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 […]
NLS celebrates 20 years in the world’s first UNESCO City of Literature
This October we celebrate the twentieth anniversary of Edinburgh becoming the world’s first UNESCO City of Literature, the founding city in what is now an international network of 53 Cities of Literature in 39 countries around the world. Looking back, we can hardly believe it’s been two decades. The National Library of Scotland was at […]
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 […]
D-Day 80th Anniversary Commemoration
I remember the day, soon after I started as a Map Assistant in the Map Library, while searching for maps of France I opened a drawer and saw five aerial photos taken by the RAF after D-Day sitting beside large scale maps of the five D-Day landing beaches. I was, and still am, fascinated by […]
The Guild of Woman-Binders
Hello, my name is Lydia Ferguson and I am a postgraduate student at the University of Edinburgh studying History of Art, Theory, and Display. For the past three months I have been working as an intern at the National Library of Scotland in the Rare Books Division under the supervision of Rare Books Curator James Mitchell. During this time, I […]
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 […]
Factual books for children in the collections
Legal deposit legislation means that most UK and Irish publications are in our collections. As a consequence we have items you might not expect to find in a reference library such as car and other repair manuals and Mills and Boon romances. If you need information on how to build a shed, knit a jumper, […]
You can now explore “The Listener” magazine for free
You might have thought about getting a reader’s ticket for the National Library of Scotland but decided against it as it is not convenient for you to visit our Edinburgh reading rooms. Did you know that free membership of the Library lets you consult our physical collections but also gives you remote access to digital […]
Arabella Buckley: female science writer and early supporter of Darwin
Women are still relatively under-represented in the fields of science, technology engineering and mathematics (STEM). Why is this so? Unfortunately, there are still negative stereotypes surrounding nerdy scientists, and there is a lack of encouragement and awareness for girls potentially interested in studying science subjects.