Annual Conference 2008
‘Imprenting within our Realme’: Books from Scotland
Wednesday 10 – Friday 12 September 2008
The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
Programme (pdf 60KB) | Booking Form (Word 49KB) | Bursaries
The 2008 RBSCG Annual Study Conference will take place in Edinburgh as part of the celebrations of the 500th anniversary of the first dated Scottish book. This will be a wonderful opportunity to learn more about Scottish books: the programme of lectures and workshops is designed to cover Scottish book history and production from the fifteenth century to the present day. The conference will be held in the new Quincentenary Hall of The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (http://www.surgeonshallcomplex.com/), beginning Wednesday afternoon, 10 September, and finishing lunchtime Friday, 12 September; there will be a range of optional visits to local libraries on offer on Friday afternoon. On Thursday afternoon there will be a choice of visits to to the 18th-century library at Traquair House, Scotland’s oldest continually inhabited house (http://www.traquair.co.uk/) or to Sir Walter Scott’s library at Abbotsford(http://www.scottsabbotsford.co.uk/), and the conference dinner will be held in the magnificent Playfair Library Hall, the University of Edinburgh’s main library building until the 1960s (http://www.ed.ac.uk/explore/places/buildings/playfair.html). On Wednesday evening there will be a reception in the award-winning Scottish Parliament building (http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/vli/holyrood/building/index.htm).
The full programme is as follows.
Wednesday 10 September
12.00-14.00: Registration and buffet lunch
14.00-14:15: Welcome & housekeeping
14:15-15:00: Keynote address – Bill Bell, Director of the Centre for the History of the Book, University of Edinburgh
15.00-15:45: Manuscripts and Prints in the First Century of Scottish Printing – Sally Mapstone, Reader in Older Scots Literature, University of Oxford
15:45-16:15: Tea/coffee
16:15-17:00: Who were they? The lives and world of book traders in early modern Scotland – Alastair Mann, Lecturer in Scottish History, University of Stirling
18.00-19.00: Reception in the Scottish Parliament sponsored by MSP Roseanna Cunningham
19.30: Dinner, at The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
Thursday 11 September
9:15-9:30: AGM of CILIP RBSC Group
9:30-10:15: Scotland in Europe, Europe in Scotland – Brian Hillyard, Head of Rare Books, National Library of Scotland, & John Scally, Director of University Collections, University of Edinburgh
10:15-11:00: An 18th Century J. K. Rowling: the bibliography of the Rev. Hugh Blair – Bill Zachs:
11:00-11:30: Tea/coffee
11:30-12.15 & 12.15-13.00
45-minute workshops (on the booking form delegates are asked to choose two):
- Scottish bindings – Joseph Marshall, Rare Books Librarian, Edinburgh University Library
- Scottish provenances – Elizabeth Henderson, Rare Books Librarian, St Andrews University Library
- Basics of 16th and 17th century Scottish palaeography – Norman Reid, Head of Special Collections, St Andrews University Library
- Resources for studying Scottish books – James Mitchell, Rare Books Curator, National Library of Scotland
13:00-13:45: Lunch, Quincentenary Hall
13.45-18.00
Choice of visits
- Abbotsford – with talk by Lindsay Levy, Rare Books Cataloguer, Advocates Library, on cataloguing the historic library OR
- Traquair House– with special tour of the library
19.30: Drinks reception and conference dinner at The Playfair Library, Old Quad, University of Edinburgh (after-dinner speaker to be announced)
Friday 12 September
9:30-10:15: Gaelic Books in Scotland: the Example of John Francis Campbell's ‘Popular Tales of the West Highlands’ – Domhnall Uilleam Stiùbhart, Research Officer, University of Edinburgh
10:15-11:00: Popular print in Scotland – John Scally, Director of University Collections, University of Edinburgh
11:00-11:30: Tea/coffee
11:30-12:15: The editor’s role in 19th century Scottish periodicals – David Finkelstein, Research Professor of Media and Print Culture, Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh
12:15-13:00: A review of the chase – Jolyon Hudson, Pickering & Chatto Ltd
13:00-14:00: Lunch, Quincentenary Hall
14.30-17.00 Choice of visits to Edinburgh libraries (all at 14.30 except where stated otherwise)
Accommodation
We regret that it has not been possible to make accommodation available within the conference package, and delegates are asked to make their own arrangements. However, rooms have been held at a number of hotels and at the University of Edinburgh’s Pollock Halls, at special conference rates, bookable through a special web page provided by the Edinburgh Convention Bureau (these include Ten Hill Place, which is the Royal College of Surgeons own hotel, adjacent to the College: see http://www.tenhillplace.com/). To find a wider range of accommodation we suggest you use the Edinburgh and Lothian Tourist Board service at http://www.edinburgh.org/accom or one of the commercial agencies such as http://www.laterooms.com/ or http://www.travelsupermarket.com/. If searching by post code, EH8, EH9, EH1 and EH2 are the most relevant ones.
Booking
Please use the Booking Form to book your place. Enquiries about booking should be made to Ms Marianne Smith, College Librarian, Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, Nicolson Street, Edinburgh, EH8 9DW, e-mail: msmith@rcsed.ac.uk, tel: 0131 527 1630, fax 0131 557 6406. Thank you: we look forward to meeting you in September.
Updated: 22 April 2008