Universal Short Title Catalogue

Check out our latest blog by Catherine Statchen, an undergraduate research intern for the COMLAWEU, in which she explores how broadsheet ordinances in Lyon helped managed the city!
Read it here: ustc.ac.uk/news/managin...

Read all about the latest and greatest the USTC has been up to in our Library Quarterly!
Read it here: ustc.ac.uk/news/ustc-li...
If you'd like to receive it directly reach out to Jacob Baxter, our Deputy Director.

Our newest blog, by Ph.D. candidate Sukwoo Choi, surveys the presence of early modern books in Southern Korean libraries. Truly a wonderful addition to the USTC! Read more here: www.ustc.ac.uk/news/early-m...

This ballad features an account of the ‘pipers’ that played at this ‘famous wedding’.

www.ustc.ac.uk/editions/308...
#Pipers #Music #12DaysofChristmas (2/2)

On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, eleven pipers piping!

Our penultimate book from our twelve days of Christmas series, chosen by PhD Student Adyan Sharda, is ‘Dicks loyalty to his true love Nancy: or, a famous wedding’ (USTC 3089075). (1/2)

www.ustc.ac.uk/editions/302... (2/2)

#Lords #12DaysofChristmas #RareBooks

On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, ten lords a-leaping!

Up next on our 12 days of Christmas, is ‘A catalogue of the dukes, marquesses, earles, viscounts, bishops, barons, that sit in this Parliament’ (USTC 3021312), chosen by our Deputy Director, @ernestjeb.bsky.social! (1/2)

This is a Florentine pamphlet commemorating a ball danced for an elite wedding, where there were probably more than nine ladies dancing!
www.ustc.ac.uk/editions/402...
#12DaysofChristmas #Dancing #BookHistory (2/2)

On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, nine ladies dancing.

Courtesy of Research Assistant and PhD Student Chloe Akers-Brewer, our next book in the USTC 12 Days of Christmas is ‘Mascherata di ninfe di Senna’ (USTC 4021655) (1/2)

On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, eight maids a-milking.

The next book in our 12 Days of Christmas series is ‘The milke-maids life’ (USTC 3017206), chosen by PhD student Mhairi Winfield: www.ustc.ac.uk/editions/301...

Image courtesy of EBBA 30170, British Library – Roxburghe

On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, seven swans a-swimming.

Up next in the USTC’s 12 Days of Christmas is ‘The orders lawes and ancient customes of swanns’ (USTC 3015937), chosen by our Deputy Director, Jacob Baxter: www.ustc.ac.uk/editions/301...

#12DaysOfChristmas #Swans

On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me six geese-a-layin.
Our sixth book is from Zachary Brookman, PhD candidate and research assistant, entitled 'Von der zwiefältigen Gans und den sechsfüssigen Ferkeln zu Gugenheim' (USTC 743685). #twelvedaysofchristmas

On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me FIVE GOLDEN RINGS!
Our fifth books comes from Arthur der Weduwen, co-director of the USTC, and is ''sWerelts begin, midden, eynde beslooten in den trou-ring, met den proef-steen van den selven' (USTC 1827719). #twelvedaysofchristmas

Seventeenth-Century Catalogs and their insights into the Dutch Republic's social state of religion is what Aurora de Thomasson, undergraduate history student, explores in our latest blog. You can read it here: www.ustc.ac.uk/news/bibliot...

On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me four calling birds.
Our fourth book from Arthur der Weduwen, co-director of the USTC, is 'In dit boexken leertmen hoemen sal vogelen ende visschen vanghen metten handen, ende oock andersins' (USTC 422217). #twelvedaysofchristmas

On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me three French hens.
Our third book coming from Philippa Woodcock, a postdoctoral researcher, is 'Augure prodigieux tiré d'une poule' (USTC 12743). #twelvedaysofchristmas
www.ustc.ac.uk/editions/12743

On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me two turtle doves.
Our second book from Mhairi Winfield, a PhD candidate, is 'The turtle-dove, under the absence & presence of her only choise' (USTC 3082784). #twelvedaysofchristmas
www.ustc.ac.uk/editions/308...

Welcome to the USTC 12 days of Christmas!
On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me a partridge in a pear tree. Our first book selected by Philippa Woodcock, a postdoctoral researcher @standrewshistory, is La manière de cultiver les arbres fruitiers (USTC 3142604). #twelvedaysofchristmas

The Times They Are a-Changin'

In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII moved the calendar. Rebecca Hirt (@kit.edu), in our blog, explores the impact that this shift had on almanacs. You can read it here: www.ustc.ac.uk/news/when-te...

#almanacs #earlymodern

The Universal Short Title Catalogue is an essential resource for all who wish to consult early modern printed books and pamphlets, in any language. And it's free on the internet to anyone who wants to take a look, or to dive into some research.
www.ustc.ac.uk

There are plenty of newspapers in the USTC, but it’s also great to see the USTC in the press! We recently appeared in Fife Today as we celebrate our 30th anniversary this year: www.fifetoday.co.uk/news/people/...

CALL FOR PAPERS: Proclaiming, Affixing, Distributing: Disseminating the Law in Early Modern Europe [2nd COMLAWEU conference] (St Andrews: University of St Andrews, 5-6 MAY 2026) [DEADLINE 31 OCT 2025]

📣 @standrewshist.bsky.social

esclh.blogspot.com/2025/10/call...

It’s a pleasure to appear alongside such a great group of scholars in ‘The People of Print: Eighteenth-Century England’, overseen by the brilliant @elementaladam.bsky.social, Rachel Stenner and Kaley Kramer.

You can read it for free over the next two weeks here: doi.org/10.1017/9781...

Detail of the printed musical annotations in University of St Andrews’ copy of Sternhold, Thomas, Whitingham, William, Hopkins, John, The Whole Booke of Psalmes, collected into English Meter, (London, 1583), Bib BS1440.S8B83.

Ellen Robertson, a Book History MLitt student @standrewshist.bsky.social, has written on her fascinating research on a book of metrical psalms with extensive manuscript annotations held in the Special Collections @uniofstandrews.bsky.social!
university-collections.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/2025/08/19/s...

Seventeenth-century portrait of A Man Reading by Job Adriaensz Berckheyde. This painting shows an bespeckled man in three-quarters profile reading a newspaper. He is older with a beard and moustache and is dressed in a tattered jacket with a large barrel hat. On the table next to him, a case for his glasses appears alongside a book opened to reveal a title page printed in red and black ink. The colour palette is typical of 17th century Dutch portraiture, with shades of neutral colors and a similarly toned brown-gray background.

"EXTRA! EXTRA! Read all about it!"

Catch up on the news from the @universalstc.bsky.social annual conference on 'Newspapers and Periodicals', which took place in June 2025, with our newest blog by @zbrookman.bsky.social (PhD Candidate and Research Assistant).

ustc.ac.uk/news/ustc-20...

An etching by William Hogarth entitled 'The Laughing Audience', dated to 1733. In the scene an audience of people is depicted in a theatre, there are people seated in rows in the foreground, mostly men in wigs, all of whom are laughing. The upper register depicts the balcony seats were men flirt with women who are selling something out of baskets. There are lit candle sconces on the walls.

'Well, sir, learn to jest in good time; there's time for all things'-William Shakespeare, The Comedy of Errors

☛ New on the blog: ‘By a Lover of Ha, Ha, He’: Jest Books in a Cambridge Auction Catalogue by Anna Grace Gragg (MLitt student @standrewshist.bsky.social) 🃏📖😆

ustc.ac.uk/news/by-a-lo...

The call for papers for the second COMLAWEU conference, on the dissemination of the law in Early Modern Europe, is now open!

The deadline for proposals is 31 October 2025.

Any inquiries can be directed to Dr Arthur der Weduwen.

388 years ago TODAY, a chair was thrown at the Bishop of Edinburgh as he read from a book during a service. Riots followed shortly afterwards. In our latest blog, MLitt student William Lewis explores the book at the heart of the storm: www.ustc.ac.uk/news/a-war-o...

In our latest blog, MLitt student Ellen Robertson examines works that were promised by the catalogues of the Frankfurt Book Fair, but not always delivered. You can read it here: www.ustc.ac.uk/news/ellen-r...

The latest issue of our Library Quarterly, dedicated to our work on France, is out now! You can read it and subscribe here: www.ustc.ac.uk/news/ustc-li...