Bodysnatcher
We were approached by Ringwood Publishing in Glasgow asking if we would review a new novel by Carol Margaret Davison, Bodysnatcher. We took up this kind offer, as it was based on the Burke and Hare murders and may appeal to our members. Here’s what Jo Chapman, one of our Council Members, made of it: […]
Summer visit to Mansfield Traquair
On 9 June, 10 members of the OEC enjoyed a spectacular visit to the converted church that is the Mansfield Traquair Centre at 15 Mansfield Place, Edinburgh. It is quite breath-taking inside with the magnificent murals painted by Phoebe Traquair (self portrait pictured left), who eventually finished them in 1901, and her story is worth […]
The Edinburgh Skating Club
Michelle Sloan’s debut adult novel, The Edinburgh Skating Club (Polygon 2022) skilfully combines two narratives, one set in 18th century Edinburgh and the other in the 21st. The two are connected by the well-known painting of a figure skating in a perfectly balanced position with one leg extended behind the body on what may be Duddingston Loch, often […]
The Arthur’s Seat coffins
They are back! After four months in the recent National Museum of Scotland’s paying exhibition, ‘Anatomy A matter of Death and Life’, the Arthur Seat’s coffins are back on free display in the Scotland Galleries of the National Museum of Scotland (NMS) in Chambers Street (section ‘Daith comes in’ of ‘Scotland Transformed’ on level 4). […]
Who runs Edinburgh?
Why ask who runs any city these days? The conventional wisdom is that cities have been hollowed out by global economic forces, that they are nowadays only interesting because of that process. If cities were once places of considerable power, they are no longer. Yet all is not what it seems. Studies of local power […]
Auld Greekie
Around the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, and particularly in the years between about 1810 and 1840, Edinburgh – long and affectionately known as ‘Auld Reekie’ – came to think of itself and to be widely regarded as something else. The city became ‘Modern Athens’, an epithet later turned into ‘the Athens of the North’. […]
“Bob Morris was a great guide and teacher”
“Bob Morris was a great guide and teacher and an endless source of advice.” We are sad to report the passing of Professor Robert J Morris (Bob), one of our Honorary Vice-Presidents and previous Editor of the Book of the Old Edinburgh Club. As one of our Trustees said: “Bob’s been a great stalwart of […]
A Cabinet for the Curious
Well, I am curious. The title, ‘A Cabinet for the Curious’, intrigued me, as did the opportunity to visit an historic house in Wardrop Court off the Lawnmarket. So I signed up for this OEC 2022 Summer Visit. I confess now that an evening spent, in the OEC’s words, with a “huge private library of […]
Reflections on Edinburgh’s printing heritage
I’ve always considered the price of admission excellent value for money. I’m referring to that of the membership of the Old Edinburgh Club. If the first-class lectures and the highly readable annual Book weren’t enough, there’s the added value in participating in the guided walks the Club organises in conjunction with leading experts and organisations. […]