One of the more interesting recent finds from the Edinburgh Museum of Childhood’s book store is, perhaps surprisingly, a school book – The Sixth English Reading Book (fig. 1). The book, which used to belong to Euphemia M. Millar, contains a timetable of various classes attended by the girl at …
Happy New Year to all of our followers! 2018 is the Year of Young People in Scotland and our team is excited to celebrate. First up will be our exhibition, Growing Up With Books, which will open on Children’s Day (June 1st) 2018 at Edinburgh’s Museum of Childhood. We have …
The little red-haired girl who lives on the Hebridean island of Struay, always attired in her welly boots and Fair Isle jersey, is an icon of contemporary Scottish children’s literature. This, of course, is Katie Morag, the much loved creation of Mairi Hedderwick. SELCIE was therefore delighted at the news …
While working in the book archives of Edinburgh’s Museum of Childhood, we sometimes find books that hold traces of their authors. This usually takes the form of an authorial inscription, as is the case with the charming Mr Barnacles and His Boat book that appeared in a previous blog post. It is …
Only four months away from the centenary of Muriel Spark’s birth, SELCIE celebrates her little-known children’s novel. Gerard Carruthers guides us through its thoughtful quirkiness, complete with illustrations by Edward Gorey… Less well-known than Muriel Spark, the writer of novels or the short-story writer, is Spark the poet, Spark the …
This post written by Dr Sìm Innes, Oilthigh Ghlaschu [English translation follows below] Is iomadh uair ri linn an Athbheothachaidh Cheiltich a chualas gun robh na Gàidheil, neo na h-Albannaich gu lèir, air dùsgadh, no an impis dùsgadh, air neo gun robh an t-àm aca dùsgadh. Thug Lachlann MacBheathain (1853-1931) …
At times it is clear in our archives that a group of books was donated by the same person or institution, and often they have a paper trail of some sort – a letter included in the book or a note made by the librarian who received them as a …
Picture This What’s the relationship between text and image in illustrated children’s books? In this blog, Niamh reflects on this question, thrown up by having to choose between a multitude of beautiful different editions of the same text for our ‘Growing Up With Books’ exhibition. * As you know, the …
Today it was time for some of our favourite finds to have a little photoshoot! For our exhibition, Growing Up With Books, which will open at Edinburgh’s Museum of Childhood on June 1st (International Children’s Day) 2018, we are producing an exhibition catalogue. Over the last few weeks, our team members …
The book vault of the Museum of Childhood spans the globe both imaginatively and geographically. Russian fairy tales and handmade Japanese books nestle in boxes alongside home-grown favourites such as Peter Pan or Treasure Island. This often makes our task of sifting through the archive one of curiosity and unexpected …
