In this week’s blog, postgraduate student Thomas Murrie shares with us some of the findings from his dissertation, the focus of which was on one of the Library’s manuscripts – the ‘Alchimiae Tractatus’ (ms38176). The…
George Sinclair was one of the earliest British writers on hydrostatics and published The hydrostaticks in 1672. At the time, Sinclair’s work was criticised by James Gregory and William Sanders in The Great and New Art…
Practice makes perfect: this is true of many things, but particularly so when attempting to read old handwriting. Palaeography skills develop with greater exposure and even experts will tell you that their ability to…
As we move into May, the regular pattern of visiting classes using Special Collections materials comes to an end. We have enjoyed bringing original material to a wide variety of sessions this semester for both…
Earlier this year we had the pleasure of welcoming the Opening up Scotland’s Archives trainees to their second cohort visit of the year, here at the University of St Andrews Special Collections. The Opening up…
It’s with great pleasure that we are able to pass on good news about the ‘Opening Up Scotland’s Archives’ scheme, in which Special Collections is a partner. The National Archives and the Scottish Council on Archives…
Well, butcher, baker and blacksmith at least! Three local craftsmen, masters of their trades, will be taking part in a free event on Saturday 7th May in the Supper Room of St Andrews Town Hall. Throughout the day,…
The moment you login to Facebook you are faced with an up-to-the-second archive of vacation photographs, pet videos, political screes, and daily frustrations of your close friends, and distant acquaintances. Yet social…
This summer, St Andrews began contributing information about its earliest printed books to CERL’s Material Evidence in Incunabula project. This project, initiated and directed by Dr Cristina Dondi, seeks to pull…
For this week’s historical how-to, we’re taking a look at David Browne’s The new invention, intituled, calligraphia: or, The arte of faire writing. Printed right here in St Andrews in 1622, it instructs the reader in…