North Britain Notes
By Karen Baston
As some of you may know, I’ve relocated to Edinburgh to work on this: Charles Erskine’s Library.
Think of this page as the Northern Early Modern Intelligencer…
30 August 2010
Scottish History Research Seminar Series has been announced for the first semester of 2010-2011.
All seminars will take place on Thursday evenings beginning at 5.15pm. The venue will be confirmed nearer the time. You can find the details here: Scottish History Research Seminars.
22 August 2010
The Way to Keep Him at the Edinburgh Fringe.
The new theatrical company Artifice is at the Fringe and it is well worth seeing their production of Arthur Murray’s 1760 afterpiece The Way to Keep Him. The short play is performed in a top room of the Merchants’ Hall which is decorated as a Georgian drawing room and so naturally becomes the setting for events in the day of a life of servants and masters as they attempt to manage their love affairs with wit. The cast obviously enjoy the show and the audience are very much encouraged to join in. (At one point we were called upon to be a jury!) Lovely costumes and simple props create the illusion that we’re witnessing events in 1760′s London. The play is running in Edinburgh daily until 30 August. Tickets £8.50 / concs £6.50 Venue box office: 0131 220 5911/ Fringe box office: 0131 226 0000 / www.edfringe.com.
Artifice is dedicated to reviving Restoration and eighteenth century plays in historical settings. Find out more about them here: http://www.katenapier.eu/www.artifice.org.uk/Welcome.html.
1 July 2010
When I downloaded the lastest version of the Birkbeck Early Modern Society Bulletin (pdf), I noticed that some of my formatting for my piece about early modern cats had gotten lost in the file transfer process. If you’d like to see it as a Word document (indented quotes and an extra picture of a cat!), click here: ‘Tis Quite a Whim. I’m filing it here because the earl of Ilay is involved in the tale of Horace Walpole, Horace Mann, and the ‘odious’ cats from Malta.
26 April 2010
Bookplate Sightings Appeal!
I am seeking information about the bookplate of Charles Areskine of Alva, Lord Justice Clerk (1680-1763) and where it survives. Areskine was an advocate and judge in Scotland. He recorded the contents of his library in a manuscript which survives in the National Library of Scotland.
I am working on a doctoral thesis about Areskine’s library and would be grateful to know of any examples of his bookplate which survive beyond those found in the Alva Collections of the National Library of Scotland and the Advocates’ Library, both in Edinburgh. (I have already recorded the details of these.)
If you have seen Areskine’s bookplate in a book, I would be grateful to know of its location. You can find out more about my research at http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/research/students/118.aspx.
You can see the bookplate here.
Please send any details of sightings to: Karen Baston
31 January 2010
This pdf, The Edinburgh Courant, is an invitation to my talk at the Scottish History Seminar on 11 February 2010: ‘An Advocate’s Library: Charles Areskine of Alva (1680-1763) and His Books’, 5:15, 17 Buccleuch Place, Edinburgh.
15 January 2010
The National Library of Scotland (NLS) hosts a digital archive of Jacobite prints and broadsides. The collection includes ‘Illustrations of people and events relating to the Jacobite Rebellions in Scottish history (1715 and 1745-46). Also includes portraits of Mary Stuart and earlier Scottish monarchs, and broadsides. Collected by Walter Blaikie. Material stored at the National Galleries of Scotland’. The online version is available here: http://digital.nls.uk/74466725.
30 December 2009
The Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities (IASH) at The University of Edinburgh would like to start a David Hume Tercentenary Fellowship starting in 2011 and is seeking financial support. You can read about the proposed fellowship (and donate!) at http://www.iash.ed.ac.uk/hume.fellowship.html.
The Hume Society is already planning its 2011 conference which will be hosted by the University of Edinburgh’s Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities.
14 November 2009
Thanks the delightful Wonders and Marvels, I found a link to The Worlds of Burke and Hare. The Bure and Hare site includes historical maps of Edinburgh, recreates an anatomy lesson, and provides biographical details of all the people involved in the infamous murders. Well worth a look!
11 November 2009
It has come to my attention that a proposal has been made to distribute bibles to the student residences at the University of Edinburgh. (In any early modernist the thought might raise a shudder!) This strikes me as an unwanted intrusion. You can read the proposal here: Pollock bibles motion. The motion claims that the bible would be a source of comfort for vulnerable students. I disagree. The university offers a range of counselling services and supplies the bible – and other religious texts – in its library. It almost goes without saying that all of these materials are also readily available online.
You can read more about the issue at The Not-Quite-So-Friendly Humanist.
I am encouraging anyone who can – that is matriculated students at the University of Edinburgh – to attend the student societies AGM and vote! George Square Lecture Theatre: 17 November, 7pm.
2 November 2009
I caught the BBC’s new historical legal history drama Garrow’s Law: Tales from the Old Bailey yesterday. The stories about William Garrow’s career as a barrister are taken from the AHRC funded Old Bailey website and you can see the sources here.
6 October 2009
Blowing my own horn! See the Edinburgh Legal History blog at:
http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/elhblog/blogentry.aspx?blogentryref=7934
You can see the winning poster here: Edinburgh Courant Poster
27 September 2009
Birkbeck at Edinburgh! Two of the Scottish History Research Seminars for 2009-10 have Birkbeck connections. First, Dr Laura Stewart, currently of Birkbeck, will speak on Authority, Agency and the Scottish Church in the Mid-Seventeenth Century on 19 Nov 2009. And on 11 Feb 2010, yours truly (who did an MA at Birkbeck) will do a talk on An Advocate’s Library: Charles Areskine of Alva (1680-1763) and His Books. Both lectures will start at 5:15 and will take place at Seminar Room, Scottish History, 17 Buccleuch Place, Edinburgh. For a full list of the Scottish History Research Seminars visit:
http://www.shca.ed.ac.uk/scothistory/events/Events.htm.
06 September 2009
The last letter Mary, Queen of Scots wrote – it written just hours before her execution – will be on display at the National Library of Scotland for ten days from 15-24 September. The BBC has the details here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/8240716.stm/
10 June 2009
From the BBC:
One of Scotland’s rarest historical documents has been sold for a record price at auction. The National Covenant, which is one of just 12 in existence, sold for £32,137 – well over its estimated value of £5,000 to £8,000. See the story here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/8093842.stm.
28 May 2009
Erskines in the news! The site of the house of James Erskine, Lord Grange, is to be excavated this summer. Lord Grange, a Jacobite and cousin to Charles Areskine of Alva (or Tinwald), is perhaps best known for exiling his estranged wife to St Kilda while reporting her dead. You can read the story here: Lady Grange which includes a letter the lady wrote to Charles Areskine asking for help in 1738.
21 May 2009
The Edinburgh Law School has announced that it proposes to elect an Allan Menzies Scholar to study for the degree of PhD starting in September 2009. This is a scholarship for three years covering fees (at home/EU level) with a stipend for maintenance comparable to those offered by the AHRC and the ESRC. The thesis should be on Scottish property law of the late-18th-19th centuries. Find out more here: http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/elhblog/blogentry.aspx?blogentryref=7783.
12 May 2009
The Edinburgh University Special Collections page has an interesting highlight this month. Two volumes of legal theses have been found which contain their original decorated endpapers. The brightly coloured and patterned papers are lively and a bit unexpected. You can see some of them here: http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/resources/collections/specdivision/ch200905.shtml?0012606#images along with the title page of Robert Dundas of Arniston’s disputation which is one of the texts.
07 May 2009
My Edinburgh debut! It’s with some trepidation that I’m announcing my first talk on 28 May 2009 at the Law School for the Legal History Discussion Group. It’s called ‘Unpacking an advocate’s library: Charles Areskine’s 1731 book list and its significance’. Full details are here: Edinburgh Law School Events. I’ll also be addressing the Scottish History Seminar in February 2010 on a topic related to my thesis.
24 January 2009
Although the Birkbeck Early Modern Society is based in London, I live in Scotland. And in Scotland there is no escaping the celebrations of Robert Burns’s 250th birthday. Click Robert Burns for some links to all things Rabbie.
22 January 2009
I’ve contributed some relevant articles to the latest Birkbeck Early Modern Society Bulletin including reports of visits to exhibitions at the National Gallery of Scotland and the National Portrait Gallery of Scotland. You can see them here: Bulletin Issue 9.
27 Dec 2008
Stirling Heads Project
As part of the restoration work at Stirling Castle, an investigation into the ‘Stirling Heads’, a collection of Renaissance carvings, is underway. Find out more at Historic Scotland.