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Chapbooks information update
As of October 2008, our main catalogue has details of over 2,600 Scottish chapbooks in our collections. These records are the result of cataloguing work started in 2005 with funding of £10,000 from the from the British Library Full Disclosure initiative. To find them in the catalogue, try searching by subject — for example: 'Chapbooks-Scotland-Aberdeen/Brechin/Edinburgh/Glasgow'.
You will also find details of chapbooks held at the National Library, Glasgow University Library, Stirling University Library and Edinburgh Central Library in the Scottish Chapbook Catalogue.
More chapbooks information online
Users of the National Library of Scotland's main catalogue now have access to information on nearly 3,000 Scottish chapbooks.
We have completed the cataloguing of the chapbooks in the Lauriston Castle Collection, with funding from the British Library Full Disclosure initiative. (See 'Cataloguing of chapbooks' story below.) You can access all the records by carrying out a subject search, such as 'Chapbooks-Scotland-Aberdeen/Brechin/Edinburgh/Glasgow'.
Details of the Lauriston Castle chapbooks are included in Scottish Chapbook Catalogue. This resource also features material from Stirling University Library, Glasgow University Library and Edinburgh Central Library.
Cataloguing of chapbooks
Since October 2005, details of over 1000 Scottish chapbooks have been added to the online catalogue. The records can be accessed by carrying out a subject search such as 'Chapbooks-Scotland-Elgin/Glasgow/Greenock'. This cataloguing work has been made possible by an award of £10,000 from the British Library Full Disclosure initiative. By the end of this year it is anticipated that all 3,200 Scottish chapbooks in the Lauriston Castle Collection will have been catalogued and added to the Scottish Chapbook Catalogue hosted on the website of Glasgow University Library.
'The Private Lives of Books'
More than 5,300 people visited 'The Private Lives of Books' exhibition which ran at the Library from 13 November 2004 to 31 January 2005. The exhibition brought to light some of the untold stories which books have to tell about their previous owners, about their travels, and about the ways they have been treated. It also explored the unique relationships that develop between books and the people who read them.
What books can tells us about the lives they have led is almost more interesting than the written text inside. Mysterious inscriptions, famous and not so famous ownership signatures, bookplates and special bindings just give a hint of a book's secret past. Highlights of the exhibition included a book censored by the Spanish Inquisition, a book embossed for the blind before braille was invented, a children's book given to Robert Louis Stevenson by his nurse Cummy, and a Greek edition of Homer owned by four Prime Ministers. Scottish celebrities also loaned books which have a special significance to them.
- Read the full story behind each exhibit (PDF: 72 pages, full-colour graphics; 1.49 MB)
- Learn how to become a book investigator
The Auld Esperanto Collection now available
to the haggis' in Esperanto
We are pleased to announce that this large collection of nearly 5,000 books in and about Esperanto is now available for readers. Although the books are not yet catalogued and do not appear on the main online catalogue, a list has been prepared, with the books arranged according to subject. You can use this list to find books, and then order them for consultation in the Special Materials Reading Room.
These books are from the library of William Auld, a leading Esperanto scholar, a prolific translator of literature into Esperanto, and a major Esperanto author. His generous donation makes the National Library of Scotland into one of the world's major centres for Esperanto studies.
Esperanto is the international language created by L L Zamenhof in the 1880s, which is now used by communities across the world as a neutral means of communication. The collection contains books printed in countries as diverse as Japan, Latvia, Albania and Vietnam. There are some extremely rare examples of early publications in Esperanto, starting from 1887. However, there are also modern publications, including scientific books, children's books and literary translations, which show that the language continues to develop. The collection also contains extensive runs of serials, which are not yet listed.
Many of the books are relevant to Scottish culture. There are Esperanto translations of works by writers such as Robert Louis Stevenson, Walter Scott and Robert Burns, as well as original Esperanto fiction and poetry by Scottish writers including William Auld himself. A number of the books come from other Scottish Esperanto libraries such as the Edinburgh Esperanto Society.
- View Auld Esperanto Collection list (PDF: 120 pages; 926 KB)
- View images relating to the collection
Further reading
Boulton, Marjorie Boulton. 'Zamenhof: Creator of Esperanto'. London, 1960. (Shelfmarks: NF.1328.e.31, Auld.392).
Websites
- Esperanto.net
- Esperanto.org
- Scottish Esperanto Association (Esperanto-Asocio de Skotlando)
- Esperanto USA
- Address by William Auld; 'A Scottish poet in Esperanto'
Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO) now available
The Library's rare book collections have been enhanced by the purchase of this online resource, which gives access to some 150,000 digitised and text-searchable 18th-century books. It contains some 33 million pages of books printed in the United Kingdom and its former territories between 1701 and 1800. Alongside ECCO is the 'Times Digital Archive', a searchable digital edition of 'The Times', 1785-1985. Further information and details about access to ECCO.