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Lovely museums and lovely objects from the University of St Andrews

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THE DEBUSSCOPE

Lid from The Debusscope
November 7, 2011 guest blog optics physics poetry Robert Crawford stored collections toys University of St Andrews Leave a Comment

Guest bloggers wanted for exciting new project

PH219
October 25, 2011 cataloguing creative writing guest blog Historic Scientific Instruments MUSA MUSA's mystery objects Mystery objects National Museums Scotland NMS object stories stored collections 1 Comment

The University’s Second Founder

Irvine exhibition in MUSA
October 25, 2011 600th 600th anniversary chemical research Chemistry Society of London guest blog Irvine J. M. Barrie James Irvine Julia Melvin Longstaff medal Principal rector St Andrews Leave a Comment

Am I wasting my time?

What do you think, duck?
October 10, 2011 Leave a Comment

A WEEK AT WORK WITH MUSA

Me and my new buddy ‘Wonder Duck’
September 30, 2011 bird specimens exhibition Gateway Galleries guest blog Madras School MUSA Natural History St Andrews stored collections work experience Leave a Comment

The Great MUSA Bake Off

Students relaxing in gallery 4
September 26, 2011 Baking Cupcakes Fresher's week MUSA Students Leave a Comment

MUSA Collections Centre: Object of the Month!

Before the painting was conserved, the canvas was dusty and dirty. If you look very closely, you might also notice that there was a hole in the canvas next to Mrs Menzies' right nostril! The painting had been splashed with some kind of liquid that had gone very streaky!
September 12, 2011 Leave a Comment

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The exhibition starts to take shape! We got to work displaying objects in the display cases. If you look closely, you can see the University's joiners helping to hang art works in the gallery! An exciting moment! Information about the exhibition was produced used Vinyl lettering, which was attached to the gallery walls Joiners hanging art works
Andy, one of the University's joiners, doing a great job hanging art works! IMG_8425 Daniel Brown installation
IMG_8395 St Andrew
Inset above is the inscription “Punctum Vilant Buffoon is a son of a Bitch” from the inside back cover of the first volume of John Mair’s A brief survey of the terraqueous globe. The larger image of the endpaper shows more clearly that someone, possibly Vilant himself, has attempted to erase this scurrilous assertion. The fact that so many of these unedifying inscriptions survive suggests that Vilant was not always so scrupulous in checking the condition that books were returned in, something that had previously been a key duty of the library keeper. Inset above is the inscription “Punctum Vilant Buffoon is a son of a Bitch” from the inside back cover of the first volume of John Mair’s A brief survey of the terraqueous globe. The larger image of the endpaper shows more clearly that someone, possibly Vilant himself, has attempted to erase this scurrilous assertion. The fact that so many of these unedifying inscriptions survive suggests that Vilant was not always so scrupulous in checking the condition that books were returned in, something that had previously been a key duty of the library keeper.
An inscription reading “Madman Vilant” above a drawing of a straitjacketed figure, inscribed in a copy of James Balfour’s Philosophical Essays (see inset). This is not the only annotation to a book to question Vilant’s sanity: for example, a sentence in George Dixon’s Voyage round the World stating that the Sandwich Islands were discovered “by the late Captain Cook” was amended by hand to read “the present mad Captain Vilant”. Inset above is the inscription “Punctum Vilant Buffoon is a son of a Bitch” from the inside back cover of the first volume of John Mair’s A brief survey of the terraqueous globe. The larger image of the endpaper shows more clearly that someone, possibly Vilant himself, has attempted to erase this scurrilous assertion. The fact that so many of these unedifying inscriptions survive suggests that Vilant was not always so scrupulous in checking the condition that books were returned in, something that had previously been a key duty of the library keeper. The text here displays some typical features:  The student author, James Duncan, practicising his signature (also variously rendered as “James Lones” and “James Mankyster B”)  Following some pious thoughts (“Dear God as creator of world [...]”) there are a few lines regarding Vilant, on this occasion surprisingly respectful (although perhaps somewhat tongue-in-cheek): “Many People think I speak disrespectfully of Mr Vilant but I am none of these, for if you Insure to bring a line for a Book not Veted, he will Certainly give you it if it be in the Library.” [The word “Veted” may refer to vetoed books, i.e. titles which the University authorities deemed unsuitable for undergraduate eyes. This included literature such as novels that might distract students from their studies, but also certain titles deemed ‘improper’ – such as The Memoirs of Sally Salisbury (an account of the life of a famous eighteenth-century prostitute) which it was decided should be removed from stock, the catalogue entry being amended to read “Infamous book destroyed”.]  The text continues “N.B. remember always to get your line signed, a Circumstance frequently not attended to.” [This alludes to another practice which had been introduced to control student access to books: students were required to produce a slip of paper signed by a lecturer testifying that they were fit to borrow the book listed.]  The text here shifts to humour: “N.B. Cukus’ history of the Carthaginians wrote originally in French by Alexander the Great, translated into Latin by Dr Johnson & from that into English by Cicero with notes by Aristotle is reserved for Mr Gressty’s[?] own particular use.” [“Cukus” here might possibly refer to John Cook, Professor of Humanity and Moral Philosophy. As there wasn’t anything like a university magazine at the time, writing in books became one of the main means of self-expression for students, much of this taking the form of humorous or ribald remarks about their studies and environment. Given that most of the students at the time were adolescents however, the humour isn’t always very well developed.]  [Upside down] The comment “I fancy you are not very right” suggests the author is conducting a written conversation with another student. The other half of the conversation is quite possibly recorded on a different library book! Note: a fascinating examination of student marginalia from this period can be found in the PhD thesis “St Andrews University Library in the eighteenth century: Scottish education and print-culture” by Matthew Simpson (1999).
A well used copy of John Mair’s Brief survey of the terraqueous globe (Edinburgh, 1762). Rather more drastically, it was made certain that particularly prized books did not leave the library at all – by chaining them to lecterns. An example of one such, the Foundation Bible of St Leonard’s College, can be seen on display in the Gateway Galleries exhibition. This is an older image of it in situ.
My Aurasma menu Photo 14-09-2012 16 24 53 Photo 14-09-2012 16 24 53 Finding the Aura
Lost Torodovs Lost Todorovs Concert Dr_Jekyll_and_Mr_Hyde_poster
BBC article BPM
The Rector's Mace depicts Laurence of Lindores who, on the instruction of the Faculty of Art, went to Paris to commission a goldsmith to mace make the Arts Mace. Mace of the Faculty of Arts Maces on display in MUSA
torch2 torch
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