‘God made the days and nights but man made the calendar.’ ANON The calendar is a distinctly social invention. At its fundamental level it allows for groups of people to arrange time in order, identifying the past and future. If we are posed with two dates and a calendar, we will be able to determine […]
Category: 20th-century items
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 […]
Happy Birthday Beano!
The Beano is Britain’s longest running comic and celebrated its 80th birthday on 30th July 2018. So a slightly belated happy birthday. We did though throw a party for the Beano at our Kelvin Hall premises in Glasgow on Saturday the 28th of July. We showed for one day only our copy of Beano issue […]
Forty Years Gone: New Wave and Disco in 1978
The year 1978 saw a changing of the guard in popular music. The decade-long dominance of heavy blues-based rock was coming to an end and in its place two new genres, new wave and disco, would rise to attain massive worldwide popularity while at the same time becoming templates for popular music up to the […]
Suitcase Spouses: couples that travelled together
The archive of the John Murray publishing house holds many records of people that travelled throughout the world. Letters from abroad, proofs for works about their travels and illustrations of things they had seen can be found in this vast archive. Most areas of the world were covered under the imprint of John Murray. Some […]
Fashion Collections at the NLS
Vogue The Covers HB6.218.6.89, 100 Years of Fashion PB6.212.838/10, Behind The Runway HB6.217.2.36 The General Collections available at the National Library of Scotland (NLS) cover a diverse range of topics from Mountaineering to Music. You can find help and information to set up a business, indulge a passion, learn a new skill or delve into […]
‘He’s done it! Oh, a great goal! Oh, superb!’*
If ever a moment defined the joy and frustration of supporting Scottish international football it was probably Archie Gemmill’s World Cup goal against the Netherlands. “That” goal, in the sixty-eighth minute of their final Group 4 match played in Mendoza, Argentina, on 11 June 1978. By then, after all the hype and euphoria about being […]