Special Collections Blog Archive
This is the archive of our regular Special Collections blog posts, produced to highlight different books, manuscripts and sets of papers from our varied collections and to inform users of the latest exhibitions and projects in which the material is being used.
The list is in chronological order, the most recent appearing first.
2012
- Friends and Fossils: a presention of two paleontology books to Special Collections
- Currently on exhibition (at home and away): our annotated copy of Copernicus goes to Oxford, and two books from Hunter's library go the University Museum
- Glasgow Incunabula project update (15/5/12): an early Augsburg imprint and a missing book
- Thomas Leckie's 18th century diary: featured on BBC Radio Scotland
- Edwin Morgan: Culture, hacked... Report on our involvement in 24hr event: computer gaming, twitter and more
- Laing film artist in running for Turner Prize: Glasgow-based artist Luke Fowler has been nominated for this year’s Turner Prize
- Back to school for Special Collections: some pamphlets on exhibition at Scotland Street School Museum
- Glasgow Incunabula Project update (19/4/12): Venetian printing and Erhard Ratdolt's genius in particular
- Creating a Cabinet of Curiosities: postgraduate work placement student's display of shell books
- Workshop on the medieval bible in Scotland: all welcome!
- A bit of balladeering: a reminder about a colloquium on Euing's broadside ballads
- Edwin Morgan: culture hack!: our participation in an intriguing event
- Falkland’s First Folio?: an additional provenance to Glasgow's Shakespeare First Folio comes to light
- Glasgow Incunabula Project update (26/3/12): a report on the conference Incunabula on the move
- 16th century view of the brain: anatomical painting lent to Wellcome Trust exhibition
- Revisiting Autolycus’s Pack The Wonders of William Euing’s English Broadside Ballad Collection: advertising a colloquium in Special Collections
- Glasgow Incunabula Project update (16/3/12): a 19th century binding reveals a blazing history
- ‘A book forged in hell’: Spinoza and false imprints: a look at Spinoza's Tractatus theologico-politicus and its clandestine publishing history
- The Edwin Morgan Papers: Madge’s Album: an update on the cataloguing of the Edwin Morgan Papers
- Glasgow Incunabula Project update (24/2/12): an incunable within an incunable
- What sex is your King James Bible?: an unusual bibliographical enquiry explained
- Happy birthday Boz!: a round up of some Charles Dickens material to celebrate the bicentenary of his birth
- Glasgow Incunabula Project update (31/1/12): a look at a religious house provenance - the Paris Jesuits
- Illustrated history of Glasgow’s Alhambra Theatre: a recently published work detailing the fascinating history of one of Glasgow's most popular theatres
- Glasgow Incunabula Project update (13/1/12): two first editions of illustrated treatises on music by Franchinus Gafurius
2011
- Glasgow Incunabula Project update (20/12/11): a round up of progress so far and some future plans
- Level 12 festive foyer: display including a Victorian masque and University Laboratory Christmas Annual
- Edwin Morgan's Glasgow Subway Poems: 1980s work remembered as subway celebrates 115th anniversary
- Glasgow Incunabula Project update (13/12/11): annotations by early readers
- Biography of Edwin Morgan is Research Book of the Year: based on the poet's archive in Special Collections
- Glasgow Incunabula Project update (2/12/11): a Scottish provenance and a book fool
- From 'makaris' to Makars: An exhibition focusing on the Scots language in print from the 16th century to the present day
- Whistler's etchings: a History of Art project to create an illustrated on-line catalogue raisonné
- Glasgow Incunabula Project update (21/11/11): a curious case of offsetting
- Provenance workshop: 24 November: CERL workshop being hosted by Special Collections
- Glasgow Incunabula Project update (15/11/11): tracing provenances from book stamps
- Glasgow Incunabula Project update (4/11/11): a work on military warfare with epigraphic initials
- Left Book Club additions: two donations for our collection
- Glasgow Incunabula Project update (28/10/11): the inclusion of post 15th century imposters
- Birds, bees and blooms: a selection of natural history books from Special Collections
- Glasgow Incunabula Project update (20/10/11): a book partially printed on vellum
- Curtis revisited (in Estonian): a book of the month translated into Estonian
- Cooking up a story: foyer display including alchemical manuscript, recipe book and writer's notebook
- Glasgow Incunabula Project update (3/10/11): stamped woodcuts and an embroidered binding
- 19th century photographs online: a tour across the world: highlighting images from the British Isles
- Glasgow Incunabula Project update (16/9/11): our unique copy of Wynkyn de Worde's The Miracles of Our Lady
- Divine Write: Exhibition to celebrate 400 years of the King James Bible: announcing a new exhibition to celebrate this important translation's 400th birthday
- Glasgow Incunabula Project update (6/9/11) : more editions of the Liber Physiognomiae and a re-used woodcut initial
- Cursing and swearing: an Englishman’s birthright?: a look at swearing and censorship through an 18th century pamphlet
- Glasgow Incunabula Project update (18/8/11): an 18th century binding by Derome (but which one?)
- Glasgow Incunabula Project update (11/8/11): an early provenance inscription with purchase price
- Glasgow Incunabula Project update (4/8/11) : yet more editions and copies of the Liber Physiognomiae
- 19th century photographs online: East Asia: images of Japan and China in the 1890s
- Enigmatic Emblems: break the Renaissance code with an emblem exhibition at the Hunterian Art Gallery
- Glasgow Incunabula Project update (27/7/11) : thanks to the GTs for two years of flickr imaging
- Glasgow Incunabula Project update (20/7/11): the evidence of fore-edge inscriptions
- Dark Side of a New World: discovering the Americas
- Glasgow Incunabula Project update (1/7/11) : multiple editions and copies of Michael Scot's Liber Physiognomiae in the Ferguson collection
- Special Collections Blog Archive: re-read blog posts from the past
- Glasgow Incunabula Project update (22/6/11): two very different copies of Avicenna's Canon medicinae (Venice: Petrus Maufer de Maliferis et Socii, 1486)
- The Magic of Medieval Manuscripts: a visit to Special Collections by some calligraphy students
- Glasgow Incunabula Project update (13/6/11): a unique edition of Facetus (Paris: Nicole de la Barre, [ca. 1495-97])
- Euing Ballads now online: broadsides from the 16th and 17th centuries
- Glasgow Incunabula Project update (2/6/11): the earliest printed book in the library (Cicero: De Officiis, Mainz: 1465) and an interesting provenance
- A Voyage to St Kilda: a donation to the library
- What was life like 100 years ago?: digesting a reader’s digest
- Glasgow Incunabula Project update (23/5/11): the evidence of wormholes
- 18th century botanical drawings on the mend: conserving the contents of the Cullen collection
- Glasgow Incunabula Project update (13/5/11): a unique edition of Albert Magnus' Liber Aggregationis (Milan: Uldericus Scinzenzeler, 9 Mar. 1495)
- Glasgow Incunabula Project update (5/5/11): royal provenances, interesting bindings, woodcuts and possible censored/corrected text
- New acquisition for the Simson Collection: a Swedish translation of Robert Simson: Sectionum conicarum libri V (Sp Coll Simson Add. q1)
- The Damned Art in Special Collections – a history of witches and witchcraft in print and image: an introduction to the Special Collections Damned Art web exhibition
- Glasgow Incunabula Project update (21/4/11): the inclusion of woodcut initials and printer’s devices in the woodcuts index
- Victorian lives in pictures: the digitisation of three 19th century photograph albums featuring prize-winning images by members of the Amateur Photographic Association and a ‘photographers logbook’ owned by Fanny Pickard
- Discovering Natural History and Special Collections: a new display of Australian natural history books is to be found in the foyer of Special Collections
- Glasgow Incunabula Project update (12/4/11): the discovery of a very rare edition of Mancinus’ Carmen de passione Christi (Sp Coll T.C.L. 451)
- Provenance – New virtual exhibition: a detailed look at several books with an interesting ownership history
- Glasgow Incunabula Project update (29/3/11): explaining the provenance of items belonging to the Hunterian collection
- Martin Luther – the book as a force for change?: the critical role of Luther’s published works in the development of Protestantism
- Heritage smells!: scientific experiments determine what causes the distinctive aroma of old books
- Glasgow Incunabula Project update (21/3/11): intriguing components of the exceptionally rare book of sermons by Johannes Meder (Sp Coll BD1-g.4)
- Garibaldi and the Unification of Italy: a selection of letters show Scottish support for the Italian cause
- Glasgow Incunabula Project update (16/3/11): highlights include four rare tracts printed by Nicolaus Jenson in Venice
- Conjuring Curiosities and Manuals of Magic: revealing the anonymous Hocus Pocus Junior. The Anatomy of Legerdemain (Sp Coll Ferguson Af-c.29)
- Glasgow Incunabula Project: staff embark on a mission to catalogue and describe in detail all incunabula held in Special Collections
- Lanark at 30 – a novel collection: showcasing rarely-seen manuscripts of Alasdair Gray
- Finding the copy specifics in rare books: instructions for identifying idiosyncrasies
- Spitsbergen 1921 – a botanist investigates: an album of images from the Arctic
- Special Collections in Wonderland: the curious provenance of John Ruskin’s Modern Painters (Sp Coll BE5-x.29-33)
- Who owned me? – rare book provenances: items that once belonged to Charles Dickens, Madame de Pompadour, Jonathan Swift and Roger Ascham are put under the spotlight
- New Burns Museum opens with Special help: two fascinating Burns-related books are loaned to the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum
- An early experiment in photography: photogenic drawings and positive images created by William Henry Fox Talbot
2010
- Victorian Christmas Greetings: introducing a new flickr set and festive foyer display
- Robert Burns’ ‘Pocket-companion’: delving into the later years of the poet's life
- Faerie Queens and Lost Paradises: an exploration of Renaissance Literature
- 19th century photographs online: South Asia: exposing the work of Samuel Bourne
- MacCunn music manuscripts: cataloguing the noteworthy Andrew MacCunn collection
- 15th century printed books now on display: including the only copy known to survive of The myracles of oure blessyd Lady (Sp Coll Hunterian Bv.3.4)
- Professorial poetry?: unearthing the verse of James Moor
- Rare first edition moved to Special Collections: revaluing Fernando Pessoa’s Mensagem (Sp Coll RB 5024)
- Gardener’s delights: flower books on exhibition: at the National Galleries of Scotland
- Resources for medical history: conservation project begins: protecting the papers of William Cullen and John Thomson
- Night poaching, theft and murder: inspecting some intriguing indictments
- Visitors from the the National University of Ireland in Galway: tour Archive Services and Special Collections
- 19th century photographs on display: Egypt, Italy, USA: digitisation project in progress
- A Dictionary of Love: language employed by lovers
- 19th century photographs online: Italy and France: images from the 1850s and 1860s
- Fascinating Facts about the Library: a look at the Library Review for 2009
- 19th century photographs online: Australia: documenting the rise of Sydney and Melbourne
- A poet’s scrapbooks – Edwin Morgan’s 90th birthday: celebrating the work of the first Scottish national poet
- Scottish Theatre Archive – new Library display: promoting Scotland’s theatrical heritage
- Treasures of Special Collections – Alciato’s first Emblem book: one of many significant items featured on the University of Glasgow emblem website
- Now on display: Revolutionary works on Astronomy: presenting De revolutionibus by Copernicus and Principia by Sir Isaac Newton
- Starring in the Seven Ages of Britain (link to footage added): the BBC film a special collection
- A rare book lost and found: investigating works by the Scottish author John Vaus (c.1484–c.1539)
- A life in medicine – The story of William Cullen (1710-1790) and John Thomson (1765-1846): a project is underway to improve access to the Cullen collection
- Early photograph of the “Wild West” discovered in Special Collections: a superb example of the work of Carleton Watkins (1829-1916)
- Where is the January book of the month?: link to the book of the month archive page
2009
- Who killed Moctezuma II? Intrigue and subversion at the British Museum…: The Historia de Tlaxcala (Sp Coll MS Hunter 242 (U.3.15)) goes on loan
- Gloria!: in praise of Ludolph of Saxony’s Vita Christi (Sp Coll MS Hunter 36-39)
- Treasures of Special Collections – Livy’s History of Rome: containing striking illustrations
- Now on display in the Hunterian Museum: Teuerdank and Taqwīm
- MS Murray 663 records now catalogued online: view items relating to the politicians Henry Dundas (1742-1811) and his son, Robert (1771-1851)
- Where has Whittaker Music gone?: reuniting a collection
- Working in the library – First impressions of a Graduate Trainee: a special placement
- Special Collections October Book of the Month: Photographic Pleasures by Cuthbert Bede (Sp Coll Photo Ref. 1)
- New acquisition: Flowers and Views: a souvenir volume
- Help Murder Polis !: collecting original watercolour drawings (MS Murray 590-594)
- Editing the 18th Century: original edition books by Laurence Sterne, Jonathan Swift and Alexander Pope on display
- Special Collections August book of the month: The Curious Case of Mary Toft (Sp Coll Hunterian Aa.7.20)
- A Knight’s Tale: Chaucer and his contemporaries feature in a new online exhibition
- The Blakes are back…: a number of works are returned from the Petit Palais in Paris
- Tell us about your favourite book of the month: celebrating 10 years of the popular web feature
- On Display in the Hunterian Museum: a 16th century atlas and a 13th century medical manuscript
- Stars of the Show: Hunter's work features in 'The Seven Ages of Britain'
- Treasures of Special Collections – Papyrus fragment: one of the oldest items in the library
- Adam Smith material on show for Japanese Ambassador: including An Inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations (Sp Coll Mu6-y.20-21)
- Birds, Bees and Blooms: new set of natural history images now available on Flickr
- Book of the Month: June 2009: Paul Kane’s Wanderings of an Artist among the Indians of North America (Sp Coll Whistler 71)
- Treasures of Special Collections – Temple of Flora: the most sumptious and renowned of all great flower books
- Treasures of Special Collections – Birds of America: a monumental work by John James Audubon
- Treasures of Special Collections: John Gould’s Birds of Great Britain (Sp Coll n2-a.7-11)
- Personalities of the Scottish Enlightenment: highlighting a huge amount of accessible research material
- Special Collections – The Hunterian Psalter: a new virtual display is mounted
- Book of the Month February 09 – Boccaccio, The Fall of Princes: exploring a de-luxe illuminated manuscript copy of the De Casibus Virorum Illustrium (Sp Coll MS Hunter 371-372)