Book of the Month Archive

This is the archive of our popular illustrated  "book of the month" web feature, produced to highlight different books, manuscripts and sets of papers from our varied collections.

These archived pages were produced for the old (pre-2010) Special Collections website, from August 1999 until December 2009. Browsing through these is a good way to get a feel for the rich and varied resources available in Special Collections.  Note, however, that while the content of these articles is still relevant, their presentation and accessibility may now be outdated.

Presented in chronological order of the object's creation with date of article in brackets (you may also access the articles by a listing in order of the date that the article was written)

• 12th century
• 13th century
• 14th century
• 15th century
• 16th century
• 17th century
• 18th century
• 19th century
• 20th century

12th Century

• The Hunterian Psalter England: c. 1170 (May 2007)
• Greek Gospels Southern Italy/Sicily: 12th Century (April 2006)
• Bede: Writings on the Calendar Durham: 12th Century (January 2001)

13th Century

Although our collections include manuscripts dating from the 13th century, none of these items have featured in a Book of the Month article

14th Century

• Manuscript Compendium of Devotional & Philosophical Writings England: c.1330 (June 2008)

15th Century

• Bartolo da Sassoferrato: Lectura Super Infortiato Italy: c.1400 (January 2005)
• Legenda Aurea Bruges: c.1400-1410 (February 2003)
• The Aldgate Cartulary London: 1425-1427 (August 2002)
• Blockbook Apocalypse  Netherlands: 1430s-1440s (April 2005)
• Livy: Third Decade of the Roman History Milan: c.1450 (October 2005)
• Miroir de l'humaine salvation Bruges: 1455 (September 2000)
• Manuscript Book of Hours France: c. 1460 (December 2003)
• Manuscript Book of Hours Flanders: c.1460 (December 2006)
• Boccaccio: De Casibus Virorum Illustrium (The Fall of Princes) Paris: 1467  (February 2009)
• John of Arderne: Medical Treatises England: c.1475-1500 (May 2006)
• John Duns Scotus: Quaestiones in quattuor libros sententiarum Venice: 1477 (January 2008)
• Nicolaus Jenson: Breviary Venice: 1478 (April 2002)
• Euclid: Geometry  France: c.1480 (June 2001)
• Johannes Regiomontanus: Calendar Venice, 1482 (August 1999)
• The Chronicles of England St. Albans: c.1483 (September 2001)
• William Caxton: The Golden Legend Westminster: c.1483-1484 (January 2007)
• William Caxton: The Mirror of the World Westminster: 1490 (August 2005)
• William Caxton: The Mirror of the Blessed Life of Jesus Christ Westminster: c.1490 (July 2000)
• Ludolph of Saxony: The Life of Christ (Vita Christi) Paris: 1490s (December 2009)
• Geoffrey Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales London: 1492 (May 2004)
• Hypnerotomachia Poliphili Venice: 1499 (February 2004)
• Abū Alī Yahyā Ibn ‘Isā Ibn Jazla: Taqwīm al-abdān fī tadbīr al-insān (The arrangement of bodies for treatment) Mesopotamia: 15th century? (June 2003)

16th Century 

• Roman de la Rose Paris: c.1505 (February 2000)
• Sebastian Brant: Ship of Fools London: 1509 (March 2002)
• Poliorcetici Graeci - Treatises on Engines and Weapons Italy: c 1510 (August 2008)
• Maximilian I/Melchior Pfintzing: Teuerdank Nuremberg: 1517 (February 2005)
• Gaius Valerius Flaccus: Argonautica Paris: 1519 (May 2003)
• Visions de Pétrarque c. 1534 (November 1999)
• Leonhart Fuchs: De Historia Stirpium Basel: 1542 (October 2002)
• Copernicus: De Revolutionibus Nuremberg: 1543 (April 2008)
• Andreas Vesalius: De Humani Corporis Fabrica Librorum Epitome Basel: 1543 (September 2002)
• Sigismund von Herberstein: Rerum Moscoviticarum Comentarii Basel: 1556 (August 2007)
• Ovid (illustrated by Virgil Solis): Metamorphoses Frankfurt 1569 (September 1999)
• Christopher Saxton: Atlas of the Counties of England & Wales London: c.1579 (June 2002)
• Diego Muñoz Camargo: Historia de Tlaxcala Mexico: 1585 (January 2003)
• Newes from Scotland London: 1591 (August 2000)
• Thomas Hill: The Gardener's Labyrinth London: 1594 (May 2001)
• Papers relating to the families of Muirhead and Watt 16th to 19th centuries (May 2009)

17th Century

• Belägerung der Statt Ostende Cologne?: 1604-05 (March 2004)
• James VI and I: Speeches London: 1604-1621 (September 2003)
• Otto van Veen: Amorum Emblemata  Antwerp: 1608 (February 2001)
• William Shakespeare: First Folio  London: 1623 (July 2001)
• Heraldic manuscript England?: c 1625 (February 2008)
• William Harvey: De Motu Cordis Frankfurt: 1628 (June 2007)
• Embroidered Geneva Bible Amsterdam: 1633 (June 2006)
• John Bate: The Mysteries of Nature and Art London: 1635 (November 2003)
• Homer: The Iliad Venice: 1640 (March 2009)
• Thomas Browne: Religio Medici London: 1642 (July 2002)
• William Lawson: A New Orchard and Garden with The Country-Housewifes Garden for Herbs London: 1648 (July 2006)
• Athanasius Kircher: Musurgia Universalis Rome: 1650 (November 2002)
• Archbishop James Sharp: Letterbook 1660 (November 2001)
• Armenian Prayer Scroll Armenia: 1661 (April 2001)
• Pietro Santi Bartoli: Drawings after ancient Roman paintings Rome: 1674 (May 2000)
• The Darien Scheme 17th Century (May 2005)
• Papers relating to the families of Muirhead and Watt 16th to 19th centuries (May 2009)
• Scarfe-La Trobe Collection of Spanish plays 17th-19th Centuries (April 2003)

18th Century

• Rider's British Merlin London: 1701 (January 2000)
• The Curious Case of Mary Toft London: 1726 (August 2009)
• Jonathan Swift: Gulliver's Travels London: 1726 (January 2006)
• Johann Saubert: Emblemat Dukhovnyi Russia?: 1743 (November 2006)
• Bejamin Wilkes: The English Moths and Butterflies London: 1749 (July 2004)
• Louis Renard: Poissons, Ecrevisses et Crabes  Amsterdam: 1754 (January 2002)
• Samuel Johnson: A Dictionary of the English Language London: 1755 (April 2007)
• Laurence Sterne: The life and opinions of Tristram Shandy London: 1765-1769 (October 2000)
• William Hamilton: Campi Phlegraei Naples: 1776  (October 2007)
• Robert Burns: Poems, chiefly in the Scottish dialect Edinburgh: 1787 (January 2009)
• Curtis's Botanical Magazine 1787- (October 2004)
• Thomas Martyn: The Universal Conchologist London: 1789 (July 2009)
• William Blake: Europe: A Prophecy Lambeth: 1794 (November 2007)
• Francisco de Goya y Lucientes: Los Caprichos Madrid: 1799 (August 2006)
• Robert Thornton: The Temple of Flora London: 1799-1807 (April 2000)
• Papers relating to the families of Muirhead and Watt 16th to 19th centuries (May 2009)
• Scarfe-La Trobe Collection of Spanish plays 17th-19th Centuries (April 2003)
• The Rosarium Philosophorum 18th Century (April 2009)
• Robert Simson: Mathematical material Glasgow: 18th Century (October 2008)

19th Century

• Robert Thornton: The Temple of Flora London: 1799-1807 (April 2000)
• William Daniell and Richard Ayton: A voyage round Great Britain London: 1814-1825 (March 2005)
• Toy Books Glasgow: c.1818 (May 2008)
• Ghost Stories London: 1823 (October 2001)
• The Glasgow/Northern Looking Glass Glasgow: 1825-1826 (June 2005)
• George Pocock: The Aeropleustic Art  London: 1827 (March 2001)
• John Ross: Narrative of a second voyage London: 1835 (September 2006)
• Robert Carswell: Pathological Anatomy London: 1838 (October 2003)
• John Gould: The Birds of Australia London: 1840-1869 (July 2005) 
• James McNeill Whistler: Books & Documents from the 1840s (July 2003)
• Charles Dickens: A Christmas Carol London: 1843 (December 1999)
• William Henry Fox Talbot: The Pencil of Nature London: 1844 (February 2007)
• Facts and Observations on the Sanitary State of Glasgow Glasgow: 1844 (February 2006)
• A Booke of Christmas Carols London: c. 1845 (December 2000)
• The Journal of Design & Manufactures Vol.1 London: 1849 (August 2001)
• Thomas Crofton Croker: Recollections of Old Christmas Grimston: 1850 (December 2002)
• Valentines & Dabbities  Glasgow: 1850s? (February 2002)
• Henry Vizetelly: Christmas with the Poets London: 1852 (December 2004)
• Charles Dickens: Bleak House London: 1852-53 (November 2004)
• R. S. Surtees: Handley Cross London: 1854 (November 2005)
• Cuthbert Bede: Photographic Pleasures (London: 1855 (October 2009)
• Paul Kane: Wanderings of an Artist London: 1859 (June 2009) 
• Ker Family Papers Various locations: c. 1862-1970 (March 2007)
• Glasgow University Chemistry Laboratory Christmas Annuals 1863-1869 (December 2001)
• The Fifth annual report of the Magdalene Institution, Glasgow Glasgow: 1865 (November 2000)
• Thomas Annan: The Old Closes and Streets of Glasgow Glasgow: c.1872 (March 2006)
• James de Carle Sowerby & Edward Lear: Tortoises, terrapins and turtles London: 1872 (September 2007)
• Charles Darwin: The Expression of the emotions in man and animals London: 1872 (November 2009)
• Lewis Carroll: Through the Looking Glass London: 1872 (March 2000)
• James Scott Skinner: The Miller O'Hirn Edinburgh: 1881 (June 2000)
• Free Kicks at Football Glasgow: 1882 (January 2004)
• Scottish Playbills Scotland: 1883-1925 (August 2003)
• University of Glasgow Old and New Glasgow: 1891 (July 2008)
• Edited by W.T. Stead: Real Ghost Stories London: 1891 (December 2007)
• Scarfe-La Trobe Collection of Spanish plays 17th-19th Centuries (April 2003)
• Collection of original watercolour drawings Glasgow: 19th Century (September 2009)
• Papers relating to the families of Muirhead and Watt 16th to 19th Centuries (May 2009)
• Lushington Papers England: 19th Century (October 2006)
• James Paterson Museum Archive late 19th/early 20th century (August 2004)

20th Century

• Ker Family Papers Various locations: c. 1862-1970 (March 2007)
• Scottish Playbills Scotland: 1883-1925 (August 2003)
• James Paterson Museum Archive late 19th/early 20th century  (August 2004)
• Glasgow International Exhibition: 1901 Official Guide & Daily Programmes 1901 (October 1999)
• Photographs of a Baltic Cruise 1902 (March 2003)
• William Speirs Bruce: Photographs from the Scotia Antarctic Exhibition 1902-1904 (April 2004)
• Japanese Prints of the Russo-Japanese War Japan: 1903-1904 (March 2008)
• Ed. by J. Wortley Axe: The Horse: its treatment in health & disease London: 1906 (November 2008)
• T. & R. Annan & Sons: Glasgow in Panorama Glasgow: 1907 (June 2004)
• Dr Henry Farmer: Scrapbook Glasgow: 1911-1940 (July 2007)
• Gustav Holst: Letters to W.G. Whittaker c. 1913-1934 (September 2004)
• Sixth Battalion Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders Loos: 1915 (September 2005)
• The Bookman Christmas Special, 1918 London: 1918 (December 2008) 
• Alasdair Gray: Papers and Drafts of Lanark: a life in four books 1952-1981 (May 2002)
• Photographs of Glasgow University Library under construction Glasgow: 1965-1971 (September 2008)
• Henry Farmer: Papers 20th Century (December 2005)