A new exhibition at the British Library, Comics Unmasked, is the UK’s largest ever exhibition of mainstream and underground comics. Featuring such iconic names as Neil Gaiman (Sandman), Alan Moore (Watchmen, V for Vendetta), Grant Morrison (Batman: Arkham Asylum) and Posy Simmonds (Tamara Drewe), this exhibition traces the British comics tradition back through classic 1970s titles including 2000AD, Action and Misty to 19th-century illustrated reports of Jack the Ripper and beyond. The exhibition is open at the British Library, London, from 2nd May to 19th August 2014.
You can see another review of the exhibition here.
By happy coincidence ECA will soon be subscribing to the excellent Alexander Street Press Underground Comics Volumes 1 and 2 database. As soon as full access to these is arranged, this post will be updated.
You will be able to access the database via: http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/information-services/library-museum-gallery/finding-resources/library-databases/databases-subject-a-z/database-design
We already have online access to the British Cartoon Archive from the University of Kent.
You can also access Comic Book Plus, a free online resource at http://comicbookplus.com. We found Comic Book Plus on http://openglam.org/open-collections/ which gives free access to the online collections of galleries, libraries, archives and museums, and is worth exploring!
e-resources
Thousands of years of visual culture available free through Wellcome Images
Over 100,000 high resolution images including manuscripts, paintings, etchings, early photography and advertisements are now freely available through Wellcome Images.
Drawn from the Wellcome Library’s vast historical holdings, the out of copyright images are being released under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) licence.
This means that they can be used for commercial or personal purposes, with an acknowledgement of the original source (“Wellcome Library, London”). All of the images from the Library’s historical collections can be used free of charge.
The images can be downloaded in high-resolution directly from the Wellcome Images website for users to freely copy, distribute, edit, manipulate, and build upon as you wish, for personal or commercial use.
For more info see:
http://blog.wellcomelibrary.org/2014/01/thousands-of-years-of-visual-culture-made-free-through-wellcome-images/
Finding full text theses and dissertations
The Library offers access to a wide range of online dissertations and theses via the Theses Databases webpage which you can access via http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/information-services/services/library-museum-gallery/finding-resources/subject-guides/theses
Our theses databases include ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Full Text online. This resource contains millions of searchable citations to dissertations and theses from around the world from 1861 to the present day, together with over a million full text dissertations that are available for download in PDF format. Around 70,000 new dissertations and theses are added annually. It is available on and off campus using your EASE log-in.
The Theses Databases webpage mentioned above also gives guidance about how to submit a thesis, how to find theses by University of Edinburgh students and what the Edinburgh Research Archive (ERA) is.
More help can be found at the Scholarly Communications webpage:
http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/information-services/services/research-support/publish-research/scholarly-communications
New content added to Entertainment Industry Magazine Archive
The latest update to the Entertainment Industry Magazine Archive (EIMA) includes new Melody Maker content.
More than 300,000 pages have been added to EIMA in the most recent data update. Further content for thirteen periodicals, including three brand new titles, is now available to search and browse.
Highlights include:
- Launched in 1926, Melody Maker was the world’s first weekly music newspaper and was widely regarded as “the musician’s journal”. It appealed to a more mature audience than its long-time British rival NME (New Musical Express, also available) and devoted more coverage to “minority” interests such as jazz and folk and prided itself on a consistently serious and balanced critique of populist movements such as grunge, indie and dance. Over 1,400 issues are now available, representing more than 30 years of content, from 1968 right up to the magazine’s final issue in 2000.
- Following up on the addition of The Billboard last year, there is now even more content from this essential publication for the study of the theatre and early cinema. Over 800 issues have been added, providing unbroken coverage of the years 1963-1969 and 1976-1986 as well as filling gaps throughout the publication’s entire run.
Nearly 1,000 further issues of Variety are included in this update. In addition to filling gaps in the existing range, these issues contribute to offering complete coverage for the 1940s.
To access the ProQuest Entertainment Industry Magazine Archive, go to:
http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/information-services/services/library-museum-gallery/finding-resources/library-databases/databases-a-z/databases-e
Enjoy!
eLexicons update
Among the latest entries in eLexicons is a section on Graphic Novelists. It appears in the Illustration eLexicon, where a section on iconic Manga Japanese graphic novels is included.
You can access the eLexicons database via the Art & Design databases overview here.
New databases at ECA Library!
From 16th January 2012 the following new databases will be available for all students and staff. They will be listed in the A-Z of databases on the University Library website and in the University Library subject guides for Art & Design.
WGSN: The leading online fashion trend-analysis and research service providing creative and business intelligence for the apparel, style, design and retail industries.
Vogue Archive: Contains the entire run of Vogue magazine (US edition) from 1892 to the present day, reproduced in high-resolution colour page images. More than 400,000 pages are included. Vogue is a unique record of international popular culture that extends beyond fashion. The Vogue Archive is an essential primary source for the study of fashion, gender and modern social history.
eLexicons: eLexicons provide access to unique learning resources for the visual arts. With biographies, work examples, bibliographies and glossaries, the eLexicons provide the complete foundation for study in higher education, covering graphic design, typography, illustration, lettering, art and craft. Support material includes lecture guides, indexes and reading lists.
Bridgeman Education: Gives access to over 380,000 images from museums, galleries, private collections and contemporary artists all copyright cleared for educational use. Bridgeman Education gives you access to the visual culture of every civilization and every period from Prehistory to the present day across continents and civilisations.
uk.untitled: blog for new artists and writers is launched
uk.untitled is a new initiative set up by art historians Laura Di Maio (current PhD candidate University of Edinburgh) and Ruth Burgon (MSc University of Edinburgh). Their aim is to create a platform that can provide a first rung for young artists and art historians (students or recent graduates) in the United Kingdom, an initial place for them to get their work seen and their voices heard in the British art community.
uk.untitled hope that by beginning this project at the University of Edinburgh, in the year of its merger with the Edinburgh College of Art, they will promote the value of fruitful collaboration between artists and art historians, which is central to their thinking.
They will be beginning this project as a blog (which will include frequent reviews of independent shows, interviews with young artists, online exhibitions, platforms for debate, artistic event promotions, and monthly showcases of selected talent), but hope that it will develop in the future to allow them collectively to curate exhibitions of their contributors’ work, hold events, run debates and workshops and so on.
uk.untitled is project based around people and will not work without your input!
uk.untitled are looking for artists and writers who are interested in getting involved now. Email them with some info about yourself and a sample of your work: writers please submit a short (500 word) sample of your writing on art; artists please submit 5 photos of your work.
Additionally, if you are running an event or exhibition that you think might interest uk.untitled, please let them know and they will post a blog about it.
There will be a selection process as the organisers will be looking for a high standard in both the artists and writers they support.
EMAIL: uk.untitled@gmail.com
BLOG: www.uk-untitled.blogspot.com
Fluxus Reader available as free download
The difficult to obtain Fluxus Reader is now available as a digital copy, for download
here.
Download times are swift over the net, but the complete book runs to 36MB.
To make it easy for those who only wish one chapter, a single PDF for each chapter for use as stand-alone texts has been created.
The book is an open access edition, configured for full search and
accessible for copy and paste for scholars or students who wish to quote from the book.
All details and pages are identical with the print
edition. The PDF files are set to print out on a full-page format for
easy reading.
In making the digital edition of the Fluxus Reader available, the author
Ken Friedman has granted full permission for educational use in any format or medium.
Please feel free to share this information, to distribute the URL, or to
copy the book. Any other library that wishes to add the Fluxus Reader to its digital resources collection is free to do so.
Connecting lines: artists talking about drawing
Access to the recordings is available free online, and requires Quicktime/WMP.
Type – a visual history of typefaces and graphic styles
Recently added to the Library are two amazing books about typography, published by Taschen. These beautiful volumes are a collection of type specimens, initial letters, decorative lettering, engravings, borders and ornaments. Volume 1 covers 1628 – 1900 and Volume 2 explores 1901 – 1938.
When you borrow the book you also gain online access to over 2000 high resolution, downloadable images , which are great for building up your own archive of reference material. An ID and password are required and these will be given to you when you borrow the book.
