balance on your prepaid copy card, after you are no longer able to use it in the Library, you will be able to have this balance checked at the Main Library Helpdesk, and receive a refund on the balance, until 31 December 2012.
Full article on the University website :
http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/information-services/about/news/copy-cards-cease
New JSTOR collections benefit e-journals for Divinity
Are you a fan of JSTOR electronic journals ? In 2012 the University of Edinburgh purchased the JSTOR Collections V & VIII. This has increased the coverage of backruns of a number of titles relevant to Divinity, such as:
- Canadian Journal of Philosophy 1971-2006
- Contemporary Religions in Japan 1960-1970
- The Catholic Historical Review 1915-2006
- International Journal of the Classical Tradition 1994-2007
- International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 1970-2007
- International Journal of Hindu Studies 1997-2007
- Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 1974-2011
- Jewish History 1986-2007
- The Journal of Ethics 1997-2007
- Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 1985-2011
- Journal of Religion and Health 1961-2007
- The Journal of Religious Ethics 1973-2005
- The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 1835-2006
- Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions 1997-2011
- Prooftexts 1981-2010
- Religion & Literature 1965-2008
- Religious Studies 1965-2011
- Scottish Historical Review 1903-
New College Library Archives
An image from the New College Archive of New College Library as it appeared in 1946
Did you know that New College Library holds significant collections of archives and manuscripts?
These collections include the papers of Thomas Chalmers, J.H. Oldham, James S. Stewart and Norman W. Porteous. Hidden among the older archives are gems such as the last speech and testimony of the covenanter James Renwick (1662-1688). The Archives also include a New College Archive which includes group photographs of students and staff, and of the New College buildings.
Recently added to our collections are the papers of Rev Tom Allan (1916-1965), Rev. Professor Alec Campbell Cheyne (1924-2006), Rev. Professor John McIntyre (1916-2005), and the Very Rev Professor James Whyte (1920-2005). The listing of these papers was funded by a generous bequest from the estate of Rev. Professor Alec Campbell Cheyne .
See the New College Archives web page to find out more.
New books at New College Library – August
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.
Currently in the display is Why there almost certainly is a God : doubting Dawkins, by Keith Ward. This book was purchased to support the Atheism in Debate course 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 or in the display just yet.
A nineteenth century view of Islam at New College Library
In this month of Ramadan, I thought I would feature this recently catalogued item from New College Library’s Z-Collection that gives a nineteenth century Western view of Islam.
An history of Muhammedanism : comprising the life and character of the Arabian prophet, and succinct accounts of the empires founded by the Muhammedan arms : an inquiry into the theology, morality, laws, literature, and usage of the Muselmans, and a view of the present state and extent of the Muhammedan religion / by Charles Mills. London : 1818. New College Library, Z.1180
The item is inscribed Ex Libris Bibliothecae Theologicae Edinensis, indicating that it came from the Edinburgh University Theological Library. This library was absorbed into New College Library when New College merged with the University in the early 1960s.
30th anniversary of the translation of the New Testament into Scots
Currently on display in the Funk Reading Room exhibition case at New College Library is the 1983 translation of the New Testament into Scots by William Lorimer.
This marks the 30th anniversary of the translation of the New Testament into Scots.
How an Olympic champion became a missionary
The BBC Scotland programme Eric Liddell: A Champion’s Life http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01lb63b on BBC2 tonight (Monday 23rd July) at 10pm features items from University of Edinburgh Collections.
RUNNING THE RACE: Eric Liddell Olympic Champion and Missionary. John W. Keddie.
New College Library recently received a donation of a biography of former Olympic Champion Eric Liddell, by John W. Keddie. Immortalised in the film Chariots of Fire, Liddell won gold in the 400 metres at the Olympic games in Paris 1924, but famously refused to compete in his best event, the 100 metres, because it was held on a Sunday. He went on to study at the Scottish Congregational College and in 1925 went to China as a missionary with the London Missionary Society.
New College Library holds a letter (30 June 1940) from Liddell to Mary and George Cameron, Heriot, Midlothian describing his movements during his last trip with his family. After two years in a wartime internment camp with other members of the China Inland mission, he died on 21 February 1945, five months before liberation.
Liddell’s Olympic medals were donated to Edinburgh University by his daughter Mrs. Patricia Russell. A new Sports Scholarship at Edinburgh University, the Eric Liddell High Performance Sports Scholarship, was launched recently in his memory.
New College Library Stacks now open
New College Library’s Stack I is now open.
Apologies to all who have been inconvenienced by the closure of Stack I during the last five weeks. The New College Library Helpdesk had more than 500 books requested during the closure period, so there is obviously no such thing as a” quiet time” in the Library any more.
The stack room is now freshly painted for the first time in sixty years!!
Islamic Collections at New College Library
Muslims all over the world join together this week for Ramadan, the greatest religious observance in Islam. Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, when Muslims fast during daylight hours.
New College Library’s collections in Islamic Studies reflect the current teaching and research activities within the School of Divinity’s Religious Studies programmes. These collections complement the rich collections held at the University of Edinburgh’s Main Library and Islamic Studies Library. Students and staff have access to the online resources for Islamic and Middle-Eastern Studies, including the Encyclopaedia of the Qu’rān.
Recent acquisitions to New College Library’s collections include Women under Islam : gender, justice and the politics of Islamic Law by Christina Jones-Pauly. Another recent addition to the shelves is Jesus and Muhammad : parallel tracks, parallel lives by Francis E. Peters.
Collections
Hill and Adamson Collection: an insight into Edinburgh’s past
My name is Phoebe Kirkland, I am an MSc East Asian Studies student, and for...
Cataloguing the private papers of Archibald Hunter Campbell: A Journey Through Correspondence
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Projects
Cataloguing the private papers of Archibald Hunter Campbell: A Journey Through Correspondence
My name is Pauline Vincent, I am a student in my last year of a...
Archival Provenance Research Project: Lishan’s Experience
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