One of the most intriguing Ordnance Survey map series in the National Library of Scotland’s collection is the 1:500 Town Plans (as well as some at a scale of 1:528). These were produced in the latter half of the 19th century and very early 20th century, and cover most towns with a population over around […]
Category: 20th-century items
Books and war crimes
A recent donation of several World War II related books contained ‘Gekämpft, gesiegt, geschlagen’ written by Lothar Rendulić. It describes German military operations in the Finnmark/Troms region, close to the Russian border. The book is inscribed by Rendulić: ‘Mr. Liddell-Hart with my best greeting. Rendulic, Seewalcher am Allersee, November 1952.’ (Sir Basil Liddell-Hart was a […]
Map of the Month: St Kilda
Our Map of the Month for August is the first detailed survey of St Kilda, published 1928. Although published by the Ordnance Survey, the surveying of this map was completed by a 73 year-old retired explorer and surveyor, assisted by a young geology student from the University of Edinburgh.
The Key: inhouse magazine of the Special Unit at Barlinnie
Is the purpose of prison rehabilitation, punishment or to remove dangerous people from society or a combination of all of these and more? How can prisons manage violent prisoners and minimise the danger they pose to themselves, staff and other prisoners? Can these violent prisoners ever be rehabilitated and reintegrated into society? The Special Unit […]
Geocoding the Stevenson Maps and Plans of Scotland
Written by Rachel Dishington, Collaborative Doctoral Partnership PhD student at the University of Edinburgh The Stevenson family of engineers worked extensively throughout Scotland during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Their work focused primarily on coastal engineering projects, particularly harbours including at Peterhead as shown below. Most famously, they were responsible for the construction and […]
Scotland from above – our 3D map viewer with new vertical exaggeration
In early 2016 we launched our 3D map viewer, allowing our georeferenced maps to be viewed from a bird’s-eye perspective. This combines our historic map layers with elevation data, so that they can be draped and visualised across a real landscape in three dimensions. Whilst the viewer has been popular, we have recently added a […]
Dungeons & Dragons at the National Library
Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy table-top roleplaying game that combines improvisation, storytelling, and strategy. It was born out of a combination of war-gaming, in which participants simulate historic battles using miniature figurines, and the fantasy literature of J.R.R Tolkein, Jack Vance, and Poul Anderson. It was first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, […]
Scotland: Defending the Nation – Mapping the Military Landscape
Some of the most detailed and alarming military maps of Scotland were made by external aggressors, planning attack or invasion. Here we look at maps made by four of these countries: French charts, 1800s In the early 18th century, when Napoleonic France made preparations for an invasion of Great Britain, the best available charts of […]
The Man Booker Prize at 50: Scottish authors and publishers that made the shortlist
In 2018 the Man Booker Prize celebrates its 50th anniversary. The first award was made in 1969 but most of the novels shortlisted were published in 1968. The 2018 shortlist will be announced on 20th September and the 2018 winner on the 16th October. To mark fifty years of the prize we thought we would […]
Virago Modern Classics celebrate 40 years of rediscovering forgotten novels
When Hilary Mantel returned to Britain in 1982 after living in Botswana for five years she noticed unfamiliar green book spines everywhere. She discovered that these were Virago Modern Classics and recognised them as a change for the better in the world of publishing. Virago was founded in 1975 by Carmen Callil, Marsha Rowe and Rosie […]