As well as being a repository of knowledge the National Library of Scotland is an archive of publishing trends and fashions. You might remember the Magic Eye books of the mid 1990s? If you squinted at an image in these books in the right way a 3D landscape would open up before your eyes as […]
Tag: book history
Bobby Moore’s 1966 autobiography was written by a Scotsman
As it is the 50th anniversary of England winning the World Cup in 1966 we thought we would highlight a Scottish literary connection to England’s triumph. England Captain Bobby Moore’s autobiography “My soccer story” was ghost written by a Scotsman who would go onto to become a Booker Prize shortlisted author and be involved in […]
Shakespeare’s First Folio
To mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, the Library is displaying its copy of the First Folio on Friday 22 April, from 12:00 to 14:00. It is often said to be one of the most significant books ever printed – but why? William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in April, 1564, and died there on April […]
Scottish local sports club histories
Walk around any town or city in Scotland and sooner rather than later you are likely to come across a sports club. Scotland is full of bowling greens, tennis courts and other sports venues often tucked away in otherwise residential areas. Similarly most community notice boards will have details of judo, karate, table tennis and […]
A Seriously Old Book
We have recently bought an incunable. Incunabulum is Latin for “things in the cradle”, and the term means an item that was printed before 1501, i.e. during the infancy of printing with movable type. A book’s title page as we know it, with title, subtitle, author’s name, publisher’s name, and date and place of publication, was […]
Guest post: Excisions in a 17th century book
I am Marta Ameijeiras Barros, a Postgraduate Intern working in the Rare Book Collections Department, and today I ‘am making my debut’ on the Rare Books blog. The subject I chose belongs to one of the saddest chapters of the history of the book: its dissection, as if it were a laboratory specimen, at the hands of […]
Shakespeare and the King James Bible
In the famous radio programme Desert Island Discs, castaways are always automatically given the Bible and the complete works of Shakespeare as essentials on their desert island, symbolizing the position the two hold as the twin pillars on which so much of our culture is founded. Until Sunday January 8th, you can see original editions of […]
A European debate
In September 1561, a major debate took place in Poissy, France between the Protestant Théodore de Bèze, whom many reformers had met when they were exiled in Geneva, and the Catholic Cardinal Lorraine, the uncle of Mary Queen of Scots. This debate is now called the Colloquy of Poissy: it was the last major debate between […]