Category: Library and ArchivesPage 5 of 6

Information about the collections held in the RBGE Library and Archives

Botanical Drawings made in Nepal for Nathaniel Wallich in 1821 by Vishnupersaud and Gorachand

This post has been updated and replaced. Use the link below. When the museum and library of the East India Company, following its inheritance by the India Office…

Interleaving in the RBGE Collections, Part 2: British Marine Algae

By Hannah Swan In this second part of the series on interesting insertions in RBGE volumes, I will delve into the various insertions in an 1874 copy of…

In memory of Corporal Henry McBeath (1878-1918)

Henry McBeath was from Rogart in Sutherland, born in November 1878 to James McBeath, a farm grieve (foreman) and his wife Johan from Rovie, a farm in Rogart…

Buchan Hepburn and McDouall East Africa and Angola Album 1904 – 1909

By Helen Bennett, Library & Archives Volunteer New light has been shed on the creation of Logan Garden by a previously unknown album of photographs and watercolours recently…

Interleaving in the RBGE Collections, Part 1: The Flora of Forfarshire

By Hannah Swan Before publisher’s bindings were de rigueur, texts came in flimsy paper ‘wrappers’, leaving the permanent binding to the new owner. Because of this, many books from…

In memory of Gunner Andrew Ewing Calder (1884-1918)

Andrew Ewing Calder was born in Stockbridge, Edinburgh, on the 12th January 1884 to Robert Calder, a blacksmith, and his wife Sarah Jane, who was a tailoress. Calder…

100th birthday for a Himalayan Wild Pear collected by George Forrest

On the 18th July 2018 we celebrate the 100th birthday of the Pyrus pashia tree growing on the Pyrus lawn.

Comparative Editions: Ryff’s ‘Kurtzes Handbüchlein und Experiment vieler Artzneyen durch den gantzen Cörper des Menschens…’

By Hannah Swan While browsing our Rare Book Collection, we recently came across a boxed book that was as of yet uncatalogued in our online system, Kurtzes Handbüchlein…

A Mystery of Provenance: Boccone’s ‘Recherches et Observations Naturelles’

By Hannah Swan Paolo Boccone’s Recherches et Observations Naturelles de Monsieur BOCCONE, Gentilhomme Sicilien…, published in the translated French in 1674 in Amsterdam, offers several tantalizing clues of…

In memory of Private James Christopher Adam (1882-1918), and his brother Lt. Robert Moyes Adam (1885-1967)

The 21st March 2018 marks the centenary of the death of Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) Helper James Christopher Adam. He was the older brother of RBGE’s photographer…

The Battle of Glen Tilt

“was ye at the Glen o’ Tilt,An’ did the shindy see, man? John Hutton Balfour, Regius Keeper at the RBGE and Professor of Botany at the University of…

RBGE’s visionary photographer: Robert Moyes Adam (1885-1967)

November 13th 2017 marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Robert Moyes Adam, a man central to the origins of RBGE’s photography unit. Often referred to as…

‘Dear Mary’ – An Echo of a Past Love from the RBGE Special Collections

View Post Among the hortus sicci (bound collections of pressed plant material) in the Rare Book Room of the RBGE Library is a volume containing samples of 34…

William Brand WS – First Treasurer of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh

The Library at the Botanics has recently acquired a new member of staff – or should that be an old member of staff?  Certainly an old member of…

Royal Roses

With Valentine’s Day occurring recently it may be apt to recount the story of a nineteenth century Royal visit to RBGE, and tell the stories behind two red roses named in honour of the…

A Quest of Flowers – The Ludlow and Sherriff Collection

In early November 2015 we were lucky enough to be asked if we’d take a postgraduate student studying Archives and Records Management at Glasgow University for a two…

Sir Isaac Bayley Balfour (1853-1922)

Born on the 31st March 1853, the son of John Hutton Balfour who was Regius Keeper at RBGE between 1845 and 1879, Isaac Bayley Balfour grew up up in very close contact…

George Forrest’s camera work

The Scots plant collector George Forrest (1873-1932) is now known as a talented photographer, though he didn’t necessarily enjoy the process of using a cumbersome glass plate camera,…

The Letters of George Forrest

Pauline Maclean, an RBGE Volunteer, writes: “… By now you must be aware of the fact that I am no writer. As a practical worker I am a…

Forrest’s Rhododendron Giant

Plant Collector George Forrest (1873-1932) introduced over 300 new rhododendron species to Britain but one in particular dwarfed all of these, Rhododendron protistum, which is represented in our…