We did not have a tour guide for this library as they had a self-guided tour with exhibits. The collection currently on exhibit was given by John Murray. In 1768 John McMurray (later Murray) started a bookstore on Fleet St which became the world's most influential publisher. Some of his clients included Jane Austen, Arthur Conan Doyle, Walter Scott, and Lord Byron.
I learned a lot about some of the authors which used John Murray as a publisher. For example, Lord Byron was very image conscious and somewhat vain. He had a lame leg so in order to cover it up he would wear long trousers which was not really done in those days. He was a fashion trendsetter and created a new romantic hero called the"Byronic Hero." He was considered to be irresistible to women of his day.
My favorite author, Jane Austen, was also featured in the collection. Most of the information I already knew but I was unaware that in her time girls sent messages using their fans at balls rather than speaking outright to men. I wish she had incorporated that into her novels!
At the end of the John Murray exhibit was a room which gave all of the history of the National Library of Scotland. It formally opened in 1689 and was an extension of the Faculty of Advocates. By the 1920s the upkeep of the collection was too much for the private body and so the library was given to the nation as the National Library of Scotland in 1925. There are 15 floors of storage but by the 1980s these were full and so in 1995 the Causeway building was added. New materials are taken in there and the map library which is one of the world's largest is held there. Some of the statistics of the library: 14 million books and manuscripts, 2 million maps and atlases, 300,000 music scores, and 6,000 new items every week.
I learned a lot about some of the authors which used John Murray as a publisher. For example, Lord Byron was very image conscious and somewhat vain. He had a lame leg so in order to cover it up he would wear long trousers which was not really done in those days. He was a fashion trendsetter and created a new romantic hero called the"Byronic Hero." He was considered to be irresistible to women of his day.
My favorite author, Jane Austen, was also featured in the collection. Most of the information I already knew but I was unaware that in her time girls sent messages using their fans at balls rather than speaking outright to men. I wish she had incorporated that into her novels!
At the end of the John Murray exhibit was a room which gave all of the history of the National Library of Scotland. It formally opened in 1689 and was an extension of the Faculty of Advocates. By the 1920s the upkeep of the collection was too much for the private body and so the library was given to the nation as the National Library of Scotland in 1925. There are 15 floors of storage but by the 1980s these were full and so in 1995 the Causeway building was added. New materials are taken in there and the map library which is one of the world's largest is held there. Some of the statistics of the library: 14 million books and manuscripts, 2 million maps and atlases, 300,000 music scores, and 6,000 new items every week.
