In October 2023 the National Library of Scotland bought a copy of the first Broons book published in 1939 by D.C. Thomson of Dundee Ltd. Now just over a year later we are putting it on public display in our Treasures gallery at our main building in George IV Bridge, Edinburgh. On March 8th, 1936, […]
Category: 20th-century items
William Golding’s “Lord of the Flies” is 70
It is now just over seventy years since Faber and Faber first published “Lord of the Flies” in September 1954. “Lord of the Flies” is one of the most famous and commercially successful novels of the 20th century. A staple of the school curriculum for decades it has been an important formative reading experience for […]
“The Camomile” by Catherine Carswell is back in print
We are delighted to have played a small part in bringing back into print Catherine Carswell’s 1922 novel “The Camomile”. The novel vividly evokes the Glasgow of the early 20th century. It tells the story of Ellen Carstairs, a women in her early twenties who rents a room so she can think, write and just […]
“The Wasp Factory” by Iain Banks celebrates its 40th anniversary
Iain Banks published his debut novel “The Wasp Factory” on 16th February 1984 which was also the author’s 30th birthday. Abacus have slightly belatedly published a 40th anniversary edition which includes a number of interesting design features. As well as a small wasp on the book’s spine it has illustrated endpapers. If you remove the […]
Desperate Dan, you’re my main man
Desperate Dan made his first appearance in issue 1 of the “The Dandy Comic” in December 1937 as reproduced above. “The Dandy Comic” was arguably Scotland’s greatest contribution to 20th century popular culture at least until a single mother completed her book about a boy wizard in an Edinburgh café in 1995. “The Dandy Comic” […]
Unique Miniature Bible
The National Library of Scotland recently acquired a unique miniature Bible to add to our collection of volumes published by David Bryce & Son of Glasgow. David Bryce (1845-1923) was one of the world’s most prolific and successful makers of miniature books. It is a 1912 unrecorded variant of Bryce’s second edition of the Bible […]
Willa and Edwin Muir bring Franz Kafka to the English speaking world
Pictured above are the first editions of the translations of the works of Franz Kafka by Willa and Edwin Muir in order of publication, left to right. Between 1930 and 1949 Willa and Edwin Muir would bring the fiction of Franz Kafka to English readers for the first time and their translations would become the […]
A. L. Lloyd, folklorist and early translator of Kafka
3rd June 2024 is the centenary of Franz Kafka’s death so I have been looking at early English language translations of his work in our collections including a 1937 edition of the classic novella “The Metamorphosis”. It is a very attractive little book and almost certainly the first time this story was published as a […]
Explore our world class ice skating collections on the 40th anniversary of Torvill and Dean winning Olympic gold
On Valentine’s Day 1984 a British television audience of more than 24 million watched Torvill and Dean skate to Maurice Ravel’s Boléro at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo. The performance brought them a gold medal and a seemingly permanent place in the hearts of the British nation. Thanks to the success of John Curry, […]
Rare book by J.R.R. Tolkien held by National Library of Scotland
A recently retired member of staff got in touch with the Library to ask if we were aware that we had a very rare book by J.R.R, Tolkien in the collections. The rare item is a booklet called “Songs for the Philologists” by J.R.R. Tolkien and E.V. Gordon which was privately printed by the Department […]