They're books, Jim, but not as we know them

Out of this World: science fiction but not as you know it by Mike Ashley explores how science fiction has responded to the impact of science, technology and socio-political changes.
This glossy British Library paperback is divided into six sections - Alien Worlds, Parallel Worlds, Future Worlds, Virtual Worlds, Perfect Worlds and The End of the World. Some of my favourites which feature are - The Matrix film trilogy, The Day of the Triffids, Dune, The Handmaid's Tale and Nineteen Eighty-Four. With lavish colour pictures this publication showcases books, film and magazines which are all designed to make us think,"what if...?"
And now I have a list of more interesting sci-fi to to boldly watch and read!

The British Library Out of this World free exhibition runs until 25th September.

Discover the book at shelfmark: OP6.211.62/26

Phone hacking scandal

There'll be an Emergency debate in the House of Commons today (6th July) on the current phone hacking scandal surrounding the 'News of the World', using the provisions of Standing Order 24.

Standing Orders are the rules made by both Houses of Parliament for the regulation of their proceedings. Standing Order 24 allows an MP to make an application for the House of Commons to:
"debate a specific and important matter that should have urgent consideration. If the Speaker is satisfied that the matter is proper to be so debated, the Member shall either obtain the leave of the House, or, if such leave be refused, the assent of not fewer than forty Members who shall thereupon rise in their places to support the motion, or, if fewer than forty Members and not fewer than ten shall thereupon rise in their places, the House shall, on a division, upon question put forthwith, determine whether such motion shall be made."

Audit trail

As I have been auditing the parliamentary papers, I was reminded of the diverse collection of subjects discussed by Parliament. Normally the parliamentary papers that stick in my head concern current legislation eg Rosemary Nelson inquiry report or ones which cause a media stir such as MPS expenses.
It is only when you are auditing or doing enquiries on the older items that the more unusual subjects are bought to your attention, for example, one enquiry I dealt with was about the amendment of the health and morals of Apprentices Act, and the state and condition of chidren employed in cotton manufactories.
The following items are a few of the interesting things I found in the many volumes we have in the collection:
One volume (PP 1847-48 vol XXXV) is about prisons of Great Britain. I was particulary impressed with the dietary facts - if the prisoners were doing hard labour they were entitled to 1 pint of soup per week, the soup was made from the liquor of meat with peas, oatmeal and vegetables. Gruel, by the way, contained 3 ounces of oatmeal per quart!
Disturbance in Hyde Park, (PP 1856 vol. XXIII),contains all the information from the inquiry with one paragraph stating; "the confinement of the prisoners in Vine Street Station during the night is a painful part of our enquiry."
Apparently 43 people were shut up in a basement cell without proper ventilation, water on the floor and an open convience in one corner. One person who had to stay 2 nights in a cell reported that he has never been well since.
Another volume I was intrigued by was about cholera (PP 1850 vol XXI) under the heading "Fatal effects of emanations from town refuse," it explained, "those noxious matters are collected by a number of persons who make a trade of accumulating and selling them for agricultural purposes and they have become so accustomed to live amongst this horrible garbage, that they not only heap it up against the walls and immediately under the windows of the houses." Ugh!

This photo is part of a plan of Glasgow showing locations of cholera hospitals and districts most affected by cholera are marked with the blue lines.
These are just a few of the fascinating items I have recently seen, offering a wealth of information about living and social conditions in the past.

Scary Spider

As I was auditing I came across this book, A decade of Japanese underground activities in the Netherland East Indies

the picture on the cover made me stop and look at it.
It was issued for the Netherland Government Information Bureau by HMSO in 1942.
This is about the history of the war with Japan and the Netherlands East Indies why it started, the Japanese aggression, the propaganda that was used for the preparation of an invasion, the economic assault and the espionage involved.
I was particularly struck by the quote on the inside page.
“Time was when the ancient and noble rule of Bushido (the Road of the Warrior) withheld Japan from dishonourable action….Japan has branded herself among the nations as a country that knows only one law : the law of the jungle.”
On leafing through the book I came across the heading the Inclusion of Japanese Residents in the Espionage System. It mentions that the greater part of the Japanese community in the Netherlands Indies were hard-working and quiet immigrants. They held themselves away from the subversive and spying activities and gave the police little trouble. That is until after the Manchurian expedition and the subsequent disapproving vote of the League of Nations in 1933, when Japan became isolated and took a hostile attitude towards the Western Powers.
The Japanese abroad were asked to put themselves and their jobs at the disposal of Japan’s military aspirations.
This booklet is a fascinating insight to written propaganda in the Second World War.

Alpines in your garden

As a keen gardener I particularly enjoy the books that come to us from the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Alpines from mountain to garden is about how plant hunters found, catalogued and collected alpine plants in the different geographical regions of the world and then managed to recreate the conditions for the alpines to grow in gardens.
It is easy to forget when you visit a garden centre and look at the alpines where they actually originated from and how hard it was for the plant collectors to find them, bring them back and then learn to grow them.
I have tried so many times to grow the Meconopsis baileyi plant (a Himalayan blue poppy) in my garden and never succeeded however, after reading the information on this plant I will try once more and hopefully this time with success!
The book is packed with glorious pictures of alpines, detailed information on the plants, where it was found, and horticultural notes to help you grow your own.

Designed for action

Cataloguing retroconversion of American items has revealed this beauty from 1947. Called "Dresses and aprons for work and in the home" it was published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and written by a clothing specialist and scientific aid. Aimed at "homemakers," it shows how to make practical clothing "designed for action" which are easy to put on without mussing the hair, are comfortable yet becoming.
The photo below shows the "basket apron," ideal for carrying eggs or beans.

Here is the "mop apron," which holds the skirt out of the way of mop water.

And here is a dress made for "girls and young homemakers." Styled for comfort, it also keeps the wearer cool.

Gentleman need not feel left out; there is a pocketed apron designed for the man of the house. Finally, for those ladies who "run little errands in and out of doors", there is even a "kitchen jacket" with "action pleats" so there will be no restriction to applying elbow grease!


(All photos from "Dresses and aprons for work and in the home" at shelfmark F1/AC.14)

Ring the changes

More from OPU's retro cataloguing boxes this week! These Post Office publications demonstrate how image and design were being used to recruit staff. They also reflect the changes in the industry at the time. The recruitment leaflet from 1971 looks like this: The leaflet looks like this in 1972: The people in the photos look more glamorous and the photos more polished. The clashing orange background has been replaced by a less eye-wrenching colour. Unlike the leaflets for telephonists issued at the same time, these are aimed at both men and women. Perhaps the newer, revamped leaflet's function was to boost the Post Office's recruitment as they expanded in the early 1970's. The Post Office was busy selling itself to its potential employees: "Or else you are working on management duties...which is every bit as interesting!" This large expansion was due to the Post Office Act 1969. Services separated and became specialized for greater efficiency, with exchanges growing in size and technology to accomodate STD and international dialling. Ten years later the Conservatives split telecommunications away from the Post Office. In 1981 the British Telecommunications Act saw the creation of British Telecom. (Photos show 'Become a telecommunications traffic officer' leaflets from 1971 & 1972, shelfmark GPD.21)

Another day at the office

So, here is a glimpse of life in the OPU office! Hope you appreciate our fab retro clothing.
Only joking - these are photos from 1970's Post Office recruitment leaflets, although the retro part applies to the cataloguing, which my colleagues have been doing.

These colourful publications tell us a lot about attitudes to women in the workplace as well as showcasing some groovy fashions. The 1971 leaflet declares that any lady between 15 and 59 years old can be a "telephone girl." The tone of the language reveals that women were seen to be seeking employment which involved "helping people, smoothing out their troubles," but was fun and sociable: "You will be at the centre of things...you'll work with lots of friendly girls, all as nice as you, in pleasant surroundings. Sounds good, doesn't it."
Compare this with the leaflet for men: "It is interesting work - STD handles all routine calls - with friendly people. It is the sort of job which might suit you very well...it will give you a profitable skill."
However, after the Equal Pay Act 1970 came into force in 1975, the leaflets reflect a change in attitude. "Dial the World as a day telephonist" from 1978 is aimed at both sexes and there is no reference to ladies' working hours giving them time for "that special hair-do or shopping spree."

Watch out for more retro gems as my colleagues continue to update the catalogue.

(Photos show parts from Clerical Officer leaflet (1972) and a selection of Post Office leaflets from OPU's collection, shelfmark GPD.21)

Feast your eyes on thousands of pictures of wild animals

These were all captured by motion-triggered cameras and brought together by the Smithsonian into one database. The photographs are from various projects around the world featuring various exotic creatures going about their normal behaviour, from cats in Panama to pandas in China.

The Smithsonian is functionally part of the United States federal government and is therefore "official". It's the largest organisation of its kind in the world with 16 museums & galleries, 10 research centres and even a zoo. The Official Publications Unit has Smithsonian publications from the 1850s onwards. If you want to learn more about this wonderful institution, you can read The first hundred years of the Smithsonian Institution, 1846-1946 by the wonderfully named Webster P. True.
(Picture copyright Smithsonian Institution)

Take a look at this!

The National Library of Scotland’s web feature The Medical History of British India has been updated with a further 130 medical reports from the India Papers collection. These rare and exciting documents cover c.1850-1950 and are available online free of charge. They include reports on epidemics, public and army health, drugs and medicines, plus the workings of medical colleges, laboratories and lock hospitals.

Users can search and browse by keyword or by facets such as people, places, year and subject. Users can also choose to confine searches to individual chapters or expand to volume or collection level. The option of searching book content can find names of people or more obscure diseases. Transcriptions of pages are available, together with jpegs and pdfs which can be downloaded. Users can share and bookmark pages via Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon and Delicious.

Detailed maps, charts and extensive tables show regional histories of disease and the role of government as well as providing an insight into the development of western medicine in a colonial context. During the last decade there has been a lively interest in colonial medicine; this online resource is aimed at medical, social, military and colonial historians, historians of South Asia and also genealogists.

I’m thrilled to say that this is not the end, as in the coming years we’ll be adding British Raj reports concerning Veterinary medicine, Vaccination and Lunatic Asylums.

I’d like to thank many of my National Library of Scotland colleagues, particularly the Digital Library staff, for making this possible. We are also most grateful to the Wellcome Trust for their generous funding.

You can also find the digitised India Papers in the National Library of Scotland's Digital Archive.

(photo credit: Wellcome Images)

The King's Speech

The movie concentrates on the King's stammer, his efforts to overcome this and deliver an unprecedented radio broadcast on the outbreak of World War II. The intention had been to distribute copies of the speech to every household (the first lines emphasise the King's wish to address "each one of you"), but this was abandoned on grounds of cost. This edition is No. 1 in a series of publications from the Ministry of Information, and also includes statements from President Moscicki of Poland, Neville Chamberlain and others. There are also summaries of correspondence between the UK and Germany (the latter also contained in command paper Cmd.6102)during August and September, with the chilling conclusion that the two countries were at war as from 11 a.m., 3rd September.

What's been keeping the Lords awake all night?

The Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill, that's what. Ostensibly a move to restore the public's faith in parliament, the coalition government have long wanted changes in the way people vote, for different reasons: the Liberal-Democrats have always favoured proportional representation over the current "first-past-the-post" system, and the Conservatives want to limit the number of MPs. The Bill had its first reading in the Commons in July last year and is now nearing its final hearing in the Lords.

However, the Political and Constitutional Reform Select Committee commented "The Government has declared that the Parliamentary Systems and Constituencies Bill is intended as a "major step" towards restoring people's faith in Parliament. The Government's failure to consult on the provisions in this Bill risks undermining that laudable intention."
The Lords debated for a whopping 20 hours last night and today, requiring overnight arrangements in the House, amid accusations that the Labour party were deliberately obstructing the Bill.

You can get a Lord's eye-view at their blog.

Friend or foe?

You could be forgiven for thinking this picture is from a Dr Who set. In fact, it is from a book published in 1947, The Metropolitan Police at War

The book records the work of the Metropolitan Police during the years 1939-45.
They lent a hand at any job from helping, encouraging and rescuing the public.
The book describes their new duties and how they tackled everything from the day-to-day police work to the strange new tasks, including black out duties, bomb reconnaissance, crashed aircraft, straying barrage balloons, dealing with pigeons and fireworks.
There are small chapters that highlight the work of the police; one is about the mounted branch that explains how the horses were trained: "the police horse has to be proof against suprise," he is taught to ride through fire and to stand quietly no matter what the noise level is.
Another chapter concentrates on women police: "London's small force of women police had a strenuous war. The number of jobs which can be better done by women than by men is greater even in war than in peace."
How did I come across this book? At present we are doing an audit check of the Official Publications collection and are cataloguing all those that are not already in our database.

Books in art

As the Official Publications Unit of the National Library of Scotland, we collect art publications from the major National Museums and Galleries in the UK, Ireland and the United States. With the aim of opening the collection to our new and regular readers, we are now presenting a “library” themed display of art catalogues, exploring the theme of the book in history of art. The display will be on from today until the 17th of January at the National Library in George IV Bridge. From the Visitor Centre and Café area take the main stairs to the floor above.

Image credit: Sir William Fettes Douglas, "David Laing 1793-1878. Antiquary", 1862, National Galleries of Scotland

A little bit of Spitfire

A small flip book called Spitfire, published by the Imperial War Museum, has just been added to the OP collection at shelfmark OP5.210.11/50. It gives the reader (or flipper!) the chance to see aerial footage of the celebrated British fighter aircraft.

The Museum's Film and Video Archive holds some 20,000 hours of moving image material, much of which is from the Second World War. This includes British documentaries, newsreels and training films, including the 1944 aircraft recognition film Spitfires, part of which is featured in the flip book.
This publication is a simple concept and shows how books can still compete with digital media. Fans of the Spitfire F.21 plane can view a piece of aviation history in their hands without batteries!

(Photo credit: www.clevelandpeople.com)

St Andrew's Day celebrations

St Andrew's Day becomes a weekend-long event in Scotland with the First Minister opening the festivities today (26th November). Read all about how this Galilean fisherman became Scotland's patron saint and the story of the saltire.

(Pic. courtesy of Scottish Government)

League of Nations Display

Until 10th December OPU are displaying some of our wonderful League of Nations material. You will be able to see them at the top of the main stairs in front of the reading rooms on George IV Bridge in Edinburgh. These fantastic titles are just a glimpse of the superb range of topics covered by this collection.


Over the next month I will be highlighting some of these great titles on this blog. So keep your eyes peeled and you will soon discover the many extraordinary aspects of this collection which are both historically and contemporary important.

I see the bad moon arising

As part of my India Papers digitisation job I quality check digital images and microfilm; yesterday I came across a couple of interesting pages from a lunatic asylum in Bengal, 1868.
The author was investigating the influence of climate and lunar phases on insanity. His experiment showed that the “waning moon had more apparent influence on the insanes than the waxing moon; but this can only be accidental, for though her face is less visible, she is still in her place in the heavens, and her attractive power (if any) must still be exerted; and that she really exerts no influence whatever.” The page shown is the table of results on which the author based his conclusion, which states at the head of the page “that there is no such person as a lunatic.” (Click on image to enlarge)


Full moons have long been associated with insanity, hence the term “lunatic,” borrowed from the Latin “lunacus.” In India patients with mental illness were known as “lunatics” or “insanes” until the 1920’s. This preceded the UK Mental Treatment Act of 1930 which changed the term to “person of unsound mind.”
Today, scientists are still researching correlations between illnesses such as schizophrenia and epilepsy and the full moon period. The police are also studying the influence of the moon on violent and criminal behaviour.
The next full moon is tomorrow, 23rd October, so perhaps we should take note of the Creedence Clearwater Revival song....

(Moon photo credit: www.commons.wikimedia.org)

Another virus eradicated

A few days ago a joint FAO/OIE announcement astounded me.
Rinderpest, a devastating cattle plague, is set to become the first animal virus to be globally eradicated by man. Although it does not infect humans, the virus can wipe out entire livestock herds in days. This has caused famines for many centuries throughout the world.
I first heard of it when working on the digitisation of the India Papers veterinary material; the first book to be scanned was the Report on the Calcutta epizootic or cattle disease of 1864 in Calcutta and its neighbourhood. In Britain 400,000 cattle perished in the Great Cattle Plague of 1865-67 when rinderpest entered the country from the Baltic.
It is clear from the Indian veterinary reports that rinderpest was a serious threat to the Government cattle farms, established to provide dairy products to the colonial army. However, the mid-nineteenth century witnessed a revolution in health sciences, and veterinary science played a key role. The rinderpest virus was discovered in Turkey in 1902 by Nicolle and Adil-Bey.
The Indian Journal of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry (1931-1959) is a fine example of the extensive bacteriological study of animal diseases. Understanding and preventing rinderpest was begun by scientists long ago; it is amazing to consider that, like smallpox, this virus is no longer at large.

(Picture is a typical plate from the Indian Journal, showing examples of Indian cattle.)
The Medical History of British India web feature will be updated in 2011 with over 35,000 pages of veterinary reports.

Sunday 24th October: United Nations Day

The 24th of October has been celebrated as United Nations Day since 1948, to remember the anniversary of the launch of the United Nations on 24 October 1945. At the Official Publications Unit of the National Library of Scotland we collect United Nations publications too. Some items published by the UN during the 70s have recently been added to the NLS on-line catalogue and are now easier to find for our readers. To celebrate UN day and its achievements here is a selection from our “vintage” project…
- “Cultural rights as human rights” (1970) shelf mark UNESCO.90.[3]
- “Apartheid in practice” (1969) UN.XIV.2/3.[1]
- “United Nations population fund: what it is, what it does, how it works, why it concerns you” (1971) UN.XIII.1.[1]
- “Human rights protect refugees” (1973) UN.XV.2.[2]
- “The needs of children: a survey of the needs of children in the developing countries” (1963) UN.I.9/10.[1]
- “Preparations of the child for modernization: skills and intellectual requirements” (1970) UN.IV.19.[70.16]
- “Rural cooperative and planned change in Africa” (1972) UN.IV.17.[5]
…and something for book and library lovers too:
- “Books for all: a programme of action” (1973) UNESCO.1/15.[3]

Image: “Non-violence” by Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd, United Nations, New York, 1988 (credit: United Nations website www.un.org)

Yes Minister

A fascinating item was added to the OPU collection this week, Working with Ministers. I was particularly impressed with the introduction where it stated “Serving ministers can be exhilarating and rewarding: what more worthwhile work can there be than playing a part in the government?” It goes on to say however, “when roles, relationships and ministers’ requirements are unclear, the environment can become unhappy and unproductive.”
The book explains what civil servants are expected to do, from briefing a Minister to drafting Ministers’ speeches and drafting answers to Parliamentary Questions. The book has short pithy statements, which are then expanded, some of these are :
“While it is helpful if ministers understand the needs of the civil servants, it’s essential that civil servants understand the needs of ministers”;
“It falls to officials to ensure that ministers’ decisions are based on a firm foundation of fact” ;
“Standard paragraphs and standard letters should, however, be used with real caution.”
It is a practical and helpful read, there are supplements to the chapters that are very informative, such as useful phrases and sentences. The best supplement has to be words and phrases to avoid. This made me smile as I still hear these words used but these “are now deemed ugly, imprecise or simply over-used and should be avoided,” such as ball park, customer, growing forward, mission statement, to negatively impact, drivers, vision and so on.
I thoroughly enjoyed leafing through this book.

(Photo credit BBC)

One "therian" a day...

In 130 B.C. a Greek ship sank off the coast of Tuscany, Italy.
How can this be relevant to the history of medicine? It can because in 1974 the shipwreck was found and years later a box full of ancient medicines, prepared by the physicians of ancient Greece, was discovered amongst other objects.
Many of the pills were completely dry and have recently been analysed by Robert Fleisher of the Smithsonian’s National Zoological Park (Washington, DC), who reported on his study on Monday 13th September 2010 at the Fourth International Symposium on Biomolecular Archaeology in Copenhagen, Denmark. Analysing the DNA fragments of two of the pills, Fleisher discovered that each tablet is a mixture of more than 10 plants extracts. Carrot, radish, celery, wild onion, oak, cabbage, alfalfa, yarrow and hibiscus are only some of the ingredients.
Alain Touwaide, scientific director of the Institute for the Preservation of Medical Traditions, is studying whether these plants extracts are now known to treat illnesses effectively. He also aims to discover therian, an ancient remedy, and to document exactly the measurements ancient doctors used to manufacture it.

(photo credit : planetaryapothecary.com)