In the summer of 2013, the University Library set out to capture the reactions of academic and library staff when encountering their favourite items from the Special Collections Division. For this project, authors for…
We have always referred to this manuscript (St Andrews ms32(o)) as the ‘book of wonders’ and indeed wondered what it was all about as it is lavishly and confusingly illustrated, packed with mysterious monsters and…
Regular users of Special Collections will know that over the last 5 years or so we have been promising that our new Archive Catalogue was in preparation and would be online ‘soon’. That ‘soon’ wasn’t quite as soon as…
Within our small, but perfectly formed, collection of ‘oriental’ manuscripts, is a fine copy of the Shahnameh, an epic poem written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi between 977 and 1010AD. Based largely (but not entirely)…