The St Andrews Literary and Philosophical Society was founded in 1838; it was no coincidence that Sir David Brewster was appointed Principal of the United College… Read More »Reading the Collections, Week 6: Insight into the 19th Century Mind
This week’s Reading the Collections gives me the perfect excuse to look at some of the work of one of my favorite botanical illustrators and… Read More »Reading the Collections, Week 5: Types Of Floral Mechanism
I am that man who with a luminous look Sits up at night to write a ruminant book. I am that man who with a… Read More »Reading the Collections, Week 4: Siegfried Sassoon, Poems
As a teenager, I spent much of my time wearing black velvet, listening to the Sisters of Mercy, and writing depressing poetry. At university, I… Read More »Reading the Collections, Week 3: The Castle of Otranto
“Ay, it’s an unco place, the Bass” When I first moved to Scotland, over four years ago, we chose to find a place to live… Read More »Reading the collections, week 2: Stevenson’s Kidnapped (1886) & Catriona (1893)
My first encounter with J M Barrie’s Peter Pan, ‘the boy who couldn’t grow up’ was through the Disney film, which chronicles the adventures of… Read More »Reading the Collections, Week 1: J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan and Wendy (London, 1940)
‘You work in a library? It must be lovely to get to read books all day.’ Anyone who works in any kind of library has… Read More »Introducing This Year’s Blog Theme: 52 Weeks of Reading the Collections
