Robert Louis Stevenson has been on my mind lately for various reasons, not least because we have a cataloguing project currently underway to sort and describe the extensive papers of Ernest Mehew , the outstanding Stevenson expert of his (or any other) day. We were given the archive of Ernest and Joyce Mehew, and Edinburgh Napier University have the […]
Category: Illustrations and photographs
Playing Shakespeare – curtain coming down very soon
Our Treasures exhibition – Playing Shakespeare: 400 years of great acting– part of this year’s world-wide commemoration of Shakespeare’s death in 1616, is coming to the end of its run, with only a few days left. Monday 13 June is your last chance to see four centuries of Shakespeare on stage.
Election fever 1880s-style
Voters in Scotland went to the polls last week to elect a new Scottish Parliament; a recent Library purchase of satirical cartoons of Liberal politician William Ewart Gladstone gives us a humorous view of political campaigning over 130 years ago. This was a time when politicians could not use social media, or TV and radio […]
Playing Shakespeare: 400 years of great acting – our new Treasures display
Ellen Terry and Henry Irving It is great to see the curtain go up on our new Treasures display – Playing Shakespeare: 400 years of great acting – our contribution to this year’s world-wide commemoration of Shakespeare’s death in 1616. I’ve been working on the display for the last few months, and as always it is […]
Dr Graham’s Kalimpong Homes
Scottish missionary papers in the library’s archive and manuscript collections are replete with stories of individual Scots who sought to fulfil their vocation overseas. Figures requiring little introduction are well represented in the papers, such as in the journals of David Livingstone or letters of Mary Slessor, along with more surprising gems, including the last […]
Eighteenth century Scottish printmaking
South View of Bothwell Castle by Paul Sandby NLS conservators Lynn Teggart and Shona Hunter recently attended a symposium on 18th century printmaking in Scotland. The symposium was hosted by St Andrews University, and organised by lecturer Ann Gunn, whose presentation is summarised here.
Eragny Press
The National Library of Scotland’s Treasures Display area now features a choice selection of private press books. They are part of a free exhibition entitled the “The Book Beautiful” which will run until 13 March 2016. Restrictions on display space meant that one amazing British private press could not be featured. The Eragny Press was […]
By way of illustration
Earlier this year we bought a gorgeous album of sketches and engravings by Joan Hassall. Hassall was a celebrated English wood engraver and illustrator, and the album tells the story of one book, ‘The Collected Poems of Andrew Young’. He was Scottish, and that’s why we bought it. The album includes Hassall’s account of how […]
Stevenson on screen
This week we are celebrating Robert Louis Stevenson’s contribution to cinema with a display highlighting film versions of his most famous novels. Although he died in 1894, a couple of years before the birth of cinema, RLS made an impact on films all the same. He is one of the most adapted writers for the […]