I have been reading through two box files of memories of student life at St Andrews collected by Professor Peter Redford Scott Lang in the… Read More »Reading the Collections, Week 18: Student Reminiscences
“I’ve never read anything by Jane Austen. I repeat: I’ve never read anything by Jane Austen!” This is how a conversation started with my colleague,… Read More »Reading the collections, week 17: Jane Austen’s Persuasion
“The petals were voluminous enough to be stirred by the summer breeze, and when they moved, the red, blue and yellow lights passed one over… Read More »Reading the Collections, Week 16: Kew Gardens
Over the past month I have found myself travelling much more than usual. Knowing that my Reading the Collections blog post would need to be… Read More »Reading the Collections, Week 15: Diary of Isabella Lucy Bishop’s Nile Voyage
Although I thought that the work of George Herbert was all new to me, I found that I already knew some of his poems almost… Read More »Reading the Collections, Week 14: George Herbert, The Temple (Cambridge: Thomas Buck and Roger Daniel, 1633)
A Holiday in Iceland by N.L van Gruisen, Junr. (London 1879), though an unassuming little volume, caught my attention every time I passed it on the… Read More »Reading the Collections, week 13: A Holiday in Iceland
Working with the Photographic Collection, it may seem self-evident that I prefer to read books with pictures. So when asked to read a book from… Read More »Reading the Collections, Week 12: Every Building on the Sunset Strip
Having just been on holiday to the Lake District with its numerous literary connections, and having visited several of the places relating to the children’s… Read More »Reading the Collections, Week 11: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
It won’t take long to read 18 letters I thought. These are family letters to Lt Thomas Harriott, who was serving in the Staff Corps… Read More »Reading the Collections, Week 10: Fortune and Frivolity: letters from home in the time of Jane Austen
“The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there”. So, famously, begins The go-between by L.P. Hartley. I was a visitor to that foreign country… Read More »Reading the Collections, Week 9: Cartes de Visite
The first time I came across The 39 Steps I was in London with my family. We were in Piccadilly Circus and thanks to my… Read More »Reading the Collections, Week 8: John Buchan, The 39 Steps
I have a few truly vivid memories of being six years old: the time I jumped from the monkey bars because I wanted to… Read More »Reading the Collections, Week 7: The Book of Bosh
