utterly engrossing trivia

P-P-Pick up a Topic

2010-07-08T11:51:00.004Z

Of all the blogposts on UET, none has generated more interest than one we wrote in 2007 on an old Penguin wrapper. I am pleased to bring you an exciting new development in this groundbreaking community research.

A reader has been in touch with the following message:

"Hi.

"I just found a Penguin wrapper in most unusual circumstances tonight. It's not in best condition, but predates the one on your blog by a good while I think.

"I found it stuffed inside a bicycle handle bar!!! From a late 1940s bike! It was scrunched up, but when I straightened it out a little this is what I found (attached) It's not the best pic, used flash, but it says on the wrapper "Macdonalds Milk Chocolate Penguin Sandwich Biscuit". Made at the Glenc(g)arry Biscuit......... Bakery Glasgow.

"In the other side of the bars I found a Peek Freens Majestic Wafer wrapper. Also pictured, but that's another story maybe."

Can anyone go one better we wonder?

Ephemera - Speedo

2010-05-18T11:11:00.003Z

I was going to entitle this Speedoes, but then perhaps it should have been Speedos. Who knowes? One of the tragedies ov the arrivale of modernitie is the mannerie in which all the ees were culled.

Anyway, to business...

"SPEEDO EUROPE LTD. - NOTTINGHAM - ENGLAND
IMPORTANT

This garment is created for competitive and discerning swimmers from special
lightweight fabric, and dyed and printed in exciting fashion shades. It is
guaranteed for a quality of workmanship and fastness of colour if the following
procedures are observed.

1. Avoid contact with all rough surfaces as this may cause abrasion
of the lightweight fabric.
2. Rinse in fresh cold water after use in swimming pools and
seawater. Squeeze Gently. Do Not Wring.
3. Avoid prolonged exposure to sunlight if garment is left in
polythene bag.

In case of complaint, please return this card with the garment to
Speedo Europe Ltd., Nottingham, England
INSPECTION No. "

Do not wring? That is an essential part of any visit to the baths.

Ephemera - Life in your hands

2010-05-18T11:01:00.003Z

Verso of this guide to the metrification of explosives, there is a warning card outlining the duties of a shot-firing sentry. It reads as follows:

"SENTRY
Life in your hands
You have been appointed as a shot-firing
sentry.
Do not allow anyone to pass you into the
danger zone.
Under no circumstances must you leave
your post until you have been relieved
personally by the official who appointed
you.
The Coal Mines (Explosives)
Regulations, 1961 Ex. Reg. 42
1. No person who has been posted as a
sentry in pursuance of Regulation 41
shall leave the place where he was posted
until the person who so posted him has
personally directed him to do so.
2. No person shall pass a danger sign
exhibited for the purposes of shot-firing
without the authority of the shot-firer or
trainee shot-firer concerned, or shall pass
a sentry who has forbidden him to do so.

Produced in the interests of safety by
ICI | Nobel's | Explosives | Company | Limited"

Delivery - Shopping list

2010-05-18T10:55:00.003Z

From the bombastic to the mundane now...

"Delivery on 31st July
602 Lasagne £2-50
506 Roast beef & Yorkshire £3-10
518 Pork in Apple Sauce 3.15
504 Roast beef in burgundy sauce 3 15
531 Lamb Hotpot 2 80
563 Plaice in breadcrumbs 3 15
532 Lamb liver 2 55
507 Spaghetti Bolonaise 2 40
264 Chicken curry 2 05
568 Cod fillet 2 75
----
£27-60
delivery 1-00
----
£28-60"

Would love to know whose codes these were...

Ephemera - Explosives card

2010-05-18T10:50:00.003Z

An explosives card of sorts here, this one dating from 1981. As ever the ephemera is the question. Feel free to write in with answers.

"Series 780 E & D 5 (M)
Day Tuesday Pouch No 11.
Date 21.4.81 Shift P/T
Detonator No Wire Colour Orange
Dets issued 20 Used 7 Returned 13
District(s) D15

Signature of Shotfirer [Murray McLellan]?
[...]"

Ephemera - SYHA

2010-05-18T10:29:00.004Z

Wikipedia Articles on Concepts

2010-03-20T21:36:00.005Z

In idle moments, I have been known to press the random article button on Wikipedia. What a mistake! Depressingly the Encyclopaedia is just packed with articles which in the broadest sense we might call topographical: albums, single, football players, rocks, plants, townships, high schools, shipping firms etc. etc. And it is only going to get worse. This detritus of the human existence knows no limits to its extent.

To counterbalance this trend, I thought that it would be fun to filter out articles which in the broadest sense we might call conceptual or treating of concepts. Here is the story of my journey:

21'46: Five minutes in using the Random Button and still nothing. It is clear that I am going to have to be a little forensic about digging out articles on concepts. Here is one user's experience of 250 pages and their multifarious contents: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Opabinia_regalis/Article_statistics.

21'58: Searching from 'concept*' in the Category field, I have begun to pull out one or two interesting terms:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trope_%28philosophy%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam%27s_razor
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parsimony
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Relativity
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essentially_contested_concept
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falsifiability
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existential_quantification
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbrand_universe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantifier_elimination
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperreal_number
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_%28model_theory%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principle_of_sufficient_reason
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KK_thesis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_justification
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axiom_of_countable_choice
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universe_of_discourse

Yawn. Sorry guys. A lot of hunting, and a reasonable trawl for the night, but at 10'36 and after many distractions, I'm away to bed (to read!)

Here's One We Made Earlier

2010-03-08T21:44:00.005Z

Ephemera is born and not made. It must be an unconscious process, I suspect, to be ephemera in the truest sense of the word. With this in mind, here are two contributions by staff members, which were very much created with posterity very much an afterthought.

On the left is a bookmark, that I myself made when I guess I must have been about ten years old. Sweet as it is, I am a tad disappointed at the logical inconsistency of the book itself doing parachuting, which makes me wonder whether 'Parachute in a Book' would not perhaps have been a better slogan. Who's to argue with a ten-year-old!? If nothing else, at least I cannot be accused, seventeen years later, of being a jonny-come-lately to this bookselling business.

On the right, also scrawled with no thought of internet fame and fortune, is one of our interminable day-lists, this one by my colleague, Daniel. My interest was particularly caught by the note that read 'Guy might come in tomorrow to sell a dictionary'. Daniel appears to have written 'old' before the word 'guy', then thought better of it, and replaced it with 'older'.

Further Flower Identification Puzzle

2010-03-08T21:33:00.003Z

Another flower identification puzzle for you, only this time the specimens in question come from a 1778 Eighth Edition of Paradise Lost. Nothing to indicate that the leaves are that old, of course. As ever on Utterly Engrossing Trivia, the ephemera suggests a question, and in this case, quite simply, can you identify the leaves in question. Answer to Comments, please.

Ephemera - Newspaper cutting

2010-02-27T20:28:00.004Z

A MOST UNROMANTIC LOVER
Gibbon, the Historian
On January 16, 1794, died Edward Gibbon,
remembered by the world at large for his
monumental historical achievement, of
interest to women as perhaps the most un-
romantic lover who ever became famous.
There have been many fickle swains, whose
allegiance to a friend or to a cause was
more permanent than a romance of which
they had wearied; but Gibbon's placid as-
ceptance of parental veto and complacent
readiness to substitute friendship for pas-
sion is interesting from the psychological
standpoint. If few woman can help fell-
in a quiet scorn, few would fail to consider
that the lady got a better bargain in Necker,
who proposed in her days of poverty when
she was working to support her widowed
mother.

First Meeting
Fairness must recall that Gibbon was only
a youth of 20 when he encountered the
charms of Susanne Curchod, whose merits
he afterwards summed up with level-headed
logic :-"I Found her learned without
pedantry, lively in conversation, pure in
sentiment, and elegant in manners." She
came from Crassy, where her father was a
minister, to visit relations at Lausanne, and
she and young Edward were mutually at-
tracted. He visited her at her mountain
home in Burgundy, and was welcomed by
her parents. Then he returned to England,
and his father absolutely refused to coun-
tenance an engagement.

Tame Submission
We may fancy that his love was not so
very ardent, for he seems to have submitted
quite tamely to his father's decision. True,
he was financially dependent upon him. The
lady's ideas were different; she refused other
good offers of marriage and awaited his
return, hoping and trusting. He went to
Lauzanne again a few years later, and met
her coldly. At last she asked for an ex-
planation, and he was glib with his sugges-
tion that romance should be translated into
quiet friendship. Evidently the idea did not
appeal to her, and she proposed his visiting
Rousseau, having first arranged through a
pastor friend that he should be given a little
good advice on the duties f lovers.

Love Grown Cold
He did not go Rousseau, and when he
met her again at Ferney, treated her so
coolly that a rupture which seemed final re-
sulted. As his biographers have admitted,
it was not his fault that her feelings were
deeper than his own, but he might have
behaved with less brutality. However, that
was not the end of the story. A year after
her marriage to Necker she met her former
lover on terms of easy friendship. They
was each other almost daily, and each ap-
peared to take a pride in showing the other
that old would had ceased to need dress-
ing. For the rest of their lives they even
maintained quite an affectionate correspon-
dence. We may wonder if it was entirely
free from affectation, and it is curious to
conjecture concerning Suzanne's inmost
feelings towards her cold-blooded lover.
FEDDEN TINDALL

+-+-+
A well-known story. The Necker-Gibbon connection is one that has intrigued me since I learnt about it earlier this year. What is the source of this article however? Who is Fedden Tindall?

Ephemera - Dumfries Banknote

2010-01-07T15:02:00.003Z

The attached article carries the following commentary: "A RARE BANK-NOTE.--An article published in "The Post" recently referred to the rarity of on-guinea bank-notes, of which, it stated, only three are known to exist. Mr. E. Irving Roberts, of Khandallah, owns such a note, apparently of an issue different from those referred to in the article. The photograph is a slightly enlarged reproduction of this probably valuable curiosity."

Ephemera - The Spittal Hotel

2010-01-07T12:32:00.004Z

A charming receipt from the 1960s here. The Spittal Hotel is a beautiful log cabin at the foot of the Cairngorm mountains on the A93 enroute to Glenshee and Braemar. The receipt is made out to one Mr Gorski, which ammusingly means something like 'mountaneous' in Polish. It is particularly charming to note pay that guests were expected to pay extra for baths, which Mr. Gorski failed to avail himself during the course of his four-day stay.

=========
[1]
THE SPITTAL OF GLENSHEE
HOTEL LTD. - GLENSHEE

8th Jan 1966

Received from
Mr Gorski
£13 . 7 . 0
Sig. S. McLeod

[1b]

2852
The sum of
£ s d
10%
£ 1 . 6 . 0

[2]

6156

THE SPITTAL HOTEL
Proprietor: THE SPITTAL OF GLENSHEE HOTEL LTD.
GLENSHEE, PERTHSHIRE
SKI-ING - FISHING - PONY-TREKKING

Mr Gorski

Jan 1965 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8
Brought forward - 3.15.- 7.10.- 11.5.-
Room & Breakfast
Board £ 3.15.0 £3.15.0 £3.15.0
Apartments
Room Service
Morning Tea
Baths
Breakfast
Luncheon
Afternoon Tea
High Tea
Dinner/Supper
Tea & Coffee 2.-
Beers, WInes, etc.
Laundry/Dry cleaning
Telephone
Garage Transport 2.0.0
Sundries
Pony Trekking
Ski Hire
Ski Instruction

Carried forward - £ 3.15 - 7.10.- 11.5.- 13.7.0

NEAREST STATION, COUPAR ANGUS

===

Questions, question. Who was Mr. Gorski one wonders. Why one cup of tea in four days? Anyone know anything about the hotel at this time? Who worked there? Who was it run by?

Flower

2010-01-05T22:21:00.002Z

This came out of a fourth impression of Isobel Cameron's 'The Street of the Spinners'. Ideas, anyone?

Ephemera: Moray House College of Education

2010-01-05T15:17:00.005Z

A reading list now, this one from 1965, we are guessing. Recognise any of the titles, or the course? If so, as ever, please feel free to leave a comment and/or insight with the comment function below.

~~~

MORAY HOUSE COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
SESSION 1965/66
FINAL YEAR COLLEGE DIPLOMA STUDENTS
METHODS AND PRESCRIBED BOOKS EXAMINATION

Students in this class will be examined during the week beginning 30th May, 1966 on their reading of certain prescribed books concerned with methods of teaching Arithmetic, Mathematics, Reading and Spelling, and on other subjects no dealt with in the normal examination timetable, e.g. school broadcasting, visual aids, infant methods, group and individual methods, teaching of handwriting, rural school methods.

The examination will be of two hours' duration.

Students will be expected to answer four questions, viz., one on Prescribed and Recommended Reading in Arithmetic and Mathematics, one on Prescribed Books in Reading and Spelling, and two from the rest of the paper (General Methods).

ARITHMETIC AND MATHEMATICS

Prescribed Reading

Keith & Robertson "Principles of Arithmetic",
pp. 72-131; 157-246, and 254-162

OR

Burmiston: "Real Arithmetic" (Junior Series),
Teachers' Books 0 - 4 (Parts dealing with
multiplication, short and long division,
compound quantities (i.e., weights and
measures), vulgar fractions and decimal
fractions).

OR

Monteith: "Teaching Arithmetic"
pp. 90-104; 126-185, and 192-213.
(N.B. Not suitable for answering a question
on decimals.)

OR

Downes & Paling "The Teaching of Arithmetic in Primary Schools",
pp. 169-452

Recommended Reading
Schonnel: "Diagnosis and Remedial Teaching in Arithmetic"
OR
Flavell & Wakeham: "Primary Mathematics", Teacher's Book 1 and
Pupils' Books 1, 2 & 3
OR
Gattegno: "A Teacher's Introduction to the Cuisenaire-Gattegno
Method of Teaching Arithmetic"
OR
Law, Margaret L.F.: "Number Building", Teacher's Book on the Cuisenaire
Method.

READING AND SPELLING/-

[verso]

-2-

READING AND SPELLING

Prescribed Reading

Schonell: "Essentials in Teaching and Testing Spelling"
Schonell: "The Psychology and Teaching of Reading"
(4th Edition)

IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT ALL STUDENTS SHOULD READ "PRIMARY EDUCATION IN SCOTLAND" (H.M.S.O, 1965).

Ephemera: James Burt, Bookseller & Stationer

2010-01-05T15:02:00.003Z

Burts were until their demise in the 1970s, something of a Kirkcaldy institution. A number of our regulars have memories of buying their first titles there. To all intents and purposes, it was a fairly austere institution, but not uncommercial or unwelcoming. One customer, S., remembers parking up for hours reading books without so much as a murmur of disapproval from the staff.

The above 'Advice Card' gives an ideas of their classier side. A customer who had ordered a title was notified of its arrival at the shop by an 'advice card'.

~~~
From JAMES BURT, Bookseller & Stationer
Tel. 3489 184-186 High Street, Kirkcaldy
---
Order No. ... Date 10/12/58[55?]
With reference to your order for Landfall at Sunset
18/-

I would advise you that this is now available. Kindly collect at your earliest
convenience. JAMES BURT.
THIS ADVICE CARD TO BE PRODUCED WHEN MAKING ENQUIRIES REGARDING
THE ABOVE.

[verso]

If undelivered please retun to senter.
PRINTED PAPER
KIRKCALDY
10 DEC
1955
FIFE
Mr J. Reid
1 Southerton Cres
Kirkcaldy

Ephemera: James Thin

2010-01-05T14:44:00.003Z

More ephemera now, and apologies to fans of the blog for the long delay in publishing the little notes, scribbles and curiosities that have tumbled out of the books here at the shop.

The following is a James Thin Booksellers receipt from 1963. Not a classic. The bookshop was beloved of Edinburgers until its sad demise in 2002. Any background, stories or memories of the bookshop are welcome.

~~~

Telephone: Wav 6743 (3 lines)
ames Thin
New and Second-hand Bookseller
53-59 South Bridge, Edinburgh, 1
M....

Assistant M Date 14/10/63
M. H. [various prices]
Lamson Paragon
00473-15

The London Perambulator

2009-07-24T14:05:00.010Z

A volume called The London Perambulator tumbled out of a suitcase in the shop this morning. The book had formerly been owned by James Reid, erstwhile Editor of the Dumfries and Galloway Standard, and tucked inside were two newspaper articles and three letters to Reid from the Perambulator himself, James Bone (see below).

A thoroughly affectionate account of 1924 London, its joyful and detailed (and sometimes rambling) pen-portraits and beautiful line drawings show both familiar landmarks and glimpses of what is now a lost city.

London between the wars was undergoing massive changes, many of which the Perambulator - Bone's pseudonym for a column in the Manchester Guardian of which he was London correspondent - clearly regrets. However, he revels in character sketches and devotes a chapter to "Londoners". While he doesn't completely avoid appearing patronising towards the "lady from East Ham", Bone's view of London is genial and loving; he will always defend the city against detractors rather than apologising for it.

Nothing about the Perambulator could be called systematic. The prose, looser than starchy Victorian phrase, is also too dreamy and digressive to be journalistic. Bone's enthusiasms are diverse - he devotes one chapter to Portland stone, of which the city he delights in is fashioned, and another to the Inns of Court, those "ancient fastnesses of the law men". The book really is a perambulation, but like Bone's through the city streets, an enjoyable and fascinating one.

As such, the book is also no tourist guide; there are no chapters devoted to Buckingham Palace, the House of Parliament, or the Tower of London. It is a view from the day-to-day observances of a Fleet Street writer, for Bone served as 'London Correspondent' to the Manchester Guardian. While the Perambulator gives little away, in the discovered letters to James Reid he mentions the Glasgow origins he left behind fifty years ago. "Eh, dearie, dearie me!" exclaims the Scot retired to Surrey.

Below, you can find transcriptions of the letters - two typed, one handwritten - from Bone to Reid, as well as two of his articles from the Manchester Guardian in the 1930s.

* * * *

(Letterhead: "The Manchester Guardian")

8th April, 1929

My dear Reid,

I am much flattered by the request to open your show of the Dumfries and Galloway Fine Arts Society, but unfortunately I have to be in London on Saturday and could not get to Dumfries. So Dumfries is saved from a third-rate speech. All the same it is nice of you to ask me, and should much have liked to see you again, and to pay a visit to Dumfries after - dear me, oh, dear me, - something like thirty years.

Yours Sincerely,

James Bone

* * * * *

(Letterhead: "The Manchester Guardian")

11 jan '46

My dear old Comrade,

So you're holding to after I "had it!" Good man. Very glad to get your letter and good words.

This retirement is a hell of a business! I can't get a moment to myself, hence the brevity. All good [works?]. Do let me hear from you again. My address is Abbots Holt, Tilford Surrey, (35 miles from London) so in reach when you come up

Yours ever

James Bone

* * * * *

Abbots Holt
Tilford, Farnham
Surrey. 12th June '52

My dear Reid,

It was good of you to write to me. I value such a letter, put as if the [ ] or the Sounds of Long Ago were still such as they were when we were young! Even then you looked like an editor. I never was one. 'London Correspondent' CP Scott always termed me. "There's only one editor in a paper," he said. More power to you & your editorship.

I fear I'll never see Scotland again. I said Goodbye to her in a review of [ ] I wrote for the Glasgow Herald that year as it was Fifty Years since I left Glasgow. Eh, dearie, dearie me!

With best wishes to You my dear friend -

Sincerely yours

James Bone

* * * * *

[Manchester Guardian articles to follow!]

Ephemera - Sermon Series 2

2009-03-24T20:18:00.003Z

CHSS2. Verso of CHSS1.

2/ The power of the Words
"" of God in them
water healed
Present time streams waterfall
Poluted with Germs on sea
as they flow purified
cleansed of
You find Elisha add
We never purify taking out add
Christ to this scene not to taken
away might have life, life
abundant
That our lives may have the
beauty of Christ in us
When we find this we will be
like the Man bought Picture
When we take Christ [] out
this & that
[] we are living & worshipping
God to the full

Ephemera - Sermon Series 1

2009-03-24T19:59:00.005Z

A Transcription of a bundle of sermons uncovered in an old volume of Charles Spurgeon's own sermons.

(New lines taken or a slash '/' indicates a new line on the card. [NP] indicates a new page. [] indicates unreadable text.)

CHSS1:

Ruth 1-
verse 1 a famine 22 a harvest
Chap 2 A Stranger 2-16 A Provision provided
"" 4-22 A King
Famine - testing time he goes down to Moab
but never returns going down to death leaving the
place (Bethlehem)
Moab, Egypt, type of the world, just rest
contented, neither serve the one, nor the
other
2 Sam 11 The Sins of the Flesh Psalm 21
Matt 26 Petros after " devil John 21
The effect of young dawn to Moab
friends die whom the Lord loved he chasteneth
She heard of the good news of Bethlehem of
plenty Lord visiting this place with bread
IG Ruth discussino whether this goes I will go
She blames the Lord for it all
She returned at the end of Barley harvest
----
John 9-5 A Provision provide
"" 6-35
"" 11-25
"" 10-9
1/ The Condition we are in

Ephemera - Trustee Savings Bank

2009-03-24T19:51:00.003Z

An example of the old pay-in slips for the Trustee Savings Bank, now part of Lloyds TSB. Pre-1995.

SBXI - 7th August 2008

2008-08-07T15:41:00.006Z

Here are the first aggregated results of the SBXI, with one constituent at present, the swings are going to be pretty wild.

Thursday, 7th August 2008 at 12.00noon GMT

111.7233

↑11.72 points, 11.72%

The SBXI is not meant to be an indicator of sales alone. It indicates profitability and sales movement as well as taking into account the total value of those sales. This is not only for the security of the constituent bookshops, but also to allow new members to be seemlessly incorporated onto the index.

This Thursday's figures show rise on last week. Overall there is reasonable health in the secondhand booktrade at the moment. A single bookshop, such as ours, is as likely to be affected by bad weather, one of us taking ill, or unenthusiastic listing, as much as by the overall cash position in the economy.

As with the wider economy, there is considerable nervousness at the moment at the position of day-to-day sales. The past year has seen a sharp rise in our sales to Europe and a general increase in the volatility of UK sales.

If you would like to participate in the project, please e-mail me on david][midoil]etc. We are very keen that sensitive information such as the profitability of individual firms be kept from the market place. To this end we have produced a downloadable calculator which returns a single number value for secondhand book sales aggregated over a certain time period. The algorithm is not reversable except in the case of exceptionally low sales figures. It should be noted that we bear no responsibility for how these figures will be used. The indicator is still in the early stages of its development and requires considerable refinement.

SBXI - Secondhand Books Exchange Index

2008-08-07T12:34:00.004Z

At Midnight Oil Books, we have sometimes bemoaned the lack of uptodate price fluctuation information for secondhand and antiquarian books. To this end we are keen to trial a new price index, the SBXI, which will take a starting value of 100 as of the Monday, 4th August 2008. The initial figures are based on our own data and the index will be updated on Mondays and Thursdays every week.

Monday, 4th August 2008 at 12.00noon GMT

100

If you would like to participate in the project, please let us know. We are very keen that sensitive information such as the profitability of individual firms be kept from the market place. To this end we have produced a downloadable calculator which returns a single number value for secondhand book sales aggregated over a certain time period. The algorithm is not reversable except in the case of exceptionally low sales figures.

Long Weekend Closures

2008-07-18T13:01:00.003Z

Just to give notice of the fact that Midnight Oil Books shall be closed from 13.00 on Saturday, 19th July 2008 and all day on Monday, 21st July to allow for shelf-building.

We will reopen on Tuesday morning at 09.30.

Carmen - The Awesome and the Awful

2008-06-04T17:26:00.005Z

5/5 - THE BEST - GINO BECHI - OPERATIC PERFECTION

https://webmail.st-andrews.ac.uk/horde/util/go.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fyoutube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DBsNkVduTKO8&Horde=cdd0665bf30b431ff14061c0c3833f6e

This rendition is so much better than any of the others. If you had seen every
other performance of this scene from every Opera company in the world, you
could still not claim to understand it until you had seen this one.

When Bechi enters the stage there is genuine excitement. Forget the cutting to
the audience parts, they distract and are not part of this performance's
brilliance. Look at the way Bechi is the actual focal point of their attention.
There is nothing contrived. Look at the genuine interest on the faces of the men
that he addresses first. Then he moves over to the two girls. When he move them
to the side having first ostensibly noticed Carmen, look at the slight on the
girl's face. This is SO good, SO natural, and SO, SO as opera should be.

The attraction between the Toreador, Escamillo and Carmen is really believable.
There is genuine, haughty affection there, if that is possible. The music is
suitably up tempo and the singing magnificent.

Wow. Just, wow.

I've watched countless times and loved it as exorbitantly the first time as the
last.

Bechi, I salute you.

3.1/5 - RAIMONDI

https://webmail.st-andrews.ac.uk/horde/util/go.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fyoutube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DYgqq7Yt2Vbo&Horde=cdd0665bf30b431ff14061c0c3833f6e

I'd like to, but can't bring myself to give this four out of five. The costume
is excellent, but the setting lacks an intimacy, that this scene requires.

Raimondi bounds on with enthusiasm, but notice how the girl he grabs FAILS
ABSOLUTELY TO RESPOND TO HIM. This is really bad practice. It makes Raimondi
look so stupid. In a flash you are reminded that this is a stage and these are
actors and the whole suspension of disbelief stuff, just collapses altogether.

Or take the instance where he drops the tumbler. Again, so staged. So terribly
staged. All of the cast are stock still at this point. They have all got into
sitting position, which is a bad error and are in the way and distract, and are
not moving, and it is just all poor, really, really poor. Upsettingly, so.

The budget for this performance must have been almost as enormous as Raimondi's
ego. He really does not come across well on stage: it is more like watching
Flash Gordan than a credible Escamillo.

Look at the way cast members shift position to make themselves comfy. They are
not in raptures. They are not taking him seriously.

Carmen should be standing in the initial scene. I do like the playfulness, but
she has her pride. Boy, she has pride. She is one of the haughtiest, most
pretentious of matrixes. And the chemistry between Escamillo and Carmen is
wrong. It is just not good, not right, not there. There is really nothing going
on to make you sit up and quiver at the prospect of a great stage romance.

Great voices, particularly Carmen.

3/5 - LEVINE'S MET RENDITION

https://webmail.st-andrews.ac.uk/horde/util/go.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fyoutube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DwNh4ei4Rx9A&Horde=cdd0665bf30b431ff14061c0c3833f6e

Tragi-comic. The tone of this piece troubles me. I would love Carmen to be more
feminine, Escamillo to be more natural.

It is a good thing that he is willing to move, but he shouldn't have come
running down the stairs. Thieves and children run.

The sideburns lend Ramey a neaderthalesque appearance, his jumping around
appears to clash with the role. He moves lightfootedly, but not at all
donishly. At times, he can be so static and pole-like and tense. At other
times brash, whirling the scarf around. How ridiculous.

There other flaws, flaws that belie description: mostly one is left with an
unconvinced, uneasy feeling.

On the plus side, the colouration is great. The cast, though not convincing in
their roles, are well togged and the scenery looks splendid.

Ramey's voice convinces without astounding. The contortions that he undergoes to
produce volume and range, rather devalue the end result.

This isn't bad. I would applause after the show. I might even stand up. But I
would not still be standing fifteen minutes later, with tears in my eyes,
having fainted twice. Only Bechi's rendition deserves that degree of adulation.

2/5 - BAD - AN UPBEAT ROUT FROM KOREA

https://webmail.st-andrews.ac.uk/horde/util/go.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fyoutube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DlXNjqxZ11NQ&Horde=cdd0665bf30b431ff14061c0c3833f6e

Once we make it through the credits...

With all the success that Korean musicians are having with Western music, it is
strangely heartening to see that they can still make such a mess of Western
opera.

This is a super minimalist stage for a solo piano rendition, not a Bizet opera.
Why are all these costumed opera characters walking about on a forecastle? And
why is Escamillo dressed like a Venetian spiff? His drinking
from the glass convinces no one. It is like watching an annoying little admiral
Lord Nelson parading back and forward. He has no discernable charm. He does
little to ape European mannerisms, and sings at times with his head back at the
most ridiculous angle.

Our Carmen, whoever she is, tots up one of the - VERY, VERY FEW - worthy points
of this production. I like her attitude. She seems genuinely to understand what
is going on romantically here, at quite a deep level. You do not get the
impression, as with some of our other Carmens, that she has simply been told by
some director that she should have such-and-such and attitude and maintains that
throughout the whole of the scene. She has an air of mystique. If I were a sixty
year old patron of this tavern, I could imagine myself going quite potty over
her.

Again though, the whole production suffers for being so riflingly ridiculous.

1/5 - THE WORST - CHILE

https://webmail.st-andrews.ac.uk/horde/util/go.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fyoutube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dz-AuAz_gukg&Horde=cdd0665bf30b431ff14061c0c3833f6e

Forget the fact that the video is awful, and the sound dire, and the likely fact
that it was all shot on someone's mobile phone, this is bad. The set gives
better 3-dimensionality than the Korean one, which our Escamillo immediately
wastes by staying rooted to the one spot.

The cast is furniture - absolute amateurs. They add nothing. Perhaps they are
worried about taking a step back and breaking their collective neck. What has a
staircase to do with pubs and bullfighting? Why are these people on a stage?
They clearly cannot act. None of them can. It is like watching wallpaper, bad
wallpaper, peeling slowly, over a fifty year period.

0/5 - AU CONTRAIRE, THIS IS THE WORST - AN OPERATIC CATASTROPHE - GLYNDEBOURNE,
UK

https://webmail.st-andrews.ac.uk/horde/util/go.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fyoutube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DD8Ult8x-doE&Horde=cdd0665bf30b431ff14061c0c3833f6e

This at first glance looks a lot better than the Chilean one to follow, but it
is truly awful: so bad that its badness wakes me sometimes in the middle of the
night.

Firstly, forget the costumes, these are clearly C20th Brits, being very British
and not at all continental. The stage setting is awful, so cluttered that
Escamillo is forced to stay rooted to the top of a tiny platform. The men
behind him patently have no idea what he is singing. One man attempts a hand
gesture, but it is pointless, out of turn and so half-hearted, that you feel
like immediately jumping up and down on his stomach just to check and see that
he is alive.

Escamillo throughout is doing his own wee thing. He stands in wrong places,
doesn't know how to flirt, and just looks an English public schoolboy type who
has wandered into an opera set by accident and to tell a joke that only he is
gets. It feels more like the "Please, sir," scene from Oliver Twist. There
is nothing alluring about Carmen, she looks neither interesting nor interested
nor worthy even of being spoken about. The cast immediately break when the
music ends otherwise they are static. They really really don't know what
Escamillo is singing, this is the major flaw. They do not understand what the
implications are. They give no hints as to the sexual politics of his arresting
entrance, if only it were so.

It is just bad. Expensive, no doubt, and very, very bad. When I look at Carmen,
I do not think as I should, that she is aloof, hot property, untouchable, and
utterly enticing, instead I think that she has a bad migrane. I think that her
elderly neighbour is complaining about her hernias over the backyard wall. I
think that she is really beginning to be beaten by a serious of severe
abdominal cramps. I suddenly remember I have my washing to do before Sunday,
anything would be better than watching this. Eating my own shoe would be
tastier.

The music is turgid too. It drags. There is no life in this scene at all. Mostly
it is some sort of schadenfreude that keeps one watching: perhaps this is all
just a bad joke, someone will jump up at any second and say, "Only kidding,
here is our real cast, and real production!

Ephemera - The German People

2008-05-02T21:14:00.004Z

[A letter presumably to The Times.]

Edinburgh, December 2, 1940

SIR, "H" states that he does not know what are Sir Robert Vansittart's qualifications to act as Chief Diplomatic Adviser to the Government. Let me enlighten him.

Sir Robert became Assistant Clerk to the Foreign Office in 1914, First Secretary in 1919, Counsellor in the Diplomatic Service in 1920, Secretary to Lord Curzon in 1920, Assistant Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister in 1928, Permanent Under Secretary of State at the Foreign Office from 1930 to 1938., Diplomatic Adviser to theForeign Secretary since then.

"H's" comment, therefore, that Sir Robert's qualifications do not seem to include any general knowledge of Germany or of the German peoples is manifestly absurd. It would be interesting to know the qualifications which "H" possesses to enable him to state that the Germans are not to be "lumped together as a pack of wolves," and are not a united people in one realm under one leader. I can only say that I see little evidence of regional or racial differences among Germans in their Army or Diplomatic Service. I am &C. Ex-RAF"

A Happy Christmas!

2008-05-02T20:59:00.004Z

"Made nigh by the blood of Christ."

What an interesting expression. It means brought close, but is rarely found outwith the context of its Ephesians 2 v. 13 origin, in paraphrase or direct quotation.

I have scrawled through the first 150 references of 730 to it on Google Books. Not one gave the phrase being used outwith its sacred context. It is the sort of phrase that really ought to be put to bed. Near-on-all modern writers are enclosing it in brackets, or offering some explanation to its meaning. Language changes and therein there are losses as well as new vocab.

If any one is able to track down a secular, non-mimicking usage of this phrase, then post a comment and let us know.

Kirkcaldy Promenade, The Esplanade and Ravensraig Point

2008-05-02T20:42:00.002Z

Kirkcaldy's Prom was never its prettiest quarter. (I live off it, so feel I have a certain legitimacy in saying so.)

This view on the postcard is looking north towards the Hutchison's flour mill, which is still in operation. The wall is substantially the same, as is the harbour wall with the boating club shed, which is currently for sale, on the end of it. In general terms, the scene is remarkably similar, unmistakable even, however there are several changes of note.

The harbour currently features a veritable forest of posts, signs and lamposts, all every bit as ugly as the stone ones in this picture. The large white sheds at this end of the harbour have been demolished and replaced with housing, which now strafes the harbour area. The roadway is now wider and the grass verges have been removed. And the church at the far end of the Prom has been demolished.

The car nearest to us is reg. SSP 72, making it pre-1963, but can you identify it?

What we were Reading in 1817.

2007-12-22T10:03:00.000Z

Here is an interesting catalogue from the rear of a 1817 copy of Dr. Johnson's Rasselas, detailing Classics published by Walker and Edwards of London. How many should be rediscovered, we wonder.

Thomson's Seasons and Castle of Indolence.
Hawkesworth's Telemachus.
Pope's Homer's Iliad.
Ditto Odyssey.
Junius' Letters.
Ossian's Poems.
Young's Night Thoughts.
Rasselas by Dr Johnson.
Ovid's Metamorphoses.
Dryden's Virgil.
Robinson Crusoe.
Chapone, Gregory and Pennington.
Francis' Horace.
Ovid's Epistles.
Roderick Random.
Death of Abel.
Falconer's Shipwreck.
Gray's Poems.
Tales of the Genii.
Milton's Poetical Works.
Vicar of Wakefield.
Cotton's Visions, and Moore's Fables.
Seven Champions of Christendom.
Hervey's Meditations.
Pope's Poetical Works.
Old English Baron & Castle of Otranto.
Spiritual Quixote.
Zimmerman on Solitude.
Sturm's Reflections.
Humphrey Clinker.
Sandford and Merton.
Gulliver's Travels.
Don Quixote.
Gil Blas.
Watts on the Mind.
Tom Jones.
Persian and Turkish Tales.
Pilgrim's Progress.
Hudibras.
Peter Pindar's Works.
Lord Chesterfield's Letters.
Joseph Andrews.
Bucaniers of America.
Goldsmith's Essays, Poems and Plays.
Marmontel's Plays.
Beauties of Sterne.
Belisarius, and Numa Pompilius.
Messiah.
Leonidas.
Locke on Understanding and Bacon's Essays.
Chesterfield's Principles of Politeness &c.
Paul and Virginia, and Elizabeth.
Nourjahad; and Almoran and Hamet.
Cowper's Poems
Devil on two sticks.
Peregerine Pickle.
Doddridge's Rise.
King Arthur.
Mackenzie's Works.
Dodd's Beauties of Shakespeare.
Tales of the Castle.
Atala; Indian Cottage; Gressner's Idyls, and First Navigator.
Tristram Shandy.
Mason on Self Knowledge; Economy of Human Life; and Melmoth's Great Importance.
Fairy Tales.
Sterne's Journey.
Voltaire's Charles the 12th, and Peter the Great.
Chinese and Oriental Tales.

Ephemera - Scots notes

2007-07-06T15:48:00.001Z

First World War field guns

2007-07-04T12:31:00.001Z

This first photograph shows the wonderful array of equipment accompanying what presumably would have been first world war field guns (type unknown.) There are baskets, shell cases, tracks, ammunition carrying boxes complete with straps &c. &c. Where these photos were taken again is beyond us. There are no inscriptions to the rear. The visible flora, particularly in the photo below, appear north European, with birches [?] predominating among the trees. The moss on the trees is perhaps densest on the side nearest the camera, with the light coming from the right as we look at the image. Any input again would be appreciated...

Ephemera - Unknown football team

2007-07-04T11:56:00.000Z

Can you help identify the football from this unmarked and undated contemporary photograph? The principal clue is the presence of a double-headed eagle on the shirt badge. According to Wikipedia, the double-headed eagle appears as a part of the state symbolism of the following countries: "

Albania
Austria-Hungary (historical)
Austria (1934-1938)
Byzantine Empire (historical)
Greece (1925-1926)
Holy Roman Empire (historical)
Montenegro
Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Russian Federation
Russian Empire (historical)
Serbia and Montenegro (historical)
Serbia
Kingdom of Yugoslavia (historical)
- Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (historical)"
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-headed_eagle

The lot was purchased in Fife or Tayside and we would suggest a Polish connection as an initial line of enquiry. Was the double-headed eagle not also used on club shirt badges? We don't know.

Ephemera - Mystery Singer

2007-06-25T15:09:00.000Z

Can you name the mystery singer in the picture above? (This is not a quiz: we have no idea ourselves.)

The photo turned up, as ever, in a box of old books. The photo is cardbacked and has written "Copy C" on the reverse.

Ephemera - Penguin biscuit wrapper

2007-04-14T21:59:00.000Z

How long has it been since Penguins looked like this? Who designed them?

Ephemera - Old Industrial Photo

2007-04-14T21:55:00.000Z

Questions: where was this old photo taken? And when? What industry is at work here? Why are there no people in the picture?

Ephemera - Wartime Map of Tunisia

2007-04-14T21:10:00.000Z

An old wartime (presumably world war two) map of Tunisia washed up in an elderly biopic, but without much in the way of context or background. From the advertisements on the rear cover it seems likely that this was published in the Dundee Courier, but again this is open to speculation. The date of publication is also something of a mystery.

[Fragments of text from the map side:] "[...]Tebessa. One force pushed through Kasserine Pass and then swung westwards in two parallel columns, one along the Tebassa road and the other up the dried-up bed of the Wadi Retod,...

"diving for [...] from the "Tiger" tank, diving[..]6 a ditch at the same moment as the British offier. The battery, although only at 40 yards range, fired five rounds before the re-..."

[Placenames from the map:] "Bonna, La calle, Tabarca, Bizerta, mateur, Djedeida, Tunis, C. Bon, Kelibia, Nabeul, Hammamet, Pont du Fahs, Robaa, B. Arada, Gafour, Testour, Beja, S. Arba, Kef, Souk Ahras, L. Salines, K. Djerda, Thala, Tebessa, Feriana, Kasserine, Sbeitla, Sbiba, Pichon, Maktar, Kairouan, Ousseltia, Siliana, Enfidaville, Sousse, Monastir, Mahdia, Kerker, El Djem, Pavilliers, Sidi Saad, Faid, Bouzid, Sfax, Graiba, Mezzouna, Maknassi, Sened, Gafa, Shott Gerid, Tozeur, Kebili, Matmata, Cekhira, Metouia, Gabes, Zarat, [and those east of the Mareth Line:] Medenine, Tatahouine, Remada, Ben Gardane."

[From the rear leaf:] "...from the shop at 22 Hawkhill occupied by Frank Fredman.
"a second charge was that he stole household articles from the workshop at 56 Gellatly Street, occupied by Israel Rosen.
"It was stated he got access to the premises as a firewatcher. He had said he took the smaller articles in a gas mask container and he tied the other srticles round his waist. Property was valued at £50 17s 3d.
"His mother, Jessie Watson or Chambers, was sent to prison for thirty days for resetting the goods, which had all been recovered."

"DUNDEE ARTISTES AT DRUMGEITH
"At Drumgeith W.R.I. open meeting, presided over by Mrs Bachelor, president, who was also hostess, with assistants, the programme was sustained by Mr. and Mrs Macdonald, Dundee, in an illustrated lecture on "Song and Story of Mull and Iona."
"Mr Macdonal gave the talk and Mrs Macdonald rendered songs illustrating the talk, while their daughter, Miss Macdonald, was accompanist and Mr Norman Brown, Dundee, was lantern operator.
"Thanks to the artistes who were accorded on the call of Mr McLeod. Mr Macdonald replied and thanked Mr Brown.
"A pochette, gifted by Mrs Bachelor on behalf of the funds, was won by Mr Buttar."

"STOLE WATCHES
"For having broken into the house at 94 Nethergate, Dundee, occupied by Constance Loseby or Mitchell and stolen goods valued at £62 5s, Thomas Kelly, 15 Craigielea Terrace, may be sent to Borstal.
"At Dundee Sheriff Court yesterday he admitted the theft and one previous conviction.
"It was stated he visited the house the previous day in connection with the window [c]leaning. He stole a watch valued at £25, [a]nother at £30, a cigarette lighter valued at [~]5s, and £4 of threepenny pieces. A report [i]s to be submitted on his suitability for Borstal."

"MEETINGS, LECTURES, &c.
"LEAGUE of Nations Union (Dundee Branch).- Public meeting in King's Theatre Cafe tomorrow night at 7.30p.m. Speaker-Professor A. F. Skinner, M.A., Ph.D., of Dundee Training College. Subject-"America and Ourselves." You are invited. Collection.
"MASONIC.-Lodge Thistle Operative (158) meets to-night. Peter St., 7.15. Business. Passing.
"MASONIC.-Lodge St David (78) meets to-night, 7 p.m. Bi-centenary committee; mark degree.
"MASONIC Lodge Operative (47) meets to-night, 7.30 p.m. Presentation to Bro. H. Winepress. Harmany."

"LOST OR FOUND
"CAT, smoky-grey, lost, 20th. Dr Mills, 3 Clarendon Tce., Dundee.
"FOX terrier bitch, wire-haired, tan head; answers to Pat, collar; lost from Trinity on Saturday afternoon. Please return to Stevenson, Trinity, or Police Office, Brechin. [...]
"...Oct, 1942, silver com-[...]

Ephemera - Harmony Classes

2007-04-14T20:56:00.000Z

"Edinburgh Corporation Education Department: Broughton Commercial Institute.

"Name 'Amdor [or Awdor]' / Matric. No. 481 / Fee Paid 20/- / Date... / Initials of H.M. or Clerk... / Tues. 7-9 Harmony / NOTE.-This card should be retained by the student and shown to each teacher. B&S 65-30M-7.62"

Questions: To whom did this belong? What was Broughton Commercial Insitute? What does the B&S code stand for?

Ephemera - Inverewe Gardens, Wester Ross

2007-04-14T20:45:00.000Z

"After the barren magnificence of Wester Ross, the gardens of Inverewe come as a surprise to the traveller.

"They were founded in 1862 by Osgood Mackenzie, owner of Inverewe estate. There was only rock and peat; soil for flower beds was carried in creels.

"Ninety years later, his daughter, Mrs. Mairi Sawyer, presented to the National Trust for Scotland, gardens which are a show place of the Highlands, where plants from all over the world fourish in the same latitude as Labrador.

"Adult 20p" [from the reverse]

Questions: Who designed the front of this really sweet bookmark? When does it date from?

Reminder

2007-04-02T12:13:00.000Z

The shop shall be closed this coming Monday, 9th April 2007.

Ephemera - Typewritten Recipes 1

2007-03-22T22:45:00.000Z

1. Chocolate Polka Dot Cake
Ing: 2 Lion Eggs; 5ozs. Castor Sugar; 4 ozs. Polka Dots; 3 tblsp. Sugar Syrup; 6.5 ozs. Flour; 1 level teasp. Baking Powder; 2.5 fluid ozs. Milk.
Method: Break eggs into bowl. Heat Sugar at Gas Mark 5.5 for 6 mins., tip swiftly onto sugar and whip till mixture becomes smooth and creamy. Soften Polka Dots in small pan with sugar syrup, fold into cake mixture and stir in flour and milk gently. Bake in two oiled-paper-lined Victoria sponge tins at gas mark 5 for 12 mins. Fill with chocolate butter cream and ise with softened Polka Dots.

2. Chocolate Polka Dot Meringues - see image.

3. Omelette norvegienne - see image.

4. Neilson's ice cream cholcate swans.
Draw to scale on the back of cheap plastic material a swan's neck, two wings and a tail. Cut out. Tow the shiny side over a bowl of softened Pola Dots, leave to set. Peel off. Cut an oval of sponge for each swan base. Pipe round the edge with butter cream. Affix neck, wings and tail into this holding mixture. Fill the centre of each swan with a generous blob of chosen Neilson's Ice Cream. Decorate with whipped cream and crystallised flowers. Serve immediately.

5. Cafe Brulot - see image.

Post-war Anglo-Saxon cooking is surely defensible only in the context of wartime economy. Those recpies which are not bland beyond non-description, are artifical and plastiky, yet still preferable to today's microwave culture. No. 4 above is a by no means unique example of this lazy obsession with playing with and shaping food over the hours of experimentation and imitation required to be able to cook.

6. Coffee Baravoise - see image

7. Henry VII Shoe Buckles - see image

8. French Omlette - see image

9. Heinz Baby & Junior Foods Omelette
Ing: 2 or more Lion eggs; 1 tin Heinz Junior Vegetable and Beef; 1 tin Heinz Strained Beef and Liver; 2 tblsp. top of the Milk or Single Cream; 1 oz. Butter.
Method: Beat Lion Eggs lightly. Season with salt and pepper. Cook as instructed, spread with half a tin of Heinz Junior Vegetable and Beef, flip over one fold, turn out - thus making second fold. Cover with contents of hald tin Heinz Strained Beef and Liver. Finish with Milk or cream. Serve immediately.

10. Fruit Souffle - see image

Ephemera - Perfect Cooking by Parkinson

2007-03-22T22:06:00.000Z

Cookery books typically prove an ephemera junkie's paradise, with blank final pages doubling as a scribblepad and loose leaves being thrust in at random. An exceptional instance of this was provided by the above title, which is not only rare enough itself, but contains numerous such inserts. These will be published or reprinted in our blog entries throughout the coming week.

Bibliographical reference: Perfect Cooking: A Comprehensive Guide to Success in the Kitchen, Entered at Stationer's hall. All rights reserved. Written and compiled by the Staff of the Demonstration and Research Department of the Parkinson Stove co., ltd.,. With a Section on Fascinating Foods from Abroad contributed by Miss GWEN L. HUGHES, Dipl. of Dom. Sc., Melbourne, Australia. Revised, November 1947. Hardcover, in green cloth. pp. 275.

The section on foods from overseas alluded to above betrays a remarkably wide appreciation of international cuisine, and the recipe list is worth quoting in full here.

Borstch, Herring Salad (Germany), Soles aux fines herbes et au vin blanc (Brittany), Soles à la bonne femme (Banska Bystrica), Bacǎlao, Leipziger Allerlei (German), Aubergine provencale, Braun Katoffler (Danish). Pommes de terre savoyard, Spaghetti (Italy), Ravioli (Italy), Pieta, Sheese-filled pockets, Gibanitsa (Chesse Tart), Djuvetch, Musaka, Ražnjići, Kajmak (Kaimak), SourMilk, Joghurt, Slatko, Slatko of Roses, Black Coffee, Slava Cake - Zito, Chinese Steamed Rice, A Famous Chinese Fish Dish, Chinese Savouries, Japanese Beef Sukiyaki, Hungarian Goulash, Sauer Kraut, Wiener Schnitzel, Filet Mignon Henri V., Schnitzel Garni, Fillet of Veal with Mushrooms, Crôute Fromage (Swiss), French Pêches bourdaloue, Caramel Sauce, French Toast, Little Plum Puddings (Czechoslovakia), Czecho-Slovak Cakes, Bratislava Rozky, Kolac, God's Grace, Noodles, Vanilla Kipfel, Christmas Stars, Black Boys in Shirts, Anicka's Little Coffins, Tvaroh, Knedlicky, Strudel, Spinach Pie, Apfel Strudel, Baba au Rhum, Crêpes suzettes, Paris Biscuits, Cornflake Nutties, Passion-fruit flummery, Swedish Wafers, Hjortetak, A Swedish Wedding Cake, Gurabija, Nuremberg Merigues, Petits Fours, Pernik, and Boiled Eggless Cake. Any of these can be supplied on request. Please contact us through the Midnight Oil Books website.

Ephemera - Concert Annonce

2007-03-17T22:51:00.000Z

"The Philharmonia Concert Society Ltd. (Artistic Director: WALTER LEGGE) Thursday Next, at 8

SCHWARZKOPF
SCHUBERT Nacht und Träume / Suleikas Erster Gesang / Suleikas Zweiter Gesang / Fischerweise
R. STRAUSS Three Orphelia Songs from Shakespeare's "Hamlet" / Wer lieben will muss leiden / Ach was Kummer, Qual und Schmerzen / Morgen / Ständchen
WOLF Wenn du zu den Blumen gehst Sagt, seid Ihr es feiner Herr Trau nicht der Liebe Unfall / Die Zigeunerin
WOLF-FERRARI Songs from the 'Italienisches Liederbuch' (1936) (Settings of Tuscan Folk-Poems) Op. 17 / (First performance in Great Britain)

GERALD MOORE
Tickets: 7/6, 10/6, 15/-, 21/-, 25/- from Hall (WAT. 3191) & usual Agents."

Sadly nothing more survives of this cutting. What newspaper was this published in? And in what year/month? Did Moore and Schwarzkopf perform regularly together or was this a rare occasion? Were you at the performance and do you remember it? Cf. Comments.

Ephemera - An Introduction to Mission in History

2007-03-17T21:49:00.000Z

CHARTING THE COURSE

A. No Mission without History!

Why our understanding and practical involvement in mission is deeply affected by history, and needs to take a lively interest in history.

B. A Pattern of Mission History emerges in the New Testament.

Luke, the Evangelist and first church historian discerns a pattern of developments: God's Spirit overcomes barriers... Believers act responsively and sacrificially... Response mixed with compromising sin... Barriers re-erected by human antagonism and satanic opposition... The Spirit's initiative is renewed.

C. From Pentecost to the Present: Four Periods of Mission History

1. Pentecost to AD 500 - Suffering and Vindication

The Church living in the shadow of the Roman empire, penetrating society within and beyond the empire's boundaries. The Church weak, and yet strong through its witnesses, martyrs and teachers of faith.

KEY DATES:

[-] 64 Persecution begins under Nero
180 First Christian King (Edessa)
303 Last Roman Persecution (Diocletian)
313 Edict of Toleration signed in Milan
339 Forty years Persecution begins in Persia
343 Ulfilas' mission to the Goths
410 Alaric sacks Rome
426 Augustine of Hippo writes "City of God"
431 Patrick sent to Ireland

[new page]

2. AD 500 to 1500 - Conquest and Defeat

The Church assumes temporal power. Two dominant ecclesiastical centres: Rome and Constantinople. Christianisation of all Europe. North Africa, wholely, and the Middle East partially lost to Islam. Growth of "Fortress Christendom". The Church strong and yet weak.

KEY DATES:

496 Conversion of Clovis, King of the Franks
590 Gregory the Great made Bishop of Rome
596 Gregory sends Augustine to Canterbury
622 Mohammed establishes his community in Medina
635 Alopen arrives as a missionary in China
719 Mission of Boniface to German tribes
800 Charlemagne crowned Emperor by Pope
862 Cyril and Methodius evangelise the Slavs
1096 First Crusade
1208 Francis of Assisi gathers and sends out his friars
1272 Thomas Aquinas writes his Summa Theologica
1415 John Huss burnt at the stake

3. AD 1500 to 1900 - Division and Expansion

Reformation divide, yet the expansion of Europe. Mission runs parallel with colonisation, seaborn to the coastlands and then overland into the interior. Atrocities and compromise. Holiness and heroism.

1492 Isabella of Spain defeats the Moors at Granada. Columbus crosses the Atlantic and reaches West Indies
1517 Luther posts his 95 thesis on door of Wittenberg Cathedral
1541 Frances Xavier arrives in India
1700 Peter the Great christianises the Russian Empire
1792 William Carey writes his "Enquiry"
1807 British parliament votes for the abolition of the slave trade

[new page]

1813 East India Act increases the access of missionaries to India
1856 David Livingstone crosses the African continent

4. AD 1900 to the Present. Testing and Evaluation

The Church is tested by world wars, resurgent religions, secular ideologies. Enhanced opportunities and compounded difficulties. Southward shift in Christian influence. Attempted re-evaluation of the missionary enterprise.

1909 Pentecostal stirrings in South America
1910 World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh
1914 Outbreak of First World War
1917 Bolshevik Revolution
1922 Willem van Rossum becomes "missionary Pope"
1952 Missionaries expelled from China
1968 Latin American bishops support liberation thrology at Medillin conference
1974 Evangelicals at Lausanne Congress pledge themselves to world evangelisation

D. Six Ways of Mission Demonstrated in History

APOSTOLIC: The New Testament pattern and model explained in B.

ANONYMOUS: The unselfconscious witness of ordinary people: [-elided-]

ESTABLISHMENT: Development of orders of ministry, patterns of worship, and systems of theology. The attempt to mold society as a whole according to the Gospel.

CHARISMATIC: Renewed energy and gifts of the Spirit disturbing the institutional church.

VOLUNTARY: The attempt to [-elided-]

RADICAL: Protest against political and social status quo.

[new page]

E. Biblical, Christian and Missionary Understandings of History

(a) A SCHOOL FOR MATURITY: "God made temporal things for the sake of man, that by their means he might grow to maturity and bear fruit for immortality." Irenaeus. "History for Irenaeus, was an education by which God led the human race to maturity and would bring all "to a head in Christ". R.A. Markus

(b) THE STAGE FOR A POWERFUL DRAMA: "there was in Christianity a propulsive vigour...it was forever giving rise to something new... I could not guarantee that its contribution would remain unmixed with contradictory elements... It had failed to safeguard the Roman Empire after that state had professed allegiance to it... It had not preserved the structure of medieval Europe it had done so much to shape... [-elided-] More than one of the movements of which it was the source was diverted to quite un-Christian purposes... Yet in Christianity was a vital force impelling man towards the "high calling of God". Kenneth Scott Latourette

(c) THE UNFOLDING OF GOD'S PURPOSE: "I am God. I make known the end from the beginning... My purpose will stand... What I have planned, that will I do." Isaiah 46:10 "Israel's history has a purpose running through it... an end to which it is moving... Since God had set Israel in a universe he had created, that universe too must have an end... This end is not merely the last moment in a series of historical moments; it is also the meaning of the whole." George Knight

Ephemera - Pressed Plants 3

2007-03-17T21:32:00.000Z

And finally...

"This is probably the Soft Shield Fern (Polystichum setiferum)
"Was it growing as a "garden fern"? It's very like the one I bought from a local nursery as Soft Shield Fern. Sometimes the garden ones are a little different from the wild ones! But Soft Shield Fern is very near the mark. I think.

Ephemera - Pressed Plants 2

2007-03-17T21:25:00.000Z

And here we have the aforementioned Polypody (Polypodium vulgane) showing both a curled fern and an outstretched one.

Ephemera - Pressed Plants 1

2007-03-17T21:16:00.000Z

"This one defeats me!"

...and we are none the wiser either.

"This one defeats me!
Was it growing in a wet or
dry place; and is a wild
or a garden fern? In a
hedgebank or on a wall?
It's a bit like the Black
Spleenwort, but the stem is
green and not black!
Also, if the back of the
leaves don't have spores
(as in the Polypody)
identification is more difficult."

Ephemera - Dundee Municipal Elections 1969

2007-03-17T20:28:00.000Z

"MUNICIPAL ELECTION 1969
POLLING DAY

"Tuesday 6th May
"Craigie Ward 4
"P. R. Starling

"The Progressive Candidate

"SUPPORTED BY THE DUNDEE RATEPAYERS' AND ELECTORS' ASSOCIATION

"78 Seafield Road,
"Dundee

"Ladies and Gentlemen,

"I am honoured to be selected by the Dundee Ratepayers' and Electors Association to stand as Progressive candidate for Craigie Ward.

"Since my co-option to the Dundee Town Council, it has been my pleasant duty to represent you on many Corporation Committees, where I have endeavoured to serve your interests to the best of my ability.

"I have called upon many of you in your homes, and have taken a keen interest in your personal problems.

"Dundee has been my home since the War, and as a citizen of Dundee I have taken an active interest in the affairs of the Dundee Ratepayers' and Electors' Association, both as a committee member and as a candidate.

"I would therefore ask the ratepayers in the Craigie Ward to have confidence in me and vote for me on Tuesday, 6th May.

"Progressive Achievements

New civic theatre.
Development of New Central Site.
Satisfactory industrial situation.
Direct air service to London.
Social and Health and Welfare buildings functioning in 1969."

Questions arising:

Was the candidate successful?
If not, who did?
What has become of the Ratepayers' and Electors' Association?

Searchable terms: homeless, Planning Department and Public, Inner Ring Road, Crime, Lord Provost, Progressive Administration, Scottish Secretary, Local government, Election Pledges, Pension Increase Act, Local Authority Pensions, Socialists, Teaching Auxiliaries, Nursery Schools, Further Education, Commercial College, transport, Prices & Incomes Board, Scottish Omnibus Group. Should it be necessary, I would be happy to provide the appropriate paragraphs as searchable text.

Rear side:

Ephemera - Trust Houses

2007-03-17T20:08:00.000Z

Again a little ephemera found in an old book, the full text reading as follows: "Trust Houses, Ltd. / Registered Office: SHORTS' GARDENS, DRURY LANE, W.C.2 Telephone: TEMple bar 7741 / Date......19... / B.K.T. 1/54 Ref. Bin 34 / Breakfasts / Luncheons / Dinners / Teas / Coffee / Suppers / / / Ale and Stout / Wines / Spirits / Liqueurs / Minerals / Cigars / TOTAL / CU 54377 Waiter's Initials / No. of Persons.

A basic Google search gives no results of consequence for "Trust Houses" and "Drury Lane", the latter of course needing no introduction. It would be interesting to hear what these Trust Houses were, if anyone has any idea. The two leads of possible significance are the Graves Trust Houses in Sheffield, which appear to have been some sort of social bed and breakfast arrangement; and, the following line, "and inns in Great Britain under the control of Trust Houses Limited" that I am unable to reference. Again any help on this front would be much appreciated.

что же есть это блог?

2007-02-26T17:56:00.000Z

что же есть это блог? Midnight Oil Books - антикваят/книжный магазин в Шотландии, который имеет особенно широкий выбор на темы_ лингвисткы и языковании. Наш адрес 120 Commercial Street, Kirkcaldy, Fife и наш адрес по интернету - midoil.co.uk. Добро вам пожаловать! Pishi mne na russkom esli nuzhno.

Play Reading Group

2007-02-24T09:07:00.000Z

Day Two of the Play Reading Group's weekly read through classic and contemporary plays will be on Tuesday, that's this Tuesday, 27th February 2007 at Midnight Oil Books, 120 Commercial Street, Kirkcaldy. After enjoying a unpublished work by Brian Freeland last week, which provoked a few interesting discussion on the ages of man, we shall turn this week to look at Henrik Ibsen's 'Hedda Gabler'. The format as before will be the assumption of characters, our read-through, and breaks where appropriate after certain scenes to discuss points of interest. The text costs £1.25, and this may be used over two weeks. Comfy chairs, tea, coffee and biscuits provided.

Advance Notice of Holidays 2007

2007-02-23T16:15:00.000Z

Midnight Oil Books shall be closed on the following days in 2007:

Monday, 9th April
Monday, 28th May
Monday, 16th July
Monday, 1st October

Ephemera - Rhyme

2007-02-23T15:23:00.000Z

The author/ess of the following work is unfortunately unknown, though surmised. Together with two somewhat less artful works, we came across the following rhyme in which the author laments his or her age and its attendant opportunities and limitations.

"50 something, youth has gone,
A greater confidence has come.
To someone outside looking in,
You're just another old has been.
But when you're inside looking out,
You're just the same without a doubt.
This age of all the new inventions
Opens wide a vast dimension.
Opportunities galore to change your skills,
Stretch your intellect if you have the will.
Travel on a budget pass,
The world's your oyster at last.
Shrug off all the mundane tasks,
Take on new challenges, and bask
in comfort with yourself.

Ephemera - Entertaining Inspiration

2007-02-21T15:50:00.000Z

A selection of handwritten notes, mostly on the cooking theme:

Item one, page one.

Whisky Chocolate Pudding
Raspberry Malakoff
Ice Cream

Whisky Chocolate Pudding
Songe Fingers - sprinkle with mixed strong coffee.whisky.
Melt chocolate ; Beat in egg yolks
Whisk whites . Fold into Mixture .
Chill . Degrate with chopped
Roasted Almonds

Drambuie Iced Souffle

Item one, page two.

Item one, page three.

Melon ;
Turbot or Halibot
Chicken must not be frozen
Coq au Vin
or Chicken Breasts
Raspberry Malakoff or Ice Cream
Souffle
Salade Nicoise
With Salmon, Anchovies, Tomatoes.
Potatoes, French beans
Hardboiled Egg, Lettuce
Black Olives
Ca?[d?]on
Peppermint Car[?h?]bib

Engelsk-Svensk for Life - Some good Maxims

2007-02-15T13:40:00.000Z

"There is nothing better in heaven than religion.
Our actions of to-day are the thoughts of yesterday.
A truthful woman is the greatest adornment of a home.
If you live in impure thoughts you will be impure in your lives.
Profanity is more or less a profession of your loyalty to the devil.
Nobody ever went to sleep indifferent to religion and waked up in heaven.
A child is loved by God because it has no opinion and wants to learn something.
Don't get into anybody's way with your naturalness, but try to be yourself wherever you go.
Run into heaven barefooted and bareheaded rather than miss it on account of anything in the world."

Engelsk-Svensk for Life - Salaries paid to heads of governments

2007-02-15T13:22:00.000Z

And continuing the series:

"Variosu [sic - I wouldn't usually but this is a dictionary] governments pay their chiefs as follows: The United States, $50,000 a year; Persia, $30,000,000; Russia, $10,000,000; Siam, $10,000,000; Spain, $3,900,000; Italy, $3,000,000; Great Britain, $3,000,000; Morocco, $2,500,000; Japan, $2,300,000; Egypt, $1,575,000; Germany, $1,000,000; Saxony, $700,000; Portugal, Sweden and Brazil, each $600,000; France, $240,000; Switzerland, $3,000."

It would be interesting to see how the pay scale had changed in the intervening period. Odd too perhaps that the best-run country paid the least.

Engelsk-Svensk for Life - The Eleven Great Wonders in America

2007-02-15T12:42:00.000Z

Presumably to give them something interesting to read on the steamer ploughing across the North Atlantic, the publishers of one of the earliest US English-Swedish dictionaries decided to pack the book with an assortment of information that they deemed of utmost importance to settlers arriving for the first time in the States, including "How to secure a U.S. Patent", "Cistern Capacity", "Brickwork Measurement", "U.S. Department of Agriculture Weather Bureau Flag Signals", and "Salaries Paid to heads of governments". Some of the finer (most bizarre) are republished here:

The Eleven Great Wonders in America

Croton Aqueduct
City Park, Philadelphia. The largest park in the world.
Lake Superior. The largest lake in the world.
Mammoth Cave, Kentucky
Niagara Falls
Natural Bridge, over Cedar Creek, in Virginia
New State Capital, Albany
New York and Brooklyn Bridge
Central park, New York
Washington Monument, Washington
Yosemite Valley, California

Suggestions are welcome for a revised top eleven.

Ephemera - W. W. Lackie certificate

2007-02-14T15:40:00.000Z

From the rear of a copy of the Queen's Gift Book, undated. Marked with the R. L Sinclair circulating library sticker, Montrose.

"W. W. Lackie Esq. C.B.E., M.I.C.E., M.I.Mech.E., M.I.E.E.

"Sir

"We, the undersigned members of The Glasgow Corporation Electricity Department Staff, have to offer you our sincere congratulations on your being created Commander of the Civil Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, and we trust that you will have long life to enjoy the well merited honour which His Majesty has conferred upon you.

"R. B. Mitchell. R. B. Maccall[?].
"W.L. Calderwood. G. L. Black.
"Thomas Barrie. Hugh R.S. Drysdale. Campbell Miller.
"D. Berry. Edward Edwards. William Miller.
"John Bremner. Walter Hamilton. George Morgan.
"Robert Cairns. R. Hardie. James Purdie.
"Alex M. Carnegie. James H. Irons. Alex P. Robertson.
"H.[?] J. Cooper. G.[?] MacDonald. William Ross.
"John R. Cowie. H._[?] Ewen. Wm Roxburgh.
"D. Denholm. Charles W. Marshall. H. M. Stronach.
"??[] Taylor

"9th January 1919."

Ephemera - Bitumen Coatings

2007-02-13T16:06:00.000Z

Enclosed in the rear of a copy of Berry Wiggins' 'Bitumen Coatings for Thermal Insulation' was the following letter.

"13th January, 1955

"From: Laboratory
"To: Mr. R.G. Bruce, Laboratory.

"Berry Wiggins - "Bitumen Coatings for Thermal Insulation"

"This book is well written and contains much practical advice.

"Of Berry Wiggins' list of products, we have only examined three - "Tensulac" (Primer Grade) 5258 and "Aquaseal" 5 and 1081. We have also examined "Tensulac" KA4116. The "Tensulacs" resemble "AQUATEX" Solution, but are more fluid - they are solutions of Bitumen in Coal Tar Naphtha. "Aquaseal" 5 resembles our Standared Clay Bitumen Emulsion, while our No. 7 Clay/Bitumen Emulsion was based on "Aquaseal" 1081. Kingsnorth 835 appears to be 60/70 Pen Bitumen, Kingsnorth 1116 and 1122 appear to be Oxidised Bitumens."

The letter appears to be the result of some reverse engineering being conducted by one of Berry Wiggins competitors. Berry Wiggins & Co. Ltd was based in London, had laboratories in Stratford, and refinieries and works in Kingsnorth, Kent; Weaste, Lancashire; Ellesmere Port, Cheshire; and, Alloa, Scotland. In 1964, it was one of only eight firms refining oil in the UK, having an annual capacity of 190k tons (the others, BP, Esso, Shell, Mobil, Texaco, Phillips-Imperial and Burmah, would each go on to become giants of the modern petrochemicals industry.) A footnote to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission Report on Petrol of 1979 mentions that Berry Wiggins had ceased oil refinery by 1977.

Unscheduled Closing

2007-02-13T15:25:00.000Z

Midnight Oil Books shall be closed on Wednesday, 14th February until 11.00am for stock collection. Apologies for any inconvience this may cause.

Ephemera - Medical Crib Notes 7

2007-02-13T14:34:00.000Z

Vaccines

Vaccinum Vacciniae. Vaccine Lymph. If stored below 0oC, keeps its potency for long periods, but if stored above 10oC, the potency cannot be assured for more than 7 days. Dose-By scarification, .06 mil; 1 minim.

Vaccinum Typho=paratyphosum. Anit-Typhoid-Paratyphoid Vaccine. T. A. B. Vaccine. Contains in 1 mil 1000 million of dead B. typhosus, 500 million of B. paratyphosus A. and 500 million of B. paratyphosus B. Should not be used later than 18 months after preparation. Dose-By subcutaneous injection, .5 mil (first dose); 1.0 mil (second dose after 7 to 10 days' interval).

Tuberculinum Pristinum. Old Tuberculin. A concentrated filtrate from a fluid medium on which B. tuberculosis has been grown for a period of 6 weeks. or more. A transparent, viscous liquid, yellow to brown in colour. Odour like that of honey Biologically assayed. If undiluted is stable at ordinary temperatures. When prescribed with the suffix T is prepared by growing the human bacillus, when the suffix is PT the bovine bacillus. Dose-By subcutaneous injection. []stic, .001-.005 mil ; 1/60-1/12 minim. []tic, .000001 mil, gradually increased; [], gradually increased.

Ephemera - Medical Crib Notes 6

2007-02-13T14:23:00.000Z

Sodii Sulphas. Sodium Sulphate. Glauber's Salt. Na2SO4,10H2O. Colourless crystals, bitter saline taste, efforescent, sol. 3 water. Dose-2-16 g; 30-240 gr. Prep.-Sodii Sulphas Effervescens. Sodium sulphate, sodium bicarbonate, tartaric acid, citric acid. Dose-4-16 g; 60-240 gr.

Sodii Phosphas. Sodium Phosphate. Di-sodium Hydrogen Phosphate. Na2HPO4,12H2O. Colourless crystals, saline taste, efflorescent, sol. 7 water. Dose-2-16 g ; 30240 gr. Prep.-Sodii Phosphas Effervescens. Dose-4-16 g ; 60-240 gr.

Sodii et Potassii Tartras. Sodium Potassium Tartrate. Rochelle Salt. COONa.(CHOH)2.COOK,4H2O. Colourless crystals, or a white crystalline powder, saline cooling taste, sol. 1 1/2 water. Dose-8-16 g ; 120-240 gr. Prep.-Pulvis Effervescens Compositus. Compound effervescent powder. Seidlitz powder. Blue paper contains 7.5 g rochelle salt and 2.5 g sodium bicarbonate. White paper contains 2.5 g of tartaric asid. Dissolve no. 1 powder in a tumbler of cold or warm water, then add No. 2 powder. Should be taken while effervescing.

Sodii Benzoas, Sodii Bromidum, Sodii Iodidum, Sodii Nitris, Sodii Salicylas, Sodii Phospas Acidus are not classified with sodium salts.

Ephemera - Medical Crib Notes 5

2007-02-13T14:06:00.000Z

Finally, the three longer crib notes from the series:

Antitoxins, Serums &c.

Antitoxinum Diphthericum. Diphtheria Antitoxin. Is a preparation from serum containing the antitoxin globulins which have the specific power of neutralising the diphtheria toxin. Biologically assayed and its potency expressed in units. Dose-By injection. Prophyltic, 500-1000 units. Therapeutic, 10,000-20,000 units.

Antitoxinum Tetanicum. Tetanus Antitoxin. Biologically assayed. Dose-Prophylactic, 1000-2000 units. Therapeutic, 20,000-40,000 units.

Antitoxinum Welchicum. Gas-gangrene Antitoxin. Neutralises the toxin formed by B. perfringens. (B. Welchii.) Biologically assayed. Dose-Prophylactic, 4000 units by injection. Therapeutic, 10,000 to 20,000 units by intravenous injection.

Serum Antidysentericum (Shiga). Antidysenteric Serum (Shiga). Contains the immune substances which have a therapeutic value in persons infected by B. dysenteriae (Shiga). Biologically assayed. Dose-By injection, 4000-10,000 units.

Toxinum Diphtericum Diagnosticum. Schick Test Toxin. Diphteria toxin diluted so that .2 mil contains the test dose. Dose-By intradermal injection, .2 mil; 3 minims.

Toxinum Diphthericum Calefactum. Schick Control. Is Schick Test Toxin which has been treated to a temperature of not less than 70oC for not less than 5 minutes. Dose-By intradermic injection, .2 mil; 3 minims.

Toxinum Diphthericum Detoxicatum. Diphteria Prophylactic. The toxicity of the toxin is reduced by several methods. Dose-By subcutaneous injection, the volume indicated on the label as the dose, twice or thrice at intervals of two weeks.

Ephemera - Medical Crib Notes 4

2007-02-12T13:52:00.000Z

Extractum Hepatis Siccum. Dry Extract of liver. An alcoholic extract of ox or sheep liver, contains the specific principle which increases the number of red corpuscles in the blood of persons suffering from pernicious anaemia. A light brown, very hygroscopic powder, faintly meat-like odour, saltish taste, sol. water. The dried powder is mixed with 1/10 of its weight of dried sodium chloride and transferred to tubes which are then hermetically sealed. Each tube contains the equivalent of 225 g or about 1/2lb. fresh liver. Dose-The contents of 1 tube.

Extractum Hepatis Liquidum. Liquid Extract of Liver. The dry extract dissolved in a mixture of glycerin, alcohol, and distilled water. 1 oz. is the equivalent of 8 oz. liver. Dose-30 mils; 1 oz.

Ephemera - Medical Crib Notes 3

2007-02-12T13:47:00.000Z

Belladonnae Folium. Belladonna leaf. The leaves and tops of Atropa Belladonna dried. When belladonna leaf is prescribed Belladonna Pulverata shall be dispensed. Preps.-Belladonna Pulverata. Adjusted to contain .3 per cent of alkaloids calculated as hyoscyamine. Dose-.03-.2 g; 1/2-3 gr. Extractum Belladonnae Siccum. 1 per cent. of the alkaloids. Dose-.015-.06 g; 1/4-1 gr. Tinctura Belladonnae. Dose-.3-2 mils; 5-30 minims.

Ephemera - Medical Crib Notes 2

2007-02-12T13:42:00.000Z

Asafoetida. Asafetida. An oleo-gum-resin obtained by incision from the living rhizome and root of Ferula foetida and other species. Afghanistan and Persia. Greyish-white to dull-yellow tears. Dose-0.3-1 g ; 5-15 gr. Preps.-Pilula Aloes et Asafoetidae. Tinctura Asafoetidae. Dose-2-4 mils; 30-60 minims.

Ephemera - Medical Crib Notes 1

2007-02-12T13:27:00.000Z

Our most recent rescued ephemera comes from a medical textbook on Tuberculosis. They appear to be a series of crib notes, perhaps intended to aid exam revision. We print them here in full again with the intention that nothing of value be lost to posterity.

Acidum Lacticum. Lactic Acid. CH3.CHOH.COOH. Contains 87.5 per cent. w/w of C3H6O3. A colourless, syrupy, hygroscopic liquid iwth a slight, but not unpleasant odour, sour taste. Dose-0.3-1.2 mils; 5-20 minims.

Acidum Borisum. Boric Acid. Boracic Acid. H3BO3. White crystals or powder, slightly acid bitter taste. Sol. 25 water. Dose-0.3-1 g; 5-15 gr. Preps.-Glyerinum Acidi Borici. 31 per cent. Unguentum Acidi Borici. 10 per cent.

Chromii Trioxidum. Chromium Trioxide. Chromic Acid. CrO3. Dark red acicular crystals, deliquescent and corrosive. In contact with small proportions of alcohol, of ether, of glycerin, and of other organic substances, it is liable to []. Very sol. water. Acidum Acetylsalicylicum. Acidum Benzoicum, Acidum Boricum, Acidum Hydrobromicum Dilutum, Acidum Hydrocyanicum Dilutum, Acidum Oleicum, Acidum Salicylicum, Acidum Tannicum, considered elsewhere.

fao any Mowat Slater

2007-02-05T16:45:00.000Z

I include this blog entry in the hope that it might one day be picked up in a Google or Ice Rocket search or something by any Mowat Slaters interested in family history. Just to say that a family Bible with autograph poems and christening dates etc... has come into our possession and will be kept aside for a year or two. If you are interested then contact me at enquiries@midoil.co.uk.

Web Projects

2007-01-05T15:25:00.000Z

Just a short update on some of the web projects currently being trialed by everyone here.

midoil.co.uk
The main Midnight Oil Books website. This is our multi-function engine room. If folks like our policies, service and descriptions, and particularly the speed of delivery, then they can buy directly from us with all the usual Amazon safeguards. It is not an ideal world from the commercial point of view, for as far as most people are concerned there really is little point searching a directory of 5,000 books when you could be looking at the complete range on Amazon; and, most people will want to compare prices anyway. We do aim to consistently undercut our competitors, and as a reputation thing, once news spreads perhaps it will be used more.

Other features of the website include our specialist linguistics pages, complete with YaBB, journals, newsletters, shop description, and directions to it. There is more to business, particularly a bookselling business than raising revenue, however, and I would love to be able to provide a local history forum of sorts and a pile of articles online. At the moment there is only the one, but this will be expanded in time.

linksjunkie.com
The newest of our sites: just a bit of fun really. Perhaps a good way to kill time more than anything else, although I've already been cautioned that the Falling Sand recommendation is likely to render you economically unproductive inperpetuity, or something like that.

Speak to me if you know of any other links worth adding.

wayo.co.uk
I have a lot of hope for the wayo listing. Its big, yellow, online rival has two shortcomings in my eyes. Firstly, there are no opening hours. When you search for a business online, my guess is that 30% of the time, people are looking to find out when it opens or close, hence, 'wayo' or 'when are you open?'. There are three technical hurdles that I am trying to overcome: the data structure, forms and data storage using MySql, and displaying the output. I would love to be able to do things like produce maps showing what stores within 3 miles, say, of a particular location are open at any particular time. Could be challenging.

Basic data for the Commercial Street area is already available online and it is worthwhile checking out a sample individual record, in this case for Gibb's Florist. Opening hours will ultimately be displayed on each individual card, but I sure there will be opportunities to have fun and - not be bored - playing around with the maps and running stats searches etc for your area. One example could be: which area has the hardest work business in Scotland, and which has the laziest.

whatcanitake.com
International Travel Baggage Advice: possibly one of the duller topics of non-interest online, but this one does fit in well with the whole Ask Jeeves 'the internet can answer any question' philosophy. Hopefully, it will become a well-linked, few hundred hits a day site; maybe the odd travel agent will keep it open on their desk: just a case of keeping the data accurate and the graphics straightforward.

The Royal Burgh of Kirkcaldy 2

2006-12-19T16:29:00.000Z

Population

From the earliest records we have the following figures for population: [in 1792] Pathhead, 2,089; Dysart, 1,736; Gallatown, 432; and [in 1802] in Kirkcaldy proper, 3,248. The growth that took the population to 40,000 in 1910 was therefore phenomenal. Birth rates and death rates were both declining rapidly at this point. (For comparison's purposes, the current population stands at 46,000.)

The author notes dispassionately, but with a note of satisfaction that in comparison with other towns, "Kirkcaldy has generally a higher birth rate and lower death rate. Kirkcaldy's birth rate is 23 per 1000, while Kilmarnock's is 23.9, Dunfermline's is 20.8 and Perth's 21.7. Kirkcaldy's death rate is 10 per 1000, while Kilmarnock's is 33, Dunfermline's is 14 and Perth's is 10."

The Royal Burgh of Kirkcaldy 1

2006-12-19T15:48:00.000Z

Kirkcaldy is well used to its rounds of 'renewals' and regeneration projects. Evidence that this is far from being uniquely a contemporary feature of our civic life may be discovered from the pages of the post-war volume, 'A Civic Survey of the Royal Burgh of Kirkcaldy' by the Burgh Engineer, R Meldrum. Its justification, it says, may be best encapsulated by the dictum of r Unwin that the city which "seeks to plan its own destiny must first know its own needs and capabilities." In this blog entry, I shall attempt to preserve the most vital of the data left to us, although I conceed that the choice is highly subjective and that at one point I have omitted a reference on grounds of taste and nothing nobler.

Introduction

The population of the time (1947) is listed at 49,200, the burgh acreage 4,890, 210 of which are under water. The towers raised or 'terraced' beaches are early remarked upon [once more clearly visible with the absence of the sea-wall constructed in the 1930s.] The burgh sits mostly on clay, with gravel, stones, sand, dolerite rock outcrops, peat, limestone, sanstone and, of course, coal, all appearing in patches. "The Raith Estate rising to a height of 500ft is a mass of igneous outcrops, extremely hard volcanic rock."

Drainage occurs through the East, Invertiel, Tyrie and Kingslaw burns, the latter running north into the River Ore.

By some unknown authority, Meldrum claims that the earliest settlement was founded at the mouth of the East Burn. The East and West Ports [not uncommon defensive structures, where port simply indicates a gate] were built at Port Brae and Louden's Wynd respectively, with the town's ecclesiastical centre being founded at the Old Kirk on Kirk Wynd. The town was defended by a wall and a third gate, the Kirk Wynd Port, defended its vulnerable central section.

"The Kirk Wynd led by way of the Loaning to the Town Lands. Small patches were allocated to townsmen for private cultivation as Burgh Acres, but the moors beyond the present Victoria Road as far as the Templehall and Dunnikier Policies were held by the townspeople in common, so that all householders had a right to pasture their cattle there, and to cut peat for fuel."

The last of the Burgh lands appear to have been feued by public auction to meet the expense of repairing the harbour after a severe storm in 1717.

"The Burgh has been governed from earliest times by magistrates and council elected by the Burgesses. Kirkcaldy Burgesses were so proud of their right do this, that in 1588 they agreed "never to have a Provost lest they should be reduced to the servitude suffered by the people in other burghs."" [...]

"Pathhead ... was originally a Burgh Barony."

Ephemera - Motor Claims

2006-12-06T12:35:00.000Z

To be read very carefully. The following is a selection of motor claims, made in all innocence by the Insured:-

The accident was due to the other fellow narrowly missing me.

Cow wandered into car; I was afterwards informed that the cow was half-witted.

She suddenly saw me, lost her head and we met.

The car in front stopped suddenly and I crashed gently into his luggage grid.

I ran into a shop window and sustained injuries to my wife.

I knocked over a man; he admitted it was his fault as he had been knocked over before.

Dog on road applied breaks causing skid.

I collided with a stationary tramcar coming in the opposite direction.

I misjudged a lady crossing the street.

I collided with a stationary tree.

I was scraping my nearside on the bank when the accident happened.

My husband was unwell so I had to get another man.

I heard a horn blow and was struck in the back - a lady evidently was trying to pass me.

Coming home I drove into the wrong house and drove into a tree I haven't got.

I left my Austin Seven outside and when I came out later to my amasement there was an Austin Twelve.

One wheel went into ditch, my foot jumped from brake to accelerator pedal, leapt across land to other side, and jammed into trunk of tree.

I thought the side window was down, but it was up as I found out when I put my head through it.

To avoid a collision I ran into the other car.

I blew my horn, but it would not work as it was stolen.

I thought the garage had only four posts, but my car backed into a fifth.

Accident was due to road bending.

The witness gave his occupation was a gentleman, but I would be more correct in calling him a garage proprietor.

I consider that neither vehicle was to blame, but if either was to blame it was the other one.

On entering Wales I blew my horn at the left hand corner.

Ephemera - Poem

2006-12-04T13:19:00.000Z

In c. mid-late eighties, Scott and Paterson Ltd. published a 16-page booklet of poems by Prue Guild, entitled 'Just An Idea'. The setting is clearly Borders, and there is an interest throughout in hunts and the Ridings, but the interest with our particular copy, which has the word 'Elise' scrawled on the front cover is in the autograph poem contained within. Can you identitfy the author or authoress?

"I saw a child who couldn't walk,
Sit on a horse and laugh and talk,
Then ride it through a field of grass
And hush to feel the wind go past.

"I saw a lass (her brain was slow)
Ride on a horse and make it go,
Up mountain track, thro' lumbling stream
And places she had never been.

"I saw a man who couldn't crawl
Mount a horse and sit up tall;
He put it through the dessage pace
And smiled at wonder on our face!

"I saw a child, born into strife,
Take up and hold the reins of life,
And that same child was heard to say
"Thank God for showing me the way!""

Ephemera - M.O.F. Office

2006-11-24T13:32:00.000Z

These are genuine letters received by M.O.F. Office in Edinburgh, which deals with public welfare.

1. I am glad to state that my husband died yesterday. I will be glad if you will get a pension. If you don't hurry up I will have to get public resistance.

2. I cannot get eternity benefit in spite of the fact that I saw the insistence officer. I have 8 children. What can I do about it.

3. I have nothing coming into the house but two sons on the dole. I am visited regularly by clergy. Will you write the penshuns minister for me as I don't know what Church he is in charge of. I can do with a pension as I have no clothes for a year.

4. I am enclosing my marriage certificate with three children. One of them is a mistake as you will see when you look into it. I am writing to say my youngest child is born two years old. Why am I not getting allowance for it.

5. I enclose the certificate with six children. Of them is a twin and died. You asked if he is christened. Yes. He was baptises on a half sheet of paper by a certain captain in the Salvation Army.

6. The man I live with won't work. As he wants to know if my husband is dead. Will you search the records office for him and let me know.

7. I should have more pension since my son is in charge of a spitoon. get a seperate money when he listened. You want to know what part he was wounded in. If it's all the same to you he was wounded in the Dardy Nells.

8. I am writing you truly, yes. I was confirmed with a boy weighing ten pounds. Let me know if this is what you want because I have fallen in error with the landlord and need it badly to pay the rent.

9. In accordance with your instructions, I have given birth to twins in the enclosed envelope.

10. I want money badly as quick as you can send it. I have been in bed with the doctor for a week and he doesn't seem to be doing any good. If things don't improve, I will have to get another doctor.

11. Milk is needed for the baby. Father is unable to supply it.

12. Re your dental enquiry. The teeth at the top are all right but the ones in my bottom are hurting terribly.

13. Please send me a form for a supply of milk for having babies at reduced rates.

14. Please send me a form for cheap milk. I have a baby 2 months old and did not know anything about it until a neighbour told me.

15. Please send me proper form for milk as I am stagnant.

ABR - Masonic Music

2006-11-22T12:22:00.000Z

Recently we received a pile of Masonic songbooks, which may be of historical value, so I take the liberty of quoting from it here.

The full title page of the first item reads as follows: "Respectfull dedicated to The Right Worshipful Provincial Grand Master of the Province of North Wales, Bro. Colonel Henry Platt, C.B. (P.J.B. Deacon Eng.) / A Masonic Musical Service Book for the Three Degrees of Craft Freemasonry / Being a selection of appropriate Psalms (newly appointed); Hymns; Kyries, etc.; with settings of teh E.A.'s song; the Masonic Honours ("Prosper the Art"; "Worthy Mason He"); and New setting of Burns's song of "Farewell to Tarbolton Lodge" by Bro. E FARNALL, P.M. 2375, P.P.G.O With new Chants and Hymn Tunes expecially composed for this work / The whole compiled and edited for the Service at the Lodge of St. Trilo, 2569, Colwyn Bay. by Bro T J Linekar ORGANIST (1907-10) Copyright by William Reeves, MCMXI / ondon: William Reeves / 83 Charing Cross Road, W.C.2 / Second Edition Revised."

Oddly the Contents page has been both typed and handwritten. It begins with "Duly open for the purposes of F.M. first degree", opening hymns by Cautlett and Linekar himself and on the following page is a "Closing Hymn". Then begins a section on some "Ceremony of Initiation", with a refrain to be sung if the candidate is a "Fit and proper person to be made a Mason." The candidate is instructed to "advance to ...in due form" to music by Turle, and to Kramer is written the instruction "You will S... it with........ on the V.S.L." After music by Mendelssohn, TJL and P Humphries, candidates are told "I delegate you to ......Badge of a Mason". There is a song of readmission, possibly after some form of excommunication and an "Entered Apprentice's Song", which is worth quoting in full:

"Come let us prepare We brother that are,
Here met on this merry occasion.
We'll quaff and we'll sing, Be he peasant of King
Here's a health to an accepted Mason.

"The world tries in vain Our secrets to gain,
And still let them wonder and guess on;
They ne'er can divine A word or a sign
Of a Free and Accepted Mason.

"'Tis the and 'tis that They cannot tell what,
Why the great men of every Nation,
Should put aprons on, And make themselves one
With a Free and an Accepted Mason.

"Great Kings, Dukes, and Lords Have laid by their swords,
Our Myst'ries to put a good grace on;
And have not been ashamed To hear themselves named
As a Free and an Accepted Mason.

"Antiquity's pride We have on our side,
As we keep up our old reputation:
There's nought but what's good To be understood
By a Free and an Accepted Mason.

"We're true and sincere, We're just to the Fair;
They'll trust us on any occasion;
No more mortal can more The Ladies adore
Than a Free and an Accepted Mason.

(All rise and join hands.)
"The join in hand in hand, To each other firm stand
Let's be merry and put a bright face on:
No Order can boast So noble a toast
As a Free and an Accepted Mason.

(Repeat.)
"No Order can boast So noble a toast
As a Free and an Accepted Mason."

The emphasis on accpetance, or popularity, is one of the anachrnonistic features of the song that perhaps rings a little discordant in twenty-first century ears. Also, am I correct in thinking that to quaff is to sup a drink?

Ephemera - Kilchoman Free Church

2006-11-21T16:28:00.000Z

Amidst all the lugging of heavy boxes, cleaning years of ingrained grot off titles and monotonous listing there are several quite charming diversions in a secondhand bookshop. One of these is the Ephemera discovered in the old books themselves, items that often have lain ignored for years.

In one book, for instance, we uncovered a 'Singapore Airlines' ticket, dated 31 Dec, year indeterminate, with the following advertisement on the rear: "When travelling Economy Class on board our MEGATOP 747s, you can call anywhere in the world with CELESTEL - the world's first truly global telecommunications system. This allows you to fax from anywhere on earth," accompanied by an overattentive stewardess holding a palm-fax the size of a mortar hod. Progress, progress.

For irrepresible ephemera junkies, Davy Rothbart's 'Found' magazine is indispensible. Nearer to home, we'll continue this ephemera series with a short history in three leaves of the Free Church of Scotland on Islay. Who knows the value of such scraps in years to come.

"The Free Church of Kilchoman.

"The KILCHOMAN FREE CHURCH was built after the disruption in 1843. The Manse was built shortly afterwards. The Church was built by free labour , farmers, crofters, local builders, slaters and joiners gave their services free. Even the women had a small part in it, for when they saw a large stone lying anywhere, they lifted it up into their aprons and carried it to the site. With such combined effort the church was built quickly.

"It was built on raised ground at the entrance to the village of Port Charlotte, overlooking Lochindaal. Besides the main building ther was a vestry at one end and a large porch at the other. On each side of the aisle were the pews, where as was the custom of the Free Church the Congregation sat to sing and stood to pray. They sang without any musical accompaniment, but followed the Presenter who always led the praise.

"Mr James Macmillan held the charge when I was age to attend church. There were three services every Sunday, Gaelic from 12 noon to 2pm, English from 2pm to 3pm, and at 6.30pm was the evening service. The Congregation was not a large one but services were well attended.

"The Presenter for the Gaelic Services was Mr Dugald Ferguson, who walked over the hill from Tormisdale, carrying his Sunday boots, one in each jacket pocket, until he reached the main road where the working boots were deposited into a convenient hole in the dyke, safe until his return. Would they be as safe today I wonder?

"The Presenter for English was Mr Donald McFadyen whose family was a tower of strength to the Free Church.

"Mr McFadyen (senior) was Superintentent of the Sunday School which met in the Church at 5pm. He was assisted by the Misses Mactaggart (Jessie, Marion and Lily) from Octomore and by Mr Alan Gillies, one of the Elders. The children had to memorise four lines of a psalm, or a text, or one of the Commandments. No wonder the Sunday School children shone on the day of the Bible Examination in Primary School.

"At this time the Beadle was Mr Archibald McLean (Daspie) as he was affectionately called. Besides his usual duties of carrying the books from the vestry and conducting the Minister to the pulpit, he rang the bell at the services. He was succeeded by his son Donald and later by his son in law Angus Johnston. In those days all these duties were labours of love. How we miss the bells today. They always were rung on New Years Eve, winging out the old and ringing in the new.

"During the week the Vestry was a hive of industry- Choir practices, Gaelic Class, Prayer Meeting and Dorcas Society. The Dorcas Society of the Free Church was the equivalent of the Women's Guild of the Church of Scotland but the finished garments were sent to Headquarters in Edinburgh from whence they were later sent to foreign lands.

"The Free Church was self supporting, so the Congregation had to be generous and cheerful givers. The Elders took up the collection at the end of the Sermon. The collection was put into a Ladle, which was a wooen box at the end of a long wooden pole and very clumsy. Besides this church collection every Sunday the Congregation paid what was called "The Sustentation Fund". Every quarter an Elder came round to the house to collect the Sustentation Fund.

"The Lord's Supper or Communion was celebrated once a year, usually the first Sunday in July. The previous Friday was held as a Fast Day, schools and shops closed on that day. I well remember how rigidly the Sabbath was kept, no work of any kind was allowed that day.

"When Mr McMillan whose first charge it was, retired, he was succeeded by Rev Mr McInnes. During this time (1900-1904) there ws a Union between the Free Church of Scotland and the Free Presbyterian Church. The Free Church was now called the United Free Church of Scotland. Most of the Congregation joined the Union. The Minister was given the buildings-the Church, the Manse, and the Money. A small number did not join and so left the Church but a large majority followed the Minister.

"Strange to say, at this time word came from Headquarters that a young man from the village of Port Charlotte who had emigrated to America to seek his fortune had passed away and in his will he left a Legacy to the Free Church of Kilchoman. By now there was no Free Church as after the Union it had become the United Free. The minority who had left the Church claimed the Legacy and built a Free Church of their own. The site chosen was between the United Free Church and the Church of Scotland. There was no Manse and no resident Minister. Supply came from Portnahaven and from the mainland. As time passed funds became low and in the end this church was sold as a dwelling house.

"Meanwhile the United Free had a new Minister in succession to Mr McInnes a Mr McDairmid and he was followed by Mr C. M. Robertson. In 1929 there was another Union. The majority accepted it and this brought them all back to the establishment of the Church of Scotland. The United Free Church was closed and the congregation worshipped in St. Kiarans. After a number of years rather than see the United Free Church fall into ruins, a caring lot of gentlemen had it turned into a Museum of Islay Life."

Here ends the typed portion of the text (Courier, typewritten, fax quality.) In addition, there has been attached a hand written note, in a spidery hand. It reads, "Such is the History of the Kilchoman Free Church where I was christened in 1888, attended Sunday-school and Bible-class, and when I was nineteen years of age I became a member of the Church. Margaret Mac???deor. 14th March 1988."

ABR - Transactions of the Watford Natural History Society and Hertfordshire Field Club

2006-11-21T13:17:00.000Z

(ABR: Antiquarian Book Review)

The 'Transactions of the Watford Natural History Society and Hertfordshire Field Club' is an august publication, combining resolute provincialism with a universality of theme such that it draws down naturally upon great admiration from Midnight Oil Books, being in line to a considerable degree with our aspirations for the 'Pathhead Review'.

Our own copy of Volume Two dates from 1880 and covers the proceedings from October 1877 to July 1879. It was published in London by David Bogue and there appears the detail; 'Watford: Sold at the Public library, Queen's Road.' The Editor of the said volume was John Hopkinson, F.L.S, F.G.S. Proceedings in truth are confined to the final sixteen pages, with the vast majority of the bound volume's content being given over to scholarly articles on various themes relating to the weather, flora and fauna of the county.

From what we can piece together from Copac records, it was published from 1875-1880 by Hardwicke and Bogue of London. The fullest of the c. fifteen records is the joint one by the Univeristy of Cambridge and the National Library of Scotland, which I quote here in full:

Title Details: Transactions of the Hertfordshire Natural History Society and
Field Club Continues: Watford Natural
History Society and Hertfordshire Field Club. Transactions of the Watford
Natural History Society and Hertfordshire Field Club Continued by: Hertfordshire
Natural History Society and Field Club. [Transactions (Hertfordshire Natural
History Society and Field Club)]
Publisher: London : Gurney & Jackson,
1879-1977
Physical desc.: 28v. : ill ; 22 cm
ISSN: 03753409 THNHA6
Note: 1875-1901 in v. 10; 1875-1914 in v. 15 1976 Classified subject index
Description based on: Vol. 5 (Nov. 1887/Oct. 1889); title from vol. t.p Editor:
18 - , J. Hopkinson Indexes include the 2 vols. of the Transactions of the
Watford Natural History Society and Hertfordshire Field Club None published in
1975

Copies may be found at the university libraries of Leeds, Oxford, Liverpool, Trinity College, Dublin, UCL, Imperial College London, and at theNational Library of Scotland and British Museum. Although not all would appear to be complete.

The description of from the Leeds University records is also worth quoting here at length as it gives an indication of the care that was taken with the binding and production of the book itself, something that has perhaps done something to aid the survival of the volume currently in our care.

Watford : Public library ; Hertford : Stephen Austin and Sons, printers, 1875-
Note: Coverage from 1875 Full-cloth (red); red-sprinkled edges; vol. 2 is half-leather with marbled boards, red-sprinkled edges and boards detached from spine Plates (some col.), fold. map Supplementary title pages to vols 1 and 2 give publication dates as 1878 and 1880 respectively

At some point publication was taken over by Riverside in Twickenham.

The Society continues to this day as the Hertfordshire Natural History Society, while the publication continues as 'The Hertfordshire Naturalist'. Its website, looking back writes:

Despite the effects of two World Wars, its reputation for natural history
studies grew in the 20th century, and the results were published in its journal,
previously the "Transactions of the Hertfordshire Natural History Society", now
"The Hertfordshire Naturalist". National figures such as Sir Edward Salisbury,
late Director of Kew, and pioneer of ecology as a subject, was Recorder for
Botany, and published some important papers in the journal. Other national
figures included Charles Oldham, well-known for mollusc studies and for bird
studies, F. W. Edwards, of the Natural History Museum, as Recorder for flies,
and R. B. Benson, also of the Natural History Museum, as Recorder for sawflies.

tbc

Local History - 800 Years of Crail 2

2006-11-18T13:00:00.000Z

More now from the Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving booklet...

Milestones across the Centuries.

1150-2: Charter of David I contains reference to 'the Burgh of Crail'.
1160s: Crail belonged to the Countess Ada, daughter-in-law of David I and mother of Malcolm IV and William the Lion.
1178: The Countess died and Crail reverted to the direct dominion of the Crown and so became what would later be called Royal Burgh.
1310: Charter by King Robert the Bruce conferring the Burgh's ancient privileges. This is the first Charter for which there is indiputable evidence.
1357: Oldest known impression of the Burgh Seal.
1371: King Robert II granted another Charter.
1553: 10th May. A Charter by Mary, Queen of Scots, confirming the two earlier Charters. The original is in the Burgh archives. "Mary, by the grace of God, Queen of Scots . . . to the Burgesses of our Burgh of Crail, both present and future, that they may have, hold and possess the town of Crail in free burgage with thol and theme and a market day every Sunday, with all liberties, commodities adn easements . . . from teh middle of the water of Leven to the burn of Putekyn (Pitmilly)."
1587: King James VI gave to the Bailies, Council and Community of Crail the revenues of the College Kirk of Crail.
1587: Act of Parliament expressly forbidding Sunday markets in Crail.
1598: The Town Council decided to build a new Tolbooth.
1607: Petition to the Convention of Royal Burghs-"craifeing supporte for helpeing the ruife of thair kirk, thair herbere and bulwark and with the biging of thair tolbuith."
1610: 4th, 5th and 6th July. The Convention of Royal Burghs met in Crail.
1645: Outbreak of the bubonic plague in the Burgh.
1652: Because of extreme poverty, the Burgh is excused from sending representatives to the Parliament in Edinburgh.
1672: Petition to the Privy Council-"Through the late troubles, this ancient and Royal Burgh has become involved in debt . . . consequently no one can be found to accept the offices of Bailie or councillor and because of the rigidity of these creditors all the men competent for these offices are removing out of the Burgh to other places."
1702: The Public Clock and Clock Bell removed from the Kirk Steeple to the Tolbooth Steeple with the consent of the Kirk Session.
1711: First constitution granted to the Town Council: Three magistrates, a Treasurer, the Convenor of Trades and 16 other councillors-21 in all. Of these 15 were "merchant councillors and 6 were craftsmen or "trades councillors".
1731: Important amendment to the constitution: "No magistrate or treasurer, hereafter chosen, shall continue in that station above two years successively."
1814-15: The Town Hall, with the exception of the Tower, was rebuilt.
1833: Burgh Reform Act. Method of election revised. Election took place in November, seven councillors retiring each year by rotation, but each had to be elected by the small number of persons entitled to vote.
1852: Legislation reduced the Council to its present strength of nine-Provost, two Bailies, Honorary Treasurer and five other Councillors.
1852: The title of Provost was reintroduced. There had been Provosts of Crail up to the 17th Century, but for some reason the title lapsed, and for many years the Senior Bailie was called the Chief Magistrate.
1887: The restored Market Cross was unveiled by Provost Peattie on its present site.
1938: The Burgh Motto: IN VERBO TUO LAXABO RETE ("At Thy word I will let down the net"-St. Luke 5,5) was officially matriculated in the Lyon Court. The Motto was accepted on the suggestion of the late Professor J. H. Baxter of St Andrews University.
1952: Mrs Catherine Arrighi, widow of the late Bailie W. F. Arrighi, presented a handsome Provost's Gold Chain to the Burgh. In 1953, the same fonor presented the Provost's robes of scarlet and ermine.

Scots-Polish Poetry Evening.

2006-11-17T14:30:00.000Z

St Andrews Day, 30th November 2006. 19:30.

In Scots and Polish, this is a great chance to learn about Polish literature and culture. Entry is free, but come prepared to recite, if you can.
Location: 120 Commercial St., Kirkcaldy.

Christmas Opening Hours

2006-11-17T14:26:00.000Z

Late opening Sat, 23rd & 30th December til 19:30. Closed December 24th, 25th, 26th, 31st, and January, 1st, 17th, 19th, 20th and 22nd. Sorry.

Local History - 800 Years of Crail 1

2006-11-15T12:43:00.000Z

On Thursday 15th May 1975, a Service of Commeroration and Thanksgiving was held at the Parish Church to mark the close of 800 years in the history of the burgh and to recognise the service given by successive generations of provosts, magistrates and councillors. The Service was conducted by William J MacIntyre and lessons were read by the then Provost, George Simpson, and Session Clerk, John Macdonald.

An Order of Service was produced to commerorate the occasion and given the scarcity of this document, and not knowing whose hands it may end up on, it is probably of profit to preserve some of the details contained within.

The Order of Service was as follows:

Psalm 100 - Old Hundreth

A Call to Prayer

Prayers, incl.:
"Help us to remember, O Lord, that unless Thou build the city, they labour in vain that build it. And so give each one of us grace to labour faithfully, in our several callings, for the common good of our burgh of Crail, for the righteousness of its life and for the glory of Thy holy name."

Psalm 46 - Stroudwater

The First Lesson - Ecclesiasticus 44:1-15

Hymn 500 - Jesus calls us!

The Second Lesson - Luke 5:1-11

Anthem: The Lord is my Shepherd

Prayers of Thanksgiving and Intercession

Hymn 206 - Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken

SERMON

Acceptance by the Kirk Session of Custody of the Burgh Regalia

Prayers of Dedication

Hymn 601 - O God, our help in ages past

The National Anthem

The Benediction

Psalm 122:6-9"

ABR - Historical Sketches of Pathhead and Vicinity

2006-11-08T16:50:00.000Z

PATHHEAD, currently incorporated within the Royal Burgh of Kirkcaldy, was at one time a separate village with its own peculiar identity. With the Firth of Forth to the south, Kirkcaldy to the 'west', Dysart to the east, and Gallatown, Sinclairtown and Dunnikier to the north, it may well have been overlooked by the swift passage of history were it not for the vigour of its townsfolk in rising to the challenges of the industrial revolution.

One of the finer accounts of the history of PATHHEAD may be encountered in Robert Brodie's 'Historical Sketches of Pathhead and Vicinity', written by a feuer and native of the town in 1863. We take the liberty here of at length quoting from this title to set the scene.

"Whatever time it may have begun to appear as a town, we know from good authority that in 1666 there were eighty houses in it. The estate had passed through a number of hands; but, notwithstanding, the feuers had evidently been increasing in numbers. In that year, John Watson, sen., went to law with the feuers for the purpose of depriving them of their privilege of taking stones and clay, fail and divet, from the whole muir of Dunnikier, which they had enjoyed since the yera 1608; " [...] p.116

"In 1684 John Watson, se., gave the first piece of burying-ground for the use of the haill inhabitants of Dunnikier, and in 1707 they assessed themselves for the purpose of enclosing it, as noted in another part of our work. In 169-, John Watson, jun., received the first royal charter for the estate of Dunnikier, it being granted by Queen Anne, (commonly called Anne of Denmark,) with the consent of James IV., her husband; and in July 1695 the same gentleman obtained an Act of Parliament, authorising the holding of two annual fairs in the town, to continue three days each." [...] p.118

And we find the following story from the time of the Porteous Riots. The year is 1736.

"Andrew Wilson was a native of Pathhead, a baker by trade, son of Alexander Wilson, baker also, there, but who had died about three years previous to the commencement of our story. Andrew had been engaged in a number of smuggling transactions in the neighbourhood. He was a heavy, powerful man, and, withal, very daring and reckless. The officers of excise or customs had on several occasions made seizures of smuggled goods from him, which irritated him very much. He therefore determined that he would obtain satisfaction for the losses which he had sustained; if he could not get back the identical goods which had been taken from him, he would attack some of the government offficials, and take from them what he considered to be an equivalent in money. Accordingly, when in Edinburgh, ... he entered into a combination with George Robertson, who kept an inn at Bristo, and William Hall, also an inhabitant of Edinburgh, to waylay Mr James Stark, the collector of excise in Kirkcaldy, while on his round collecting in the eastern part of the county of Fife. [tbc]

Uspeki, pebyata!

2006-11-07T15:44:00.000Z

Success! Midoil - the website - has now launched. Contrary to popular opinion, we are not hoping to profit from confusion with some middle eastern or midwestern oil companies. However, our titles on geology and minerology may well profit, and all the better.

Keep track of progress over the next few weeks as we add extra pages and some scholarly articles on the history of Pathhead, Ravensheugh and the surrounding area.

ABR - Chambers' Historical Newspaper 3

2006-11-03T15:33:00.000Z

"It is mentioned in The Birmingham Journal, that there never was a period when Birmingham exhibited fewer instances of the commission of even ordinary crime. For some days the jail was absolutely tenantless." No. 2.

"On the other hand, the party of statesmen termed Whigs must be considered as at the very height of the political wheel of fortune. Their constancy of principle during a long period, when liberal principle was more laudable, abstractly, than it was practically safe, and their having ultimately carried their principles, and especially the measure of Parliamentary reform, into practice, have obtained for them a meed of grateful feeling from the people, sufficient, and more than sufficient, to atone for all their former depression and despair." No. 3. January 3, 1833.

And more flippantly...

"A MR EULENSTEIN has lately been astonishing the inhabitants of Edinburgh, by his varied and brillant performances on this hiteherto humble instrument. ... Should this instrument become fashionable, as it deserves to be, the young men, we can foresee, will by and bye[sic] prefer it greatly, as an affectation, to rolled tobacco, and thereby, while regaling themselves, will give pleasure rather than pain to others. Each youth, instead of going puffing along with is cigar, to the annoyance of all around or behind him, will be twanging his Jews' harp, so that the whole street will be one universal orchestra from end to end. ... Boards might be carried on the tops of poles, intimating that "Katie Beardie" was to be played on this street from twelve to two; "Brose and Butter" to be predominant from two to four; and "Maggie Lauder" to reign supreme from four to six." No. 4. February 2, 1833.

"At a late meeting of the Presbytery of Kirkaldy, the Rev. Mr Thorburn was ordained to the pastoral charge of the Scottish church at Falmouth, Jamaica." No. 4.

"A New Continent.-It is said that a new continent has been discovered in the antarctic regions, by a [APRIL, 1833] British whaler. The Literary Gazette, in noticing the circumstance, says-"The log of the vessel is rather confused, but still there seems to be no doubt of the fact, that an immense tract of land has been found about the latitude of 67[deg], and in longitude lying nearly due south of the Cape of Good Hope." No. 6. April 3, 1833.

ABR - Chambers' Historical Newspaper 2

2006-11-03T13:50:00.000Z

"Monuments to Sir Walter Scott.-A most numerous and highly respectable meeting was held in the Assembly Rooms, at Edinburgh, on Friday the 5th, at which the Lord Provost was called to preside for the purpose of considering a national testimony to the memory of Sir Walter Scott. ... The most remarkable subscription is that of Mr Murray of the Theatre Royal -L.100 By such liberality the subscriber has done infinite honour to himself and to his profession." No.1

"The pestilence [cholera] visited Dumfries for the first time on the 15th of September. Its ravages since then have been more severe, in proportion to the population, than in any other part of Great Britain. ... The calamity produced a complete stagnation of business for several days, and overspread the minds of the inhabitants with gloom." No. 1

"The author alluded to exaggerates of profits of bookselling, while he entirely loses sight of the frequently unsaleable nature of the commodity, and the daily depreciation of the stock of a bookseller, which unilke that of a wine merchant, never improves with age." No. 1

"DEATH OF SIR JOHN LESLIE
THIS distinguished individual died at his seat of Coates, in Fife, on the 3d ultimo: he had attained the 67th year of his age. Sir John Leslie was a native of Largo, in Fife. He was educated at the University of St Andrews, and had many struggles before reaching the eminent situation he latterly held. He acted at one time as travelling tutor to the sons of Mr Wedgewood a celebrated potter, and enjoyed a pension of L.300 a-year on that account as long as he lived. In 1805, after a severe conflict with the clerical powers of the city, by whom he was objected to on a charge of infidelity, he was appointed Professor of Mathematics in the University of Edinburgh. Here he distinguished himself by some important discoveries, particularly the process of artificial congelation. He was, however, a man of intense general information and high literary powers, in addition to all his aacquirements as a philosopher. In 1820, he succeeded the celebrated Playfair as Professor of Natural Philosophy , and some time in the present year he received from his Majesty the honour of a knighthood of the Guelphic order. By an unvarying prudence of conduct, Sir John Leslie is believed to have accumulated about L.20,000." No. 2. December 1, 1832.

ABR - Chambers' Historical Newspaper 1

2006-11-03T12:32:00.000Z

Every Friday, I would like to introduce an antiquarian book of note.

This week it is 'Chambers' Historical Newspaper': a bound compilation of issues 1-48 of the newspaper by that same name, published from 2 November 1832 onwards.

In its binding, the title is unremarkable, derelict even, but within contains all manner of treasure.

The plural Chambers refers to the brothers William and Robert, born on the ancient royal burgh of Peebles in 1800 and 1802, respectively. Robert began as a bookseller age 16 and William would follow a year later. Both would go on to become legendary Victorian publishing talismen. For an intimate account of their early struggles and later successes, 'Memoir of Robert Chambers with Autobiographic Reminiscences of William Chambers', published by, yes, you've guessed it, in 1872, has much to commend it.

Much of the brothers political outlook may be seen in the opening lines of the newspaper: "There are two kinds of government; and the two may be best distinguished by the words LIBERAL and ILLIBERAL.... At present, only Great Britain, France, and Belgium, are liberalised countries." No. 1.

The trivia contained within is equally pleasing:

"Monuments to...

Website

2006-11-03T12:24:00.000Z

At last, our website is complete. Hosting should be completed later today. The url, if you are interested is www.midoil.co.uk.