On 31 October 1517 the German monk Martin Luther posted 95 theses for academic disputation on the door of a church in Wittenberg. This event now symbolises the starting point of the Protestant Reformation, and this year sees its 500th anniversary. We have put on an exhibition of original Lutheran tracts which tell the story […]
Tag: books
“Knots and Crosses” the first Rebus novel is 30 years old
It is thirty years since the first Rebus novel “Knots & crosses” was published and to mark the occasion REBUSFEST a weekend of literature, art, film and music celebrating the detective is being held in Edinburgh from 30th June to 2nd July. You can tour Rebus’s Edinburgh, sample whisky at the Caledonian Hotel or attend […]
Browse: the world in bookshops
Bookshops have always possessed a kind of magic. How many of us have wandered into a bookshop for “a quick look” and have found ourselves still browsing the shelves hours later? In Browse: the world in bookshops, Henry Hitchings asks fifteen writers from around the world on their thoughts and experiences of bookshops.
Arthur Conan Doyle and the Berlin Olympics of 1916 that never took place
A century ago in 1916 the sixth Olympics of the modern era were scheduled to take place in Berlin but due to war they did not go ahead. Our collections include publications about the planning and preparations for these Olympics that never were. “The evolution of the Olympic Games 1829 B.C.-1914 A.D.” by F. A. […]
The pleasure of reading
Antonia Fraser describes herself as an ‘addict’ of the written word. In this revealing book, she brings together more than forty leading writers (writing in the English language) of all ages and from backgrounds a diverse as possible, to explain what inspired their interest in books and what keeps them reading. First published in 1992, […]
J.R.R Tolkien: the making of a legend
(Photo credit: Lion Hudson) (Above image shows a photograph of J.R.R. Tolkien) Long before the massively successful The Lord of the Rings films, J.R.R Tolkien’s creations and characters had captured the imagination of millions of readers. Today, it is difficult to imagine a world without Tolkien’s stories of Middle-earth, elves, wizards and hobbits. But who […]
The lost library
(Photo credit: Westholme Publishing. Image above shows an old wooden library card catalogue drawer with the title of the book, The lost library, and the author’s name, Walter Mehring, written on the drawer) Born in Berlin at the end of the nineteenth century, Walter Mehring inherited both his father’s respect for the power of literature and […]
The reading promise
Alice’s sister, Kathy, was in fourth grade when she said she no longer wanted her father to read to her. But Alice was different. When Alice was nine years old, she and her father – a school librarian – made a promise to read aloud together for 100 consecutive nights. But once the pair met […]
Why not Catch-21?
(Photo credit: Frances Lincoln) (Image above shows the front cover of a book sitting on a book shelf surrounded by other books. The title and author of the book, Why not catch-21? The stories behind the title. Gary Dexter, are shown) Most book titles simply describe the contents of the book they are attached to. […]