Source Archives Archives: The National Library of Scotland, Special Collections

The Bass Rock (detail), Theatrum Scotiae. John Sletzer, 1693

The Bass Rock (detail), Theatrum Scotiae. John Sletzer, 1693 Engraved views from the 17th century. ‘Theatrum Scotiae’ is a volume of detailed engravings by John Slezer, a military engineer . It gives a glimpse of what Scotland   looked like over 300 years ago. More than 70 of Slezer’s original engravings from the National Library of Scotland’s collections […]

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To a Mouse

To a Mouse ‘Poems, chiefly in the Scottish dialect’ Robert Burns. This is the first collection of Burns’s work to appear in print. Published in Kilmarnock by John Wilson in 1786, it is known as ‘the Kilmarnock edition’. It includes the poems ‘Scotch drink’, ‘The Cotter’s Saturday night’, ‘To a mouse’ and ‘To a louse’. By […]

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Knots

The book of knots, being a complete treatise on the art of cordage. Illustrated by 172 diagrams showing the manner of making every knot and splice.

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Bell Rock Lighthouse in a storm

This book is found in The Stevenson Collection. Bell Rock lies off the coast of Angus Scotland and once apon a time it claimed the lives of many men. Between 1807 and 1810 it became the scene of a feat of engineering which has since been described as on of the seven wonders of the […]

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