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Architecture’s most influential, innovative and beloved underground magazine, reissued for the first time in a handsome clamshell box!
Published by Designers & Books.
Inspired by comic-book culture, Pop art, psychedelia, the space race, sci-fi, Constructivism and Buckminster Fuller, the hugely influential British collective Archigram was the epitome of 1960s avant-garde architecture. Their self-published, lo-fi but materially ingenious magazine Archigram, begun in 1961, announced their ideas for such visionary concepts as “Walking City,” “Plug-In City” and “Instant City.” It also served to connect the international avant-garde of the 1960s. Archigram forged links with the Metabolists in Japan, Frei Otto, Utopie and Haus-Rucker-Co in Europe, and Buckminster Fuller in the US. They were also championed by critics such as Charles Jencks and Reyner Banham, who brought Archigram‘s famous fourth pop-up issue to the US in 1966.
You can consult our Reference Only boxed set at the ECA Library Helpdesk, it is listed on our catalogue DiscoverEd here.
This is the second in a series of guest posts featuring other libraries (external to the University) that ECA students might find useful to visit. Today we are looking at the National Museums Scotland Library.
The NMS Library welcomes researchers, students and visitors to consult the library for reference use, Tuesdays to Fridays, 10am-4pm. Browse our online library catalogue to discover our historic and contemporary collections.
The Library reflects the strengths and variety of the Museum’s object collections and research interests. Anything ‘Available’ at the Research Library can be found at the time of your visit. If an item is at a location other than the Research Library, email ahead so the material can be ready in time for your visit: library@nms.ac.uk
The Research Library is accessible on Level 3 from the Technology by Design Gallery at the National Museum of Scotland. There are several thousand decorative and applied art books for visitors to browse, plus a display of 80 of our most regularly used journals, including The Burlington Magazine, Apollo and Arts in Asia, as well as journals of local arts societies. Many journals held in the Library’s stores are unique within Scotland, and can be requested in advance.
The Library has prominent archaeology and Scottish local history collections, and also excels in the natural sciences. World-wide art and design is the other main collecting strength with material covering everything from fashion, to jewellery and silverwork, to Japanese design and printmaking.
The institutional archive tells the story of the Museum and of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland whose historic library and archive are amalgamated with the Museums’. The Archive can be browsed using the Special Collections & Archives finding guides. The stand-out visual material includes the card index of the Scottish Life Archive (a document of Scottish agricultural and social life in the 20th century), the Daniel Wilson scrapbook (comprising sketches and cuttings of early 19th century Edinburgh’s old town), and the archive of textile historian Margaret Swain (records of textiles contained in Scottish private collections). The Library holds the Graham Gadd collection of 19th and early 20th century furniture ephemera and ceramics artist Majel Davidson’s papers, sketches and designs. There is also the advertising archive of Jenners, Scotland’s former, oldest department store.
To view Special Collections and Archives, complete this booking request form in advance.
This post was written by guest editor Jennifer Higgins of NMS Library.
A class of ECA students visiting the NMS Library in 2023
Are you interested in making and exploring the world of zines? We have a growing collection of zines within the ECA Library artists’ books collection! You can find them all on DiscoverEd.
Our collection includes works by Lesley Imgart, Sarah Sheard, “Zine a Month” duo Matt Swan and John Brown, and book artists at Good Press Gallery such as Eden Bo Dower, Johanna Hedva, Aki Hassan, and Isobel Neviazsky.
If you are interested in other collections and collectives, take a look at:
The Edinburgh Zine Library is a volunteer-run archive and reference library of contemporary zines.
The Queer Zine Library is a UK based diy mobile library volunteer collective celebrating radical LGBTQIA+ self publishing. You can find out more about the history of zines here.
Find out more about the zines at ECA Library by watching this talk on Media Hopper.
You might also be interested in our subject guide on Gender and Sexuality Studies
We also have an artists’ books and zines subject guide
Find out more about the amazing art and object collections that the University cares for, at http://collections.ed.ac.uk/
The collections include artworks, photographs, musical instruments, rare books, manuscripts, archives and special collections.
To find out how to access these wonderful collections, contact the Centre for Research Collections (CRC):
Centre for Research Collections
Edinburgh University Library
George Square
Edinburgh
EH8 9LJ
Tel: +44(0)131 650 8379 is-crc@ed.ac.uk
