Once you get past the early hours of the morning traditionally very little happens in Scotland on New Year’s Day. Appropriately on January 1st 2017 something is happening that is very quiet, automatic but in terms of Scottish literature quite exciting. The works of five varied but important Scottish female authors will no longer be […]
Author: Ian Scott
Yes we have colouring books in the library but sorry you can’t colour them in
As well as being a repository of knowledge the National Library of Scotland is an archive of publishing trends and fashions. You might remember the Magic Eye books of the mid 1990s? If you squinted at an image in these books in the right way a 3D landscape would open up before your eyes as […]
Arthur Conan Doyle and the Berlin Olympics of 1916 that never took place
A century ago in 1916 the sixth Olympics of the modern era were scheduled to take place in Berlin but due to war they did not go ahead. Our collections include publications about the planning and preparations for these Olympics that never were. “The evolution of the Olympic Games 1829 B.C.-1914 A.D.” by F. A. […]
Scotland’s football hit parade
“A football compendium” edited by Peter J. Seddon and published by the British Library in 1999 is one of the great football reference works and is available for consultation in our Reading Room. Over nearly 900 pages it lists all books or magazines published about football in the UK and Ireland up to the […]
Bobby Moore’s 1966 autobiography was written by a Scotsman
As it is the 50th anniversary of England winning the World Cup in 1966 we thought we would highlight a Scottish literary connection to England’s triumph. England Captain Bobby Moore’s autobiography “My soccer story” was ghost written by a Scotsman who would go onto to become a Booker Prize shortlisted author and be involved in […]
Scottish cricket books
As summer is here we thought it was a good time to showcase items on Scottish cricket from the collections. Although not the first sport you might associate with Scotland, cricket in Scotland has a long and fascinating history. We also have more Scottish cricket items in the collections than you might expect. The collections […]
Scottish local sports club histories
Walk around any town or city in Scotland and sooner rather than later you are likely to come across a sports club. Scotland is full of bowling greens, tennis courts and other sports venues often tucked away in otherwise residential areas. Similarly most community notice boards will have details of judo, karate, table tennis and […]
Travelling zoos in Scotland
A popular family day out during the Easter holiday is to go to the zoo. American folk singer Tom Paxton celebrated it in song with “Going to the zoo” in the early 1960s and a day at the zoo has long been a popular subject for children’s books. However in the 19th and early 20th […]
Magic in the trenches
One of the many special and named collections held by the Library is the Cuthbert Collection. This is a collection of over 500 books and periodicals on magic and in particular on Scottish magicians and magic in Scotland. Assembled by Jim Cuthbert a member of Paisley Magic Circle and a former president of the Scottish […]