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Models for MapReader ACM SIGSPATIAL 2023 Geohumanities Workshop paper
Collection of fine-tuned models created during research published in Kasra Hosseini, Daniel C. S. Wilson, Kaspar Beelen, and Katherine McDonough. 2022. MapReader: a computer vision pipeline for the semantic exploration of maps at scale. In Proceedings of the 6th ACM SIGSPATIAL International Workshop on Geospatial Humanities (GeoHumanities '22). Association for...Hosseini, Kasra ; Beelen, Kaspar ; McDonough, Katherine ; Wilson, Daniel C. S.
computational humanities, computer vision, maps, models, and image classification
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Computer Vision for the Humanities: An Introduction to Deep Learning for Image Classification (Part 2)
This is the second of a two-part lesson introducing deep learning based computer vision methods for humanities research. This lesson digs deeper into the details of training a deep learning based computer vision model. It covers some challenges one may face due to the training data used and the importance...Strien, Daniel van ; Beelen, Kaspar ; Wevers, Melvin ; Smits, Thomas ; McDonough, Katherine
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Computer Vision for the Humanities: An Introduction to Deep Learning for Image Classification (Part 1)
This is the first of a two-part lesson introducing deep learning based computer vision methods for humanities research. Using a dataset of historical newspaper advertisements and the fastai Python library, the lesson walks through the pipeline of training a computer vision model to perform image classification.Strien, Daniel van ; Beelen, Kaspar ; Wevers, Melvin ; Smits, Thomas ; McDonough, Katherine
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Clouds: How Luke Howard linked Weather Lore and Natural Philosophy
William Wordsworth’s (1770-1850) ‘lonely as a cloud’ poem was conceived in April 1802 on a spring day walk in the Lake District. A few months later, in December 1802, a pharmacist and amateur meteorologist, Luke Howard (1772-1864) delivered a paper in London, on the dynamics of cloud formations. The two...Déri, Andrea
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Diarists and diaries
‘But one shower of rain all this month.’ - entered John Evelyn in his diary on 29th April 1681. What would you write about April 2020 in your diary? John Evelyn (1620–1706) is one of the best-known English diarists. He is known as a diarist but he was also a...Déri, Andrea
science, modern history, curiosity, writing, and environmental science
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Esperanto and Endangered Languages
Esperanto can be described as the language of hope, peace, and solidarity as Professor Renato Corsetti, General Secretary of the Academy of Esperanto has discussed in his previous posts for the European Studies blog. Hope remains the governing principle, as the name of the language attests (espero in Esperanto). Driven...Déri, Andrea
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Guides to Choosing Persistent Identifiers - Version 3
The FREYA Project has compiled short guides to help with choosing persistent identifiers for various types of entities. These are the final version. The first versions were released in May 2020 for community feedback and comment throughout June 2020. Revised versions were developed in July 2020 and are published here....Madden, Frances ; van Horik, René ; van de Sandt, Stephanie ; Lavasa, Artemis ; Cousijn, Helena
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Oil, storms and knowing part 2: Pliny, Franklin and the IPCC Special Report on Oceans
This post is the second of a pair to mark the period of the 25th Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and is contributed by Andrea Deri, Cataloguer. In addition to seafarers, fishers in the Mediterranean Sea applied oil as Pliny the Elder and Plutarch...Déri, Andrea
science, maps, Americas, modern history, curiosity, travel, and environmental science
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Oil, storms and knowing part 1: Seafarers Calm Waves with Oil
This post is to mark the period of the 25th Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and is contributed by Andrea Deri, Cataloguer. A storm at sea is one of the most feared experiences, as it often presages shipwreck. Mariners would do anything to survive...Déri, Andrea
South East Asia, science, maps, Medieval history, East Asia, South Asia, Middle East, curiosity, travel, and environmental science
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Open and Engaged 2019: Open Access Week at the British Library
There are opportunities and benefits for growth in open access and open scholarship when experience and knowledge is shared between Higher Education Institutes and cultural heritage organisations. On Tuesday 22nd October, The British Library celebrated Open Access Week with the event, Open and Engaged - Forging links between higher education...Miles, Susan
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The Lives of Typewriters and Large Data-sets: The Will Self Archive
Chris Beckett, Manuscripts Cataloguer at the British Library is currently working on the Will Self archive. The archive, which was acquired by the Library in 2016, consists of 24 large boxes of papers along with artwork, audio-visual material and the author’s computer hard drive. The first tranche is now discoverable...Beckett, Chris
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Open and Engaged: Open Access Week at the British Library
One of the key arguments in favour of open access to research is that the public should have the right to read the results of publicly funded research. While much effort is put into creating policies, workflows and business models to enable openness, are we succeeding in engaging the public...Flanagan, Dimity
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صناعة السلطة: أختامٌ "إسلامية" في أيدي مسؤولي الاستعمار البريطاني
لم يكن الاستملاك الثقافي أقل أهمية من القوة العسكرية في صناعة الإمبراطورية البريطانية، ويعد استخدام مسؤولي الاستعمار البريطاني للأختام "الإسلامية" مثالًا صريحًا على ذلك. يقول المستشرق إدوارد ويليام لاين في تأريخه عن المجتمع المصري في القرن التاسع عشر: " يقتني ختمًا تقريبًا كل من يستطيع تحمل تكلفته، وإن كان خادمًا"....Lowe, Daniel
تشارلز دالريمبل بلجريف, المقيمية السياسية في الخليج العربي, وسائل الاتصال, لويس بيلي, مستشار حكومة البحرين, and العلاقات الخارجية
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Performing Authority: the ‘Islamic’ Seals of British Colonial Officers
Cultural appropriation was as much a part of empire as military force. The use of ‘Islamic’ seals by British colonial officials is one example of this. In his record of nineteenth century Egyptian society, Edward William Lane wrote that ‘[a]lmost every person who can afford it has a seal-ring, even...Lowe, Daniel
foreign relations, communication methods, Persian Gulf Political Residency, Sir Knight Lewis Pelly, Adviser to the Government of Bahrain, and Sir Knight Charles Dalrymple Belgrave
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British topography: ‘Our real national art form’?
Felicity Myrone explores how topographical art has been defined and categorised since the 18th century – by artists, critics, art historians and collectors.Myrone, Felicity
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Looking at topographical images
Suggestions from Felicity Myrone about how to approach and define topographical images.Myrone, Felicity
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Putting topography in its place
Felicity Myrone explores how the ‘placing’ of topography and the collections’ perceived status and current accessibility at the British Library is the result of complex and often unintentional sequences of events.Myrone, Felicity
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Prints and drawings at the British Museum and British Library
Felicity Myrone explores how prints and drawings are generally encountered in museum and library collections, and how this affects their meaning and status.Myrone, Felicity
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What is K.Top?
George III's extensive collection of maps and views is known as the King's Topographical Collection or 'K.Top' for short. Felicity Myrone explores the history and extent of this rich collection, encompassing up to 40,000 items.Myrone, Felicity
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Karl Marx’s 200th birthday
This year sees the 200th birthday of political philosopher Karl Marx, who was born in the German town of Trier on 5 May 1818. In connection with the anniversary, the British Library opened a new display in its Treasures Gallery earlier this week. ‘Karl and Eleanor – Life in the...Siclovan, Diana
British Library, Germany, Eleanor Marx, Anglo-German, Germanic, history, printed books, exhibitions, British Museum, and Karl Marx
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Languages of Reckoning: The Gagauz Number System
The more languages you speak, the more perspectives you have on the world. Bulgarian, Czech and Hungarian proverbs capture this observation: ‘Човекът е толкова пъти човек, колкото езика знае’ (Bulgarian: a person is as many times a person as many languages knows), ‘Kolik jazyků znáš, tolikrát jsi člověkem’ (Czech: as...Déri, Andrea
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A Bioluminescent Christmas
Christmas is associated with sparkling lights that lift the eyes up to the stars in motionless awe. On Christmas 1875, a curious traveller wrote about a less-known yet equally magical light that drew his eyes below the horizon, a light that flared up with the breaking waves: sea sparkle. The...Déri, Andrea
science, Hungary, history, and South Asia
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Adam Munni Ratna, a Buddhist monk in England in 1818
The Visual Arts section has recently acquired a portrait of Adam Sri Munni Ratna, a Singhalese Buddhist monk, who accompanied Sir Alexander Johnston (1775-1849) from Sri Lanka to England in 1817-18. Raised between Scotland, Madras and England, Johnston would be appointed as the President of the Council of Sri Lanka...Roy, Malini
religion, South Asia, art, visual arts, and Buddhism
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First report from the Will Self archive: family matters
Will Self’s review (for the New Statesman) of Peter Ackroyd’s Albion: The Origins of the English Imagination (2002) begins with the suggestion that his grandfather would have enjoyed the book. Before telling us why (Cockney visionaries both, with a tendency to compendiousness), we are treated to a pen-portrait of grandfather...Beckett, Chris
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The writing of J. G. Ballard’s Crash: a look under the bonnet
Shock greeted the publication of J. G. Ballard’s Crash in 1973. Cult status quickly followed. Today, the novel is widely considered to be a modern classic, a novel that speaks both of its time – the darkening close of a decade of colourful liberation – and speaks dystopically to us...Beckett, Chris
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No Longer in the Garage: The Archive of Galloping Dog Press, Poetry Information and Not Poetry
The small press publisher Peter Hodgkiss begins his memoir essay ‘It’s All in the Garage’ contemplating ‘a tatty cardboard box’ with ‘GDP’ written in fading red felt-tip pen on the side: ‘It has moved from landing to attic to garage 1 to garage 2 in two houses in Newcastle to...Beckett, Chris
literature, poetry, Contemporary Britain, manuscripts, and new collection items
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‘Post-it’ notes in the Will Self archive
'My books begin life in notebooks, then they move on to Post-it notes, the Post-its go up on the walls of the room […] short story ideas, tropes, metaphors, gags, characters, etc. When I'm working on a book, the Post-its come down off the wall and go into scrapbooks.’ (‘Writers'...Beckett, Chris
literature, Contemporary Britain, manuscripts, and new collection items
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Archive of Joan Bakewell joins the British Library’s Contemporary Archives Collections
Joan Bakewell’s autobiography, The Centre of the Bed (2003), begins in a white room – a room as white as ‘a fresh sheet of paper’ – at the top of the house in which she has lived for many years. Boxes and packets of papers long-forgotten have been retrieved from...Beckett, Chris
literature, television, Contemporary Britain, manuscripts, and archival research
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Shubbak 2017: contemporary Arab culture at the British Library
The biennial Shubbak Festival returns to London this year between 1st and 16th July with a range of exciting and engaging events on contemporary Arab culture, with an array of literary events taking place once again at the British Library.Lowe, Daniel
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Calcutta to Bihar: an artist's journey
As part of the Visual Arts collections at the British Library, we hold an extensive collection of drawings, sketches and watercolours by amateur British and European artists who travelled through the Indian subcontinent. In 2015, we acquired a wonderful little sketchbook, measuring a mere 80 x 204 mm, by an...Roy, Malini
Hinduism, South Asia, art, visual arts, and Islam
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East India Company headquarters on Leadenhall Street
BBC One’s new period drama Taboo with actor Tom Hardy follows the story of James Keziah Delaney and his encounters with the East India Company. As the headquarters of the East India Company on Leadenhall Street was demolished in 1861 which is the present day site of Lloyds of London,...Roy, Malini
trade, South Asia, art, and visual arts
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الحبر الخفي: اعتراض البريد في الحرب العالمية الثانية
خلال الحرب العالمية الثانية، صدرت وعُممت تعليمات سرية إلى الوكلاء السياسيين في البحرين والكويت ومسقط تتعلق باعتراض البريد المار عبر الخليج. في أغسطس ١٩٣٩، صدَّقت حكومة الهند - التي كانت تترقب اندلاع الحرب في أوروبا - على اعتراض البريد في الخليج لإجراء أنشطة تتعلق بالفحص والرقابة. فتم تعيين ثلاثة موظفين...Lowe, Daniel
الرقابة, الحرب العالمية الثانية (١٩٣٩-١٩٤٥), وسائل الاتصال, and الخليج العربي
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Invisible Ink: Intercepting Post in Second World War
During WWII, secret instructions for the interception of post passing through the Gulf were circulated to Political Agents in Bahrain, Kuwait and Muscat. In August 1939, anticipating the outbreak of war in Europe, the Government of India sanctioned the interception of post for examination and censorship in the Gulf. Three...Lowe, Daniel
communication methods, Second World War (1939-1945), censorship, and Persian Gulf
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Early Shakespeare sources: a guide for academic researchers. Part 1: manuscript and early print sources for Shakespeare's works
Adrian S Edwards surveys the 16th- and 17th-century sources for Shakespeare’s works – the few surviving pages of Shakespearean manuscript, the quarto editions of his plays and poems, and the large folio editions of his collected works – and gives an overview of the British Library’s holdings.Edwards, Adrian S.
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The Opening of Crash in Slow Motion
Chris Beckett provides a close reading of the manuscript draft of Crash by J G Ballard, focussing on the novel's opening pages. In ‘Memories of Greeneland’ (1978), J G Ballard wrote that he had been ‘enormously influenced by [Graham] Greene's style, by his method of setting out the psychological ground...Beckett, Chris
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J. G. Ballard: Streets in the Sky and the Secret Logic of the High-Rise
Hardly a day goes by without a news report about London’s social housing crisis. There are currently more than 260 high-rise buildings (of 20 floors or more) either under construction or in the pipeline that are set to dramatically change the London skyline. Yet the high prices of the apartments...Beckett, Chris
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Early Shakespeare sources: a guide for academic researchers. Part 2: the British Library's early Shakespeare collections
Adrian S Edwards outlines the history of collecting early Shakespeare editions, and examines in detail the collections of David Garrick, George III, Thomas Grenville and James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps, which make up three-quarters of the British Library’s early Shakespeare holdings.Edwards, Adrian S.
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Lebanese LGBTQ publications: essays, magazines, memoirs and narratives
Blogger and novelist Fadi Zaghmout, together with translator Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp, recently visited the British Library. His debut novel, ‘Arūs ʻAmmān (ʻThe bride of Amman’), deals with the various struggles facing young Jordanians, including sexual orientation and gender identity. With this subject in mind, we looked at different sources –...Lowe, Daniel
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"الملل الإمبراطوري" والقراءة الإمبراطورية
وضّح مسؤول إستعماري بإسم هيكينبوثام الملل اليومي في إدارة الإمبراطورية بنكاته العملية وقائمة قراءة تهَرُّبية. سجلت المطبوعة البريطانية المتخصصة في عرض السير الذاتية والمعروفة باسم "هو إز هو" (Who's Who) في سنة ١٩٤٢ أن إدوارد ويكفيلد وتوم هيكينبوثام، الوكيل السياسي بالكويت، أبحرا حول وربة وهي جزيرة في الخليج تقع بالقرب...Lowe, Daniel
الوكيل السياسي بالكويت, عدن, الكويت, شبه الجزيرة العربية, اليمن, and المقيمية السياسية في الخليج العربي
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‘Imperial Boredom’ and Imperial Reading
A colonial officer named Hickinbotham illustrates the everyday boredom of administrating the Empire with his practical jokes and escapist reading list. The British biographical publication Who’s Who of 1942 records that Edward Wakefield and Tom Hickinbotham, the Political Agent at Kuwait, circumnavigated Warbah, an island in the Gulf near the...Lowe, Daniel
Yemen, Kuwait, Political Agent, Kuwait, Aden, Arabian Peninsula, and Persian Gulf Political Residency
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Interactive resource
How word, symbol and song shaped history
Gus Casely-Hayford (SOAS and King’s College London), Janet Topp Fargion (British Library) and Marion Wallace (British Library) introduce the cultural dynamism and creativity of West Africa, and explain how word, symbol and song have shaped a thousand years of history.Casely-Hayford, Augustus ; Topp Fargion, Janet ; Wallace, Marion
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Speaking out: political protest and print cultures in West Africa
West Africans made powerful use of writing and publishing to oppose colonialism and fight for independence. Since then, authors have not been reluctant to comment on the state of their nations and the world. Stephanie Newell (Yale University) and Marion Wallace (British Library) reflect on these developments.Newell, Stephanie ; Wallace, Marion
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Interactive resource
Crossings: African writers in the era of the transatlantic slave trade
Marion Wallace (British Library) introduces the leading writers of African heritage in 18th-century Britain, and explains how the pen became a weapon against both the slave trade and the system of enslavement itself.Wallace, Marion
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Battle of Panipat 1761
Panipat, north of Delhi, is the location of three historic battles that shaped Mughal history. On the battlefield here in 1526, Babur defeated the Afghan Sultan of Delhi Ibrahim Lodi, which not only ended Lodi rule but gave the Mughals a stronger foothold on the subcontinent. The second battle took...Roy, Malini
Mughal India, South Asia, art, and visual arts
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‘White Mughal’ William Fullerton of Rosemount
Scottish surgeon William Fullerton (d.1805) from Rosemount enlisted with the East India Company and served in Bengal and Bihar from 1744-66. Developing close ties with locals, including the historian Ghulam Husain Khan, he remained in the region after retiring. Although his impressive linguistic abilities brought him attention, Fullerton’s prominence stems...Roy, Malini
Mughal India, language studies, South Asia, art, and visual arts
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Shubbak Literature Festival at the British Library
On Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 July 2015, the British Library will host the Shubbak Literature Festival as part of Shubbak, London’s largest biennial festival showcasing the best in contemporary Arab culture.Lowe, Daniel
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Colonial Knowledge: Lorimer’s Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Oman and Central Arabia
John Gordon Lorimer’s monumental Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Oman and Central Arabia – often simply referred to as ‘Lorimer’ by many researchers - has been digitised and is now accessible for free through the Qatar Digital Library.Lowe, Daniel
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The Death of a Political Agent: Captain Shakespear
Today, 24 January 2015, marks 100 years since the death of colonial officer and Arabian explorer and photographer, Captain William Henry Irvine Shakespear, who died in a battle at Jarrab between the forces of Ibn Saud, the founder of modern-day Saudi Arabia, and his adversary, Ibn Rashid. Shakespear was well...Lowe, Daniel
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المعرفة الاستعمارية: دليل لوريمر عن الخليج وعُمان ووسط الجزيرة العربية
دليل الخليج وعُمان ووسط الجزيرة العربية من قبل جون جوردون لوريمر قد تم إستخدامه منذ فترة طويلة كمصدر رئيسي لدراسة المنطقة. غير أنه من الضروري فهم سياقات إعداد الدليل من أجل تقدير مضمونه. منذ فترة طويلة يُشار إلى موسوعة جون جوردون لوريمر المكونة من ٥٠٠٠ صفحة بعنوان دليل الخليج وعُمان...Lowe, Daniel
المقيمية السياسية في الخليج العربي, مكتب المستعمرات البريطانية, الزبارة, عُمان, موسوعات, لويس بيلي, الساحل المتصالح, ساحل مكران, الشارقة, الخليج العربي, and بيرسي زكريا كوكس
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Colonial Knowledge: Lorimer’s Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Oman and Central Arabia
J. G. Lorimer’s Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Oman and Central Arabia has long been used as a central source for the study of the region. Yet, it is essential to understand the contexts of its production in order to fully appreciate its content. It has long been pointed out... -
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Research reflections: a transmedia residency at the British Library
As a Digital Curator in the British Library’s Digital Scholarship department it is my role to encourage and support innovative, creative use and reinterpretation of the Library’s vast collections. Furthermore, my specific areas of personal research interest are how virtual and augmented reality technology, videogames and interactive fiction can be...Wisdom, Stella
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"مأساة الخليج العربي": وفاة وتَرِكة جون جوردون لوريمر
لقد اعتُبِرَت الوفاة المبكرة لجون جوردون لوريمر، المقيم المُفوّض في الخليج العربي ١٩١٣-١٩١٤، مأساة حزينة. مع ذلك فإن تَرِكته المتمثلة في "دليل الخليج وعمان ووسط الجزيرة العربية"، الذي ظهر بعد أربعين عامًا من وفاته، ظلت مصدرًا أساسيًا لجميع الدراسات التي أُجريت عن الخليج منذ ذلك الحين. في صباح يوم الأحد...Lowe, Daniel
المكان, موسوعات, عمليات الاستخبارات, بوشهر, and الخليج العربي
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Distinctive leg-of-mutton legs and fine jewels: a new display of Indian paintings in the Treasures of the British Library
Regular visitors to the Sir John Ritblat Gallery: Treasures of the British Library, may have encountered our recent display of Natural History drawings from India next to the entrance to the Magna Carta. From 8 March 2014, a new display of Indian paintings from the Visual Arts collection will be...Roy, Malini
Hinduism, South Asia, exhibitions, and art
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The accident that befell Sir Donald Friell McLeod
Even if the attendant or station inspector had shouted ‘Mind the Gap’ (the phrase first used in 1969 at rail stations in the United Kingdom), it would not have prevented the horrific accident that befell Sir Donald Friell McLeod at the railway station at Gloucester Road in 1872. Arriving at...Roy, Malini
religion, South Asia, art, and visual arts
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William Beckford's albums on Hindu mythology
The English novelist and noted bibliophile William Beckford is highlighted in the British Library’s current exhibition ‘Terror and Wonder: the Gothic Imagination’. Exhibition curators (Greg Buzwell, Tanya Kirk and Tim Pye) feature Beckford’s Gothic novel Vathek as one of the earliest examples in this style. Beckford’s masterpiece expressed the ‘orientalist...Roy, Malini
Hinduism, religion, South Asia, exhibitions, and art
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Learning object
للملك جورج الخامس مها الملك: هدية ابن سعود الدبلوماسية
كانت هدية ابن سعود في سنة ١٩٢٠عبارة عن أنثى المها وهي أول هدية تمكنت من التغلب على الرحلة الصعبة من الجزيرة العربية إلى لندن. في رسالة بين ملك بريطانيا وأمير نجد في سنة ١٩٢٠م لوحظ أن حيوانًا "فريدًا من نوعه" قد وصل إلى لندن، وفي الواقع "لم يصل آي حيوان...Lowe, Daniel
آل سعود, المملكة العربية السعودية, الحرب العالمية الأولى (١٩١٤-١٩١٨), and سعود بن عبد العزيز آل سعود
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وفاة النقيب شكسبير
تُسلط رواية غير معروفة حكاها شاهد عيان، وحصل عليها الوكلاء البريطانيون بالبحرين من قبيل الصدفة، الضوء على وفاة وليام هنري إيرفين شكسبير. يعتبر النقيب وليام هنري إيرفين شكسبير شخصية غامضة في تاريخ العلاقات الإنجليزية السعودية. ورغم أنه كان من أصغر الوكلاء السياسيين سناً ممن خدموا في الخليج، إلا أنه من...Lowe, Daniel
آل سعود, المملكة العربية السعودية, الحرب العالمية الأولى (١٩١٤-١٩١٨), الكويت, العمليات العسكرية, سعود بن عبد العزيز آل سعود, and نجد
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The King’s Oryx: Ibn Saud’s Diplomatic Gift to George V
In 1920, a gift from Ibn Saud in the form of a female oryx was the first ever to have survived the difficult journey from Arabia to London. In correspondence between HM the King and the Amir of Najd of 1920 it was noted that an animal ‘unique of its...Lowe, Daniel
Āl Sa'ūd (Family), King of Saudi Arabia Sa'ūd bin 'Abd al-'Azīz Āl Sa'ūd, Saudi Arabia, and First World War (1914-1918)
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The Death of Captain Shakespear
A little known first-hand account, that the British Agents in Bahrain garnered by chance, sheds light on William Henry Irvine Shakespear’s death. Captain William Henry Irvine Shakespear is an enigmatic figure in the history of Anglo-Saudi relations. Although he was one of the youngest Political Agents to serve in the...Lowe, Daniel
military operations, Naid, Āl Sa'ūd (Family), Kuwait, King of Saudi Arabia Sa'ūd bin 'Abd al-'Azīz Āl Sa'ūd, Saudi Arabia, and First World War (1914-1918)
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George Percy Churchill’s Biographical Notices of Persian Statesmen and Notables
In 1906, the Government of India Foreign Department published (and republished in 1910) an index of prominent Qajar statesmen, compiled by George Percy Churchill, Oriental Secretary at the British Legation in Tehran. According to Cyrus Ghani, this collection of notes and genealogical tables, entitled Biographical Notices of Persian Statesmen and...Lowe, Daniel
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Performing Authority: the ‘Islamic’ Seals of British Colonial Officers
The function of seals as symbols of textual authority and ownership is deeply rooted in the Islamic world, especially in Arabic and Persian-speaking societies. Historically, seals were used for authorising various documents, including letters and legal contracts, and for marking the ownership of books and manuscripts. Edward William Lane attests...Lowe, Daniel
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‘Persian Gulf Tragedy’: the Death and Legacy of John Gordon Lorimer
The untimely death of John Gordon Lorimer, acting Resident in the Persian Gulf 1913–14, was seen as a tragedy. Yet, his legacy – in the form of his Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Oman and Central Arabia – emerged forty years later and has remained central to the study of...Lowe, Daniel
gazetteers, intelligence operations, Bahrain, Būshehr, and Persian Gulf
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Learning object
وفاة الملكة فيكتوريا: سياسات الحداد الخاصة بالبريطانيين في الخليج
تكشف التعليمات المُرسلة إلى الوكيل المحلي في الشارقة بعيد وفاة الملكة فيكتوريا في ١٩٠١ بشأن كيفية الحداد على وفاتها عن عدة جوانب لبنية الإمبراطورية من خلال ممارسات الحداد الشعائرية. فعلى الرغم من أن الملكة فيكتوريا لم تطأ قدمها أرض الإمبراطورية التي تربعت على عرشها حيث نالت لقب إمبراطورة الهند في...Lowe, Daniel
العلاقات الخارجية, الشارقة, and بوشهر
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Learning object
The Death of Queen Victoria: the Politics of Mourning for the British in the Gulf
Upon the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, instructions sent to the Native Agent at Sharjah on how to visibly mourn her death reveal aspects of the construction of empire via ritual mourning practices. Although Queen Victoria never set foot on the soil of the empire over which she was...Lowe, Daniel
foreign relations, Sharjah, and Bushire
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Learning object
ثروة الشيخ جاسم بن مُحمد آل ثاني ووفاته
عقب وفاة الشيخ جاسم بن محمد آل ثاني في ١٩١٣، أكتشف البريطانيون ثروته الطائلة عبر التقارير الاستخباراتية التي أرسلها له يوسف بن أحمد كانو. في ١٢ يوليو ١٩١٣، تلقى الرائد آرثر بريسكوت تريفور، الوكيل البريطاني في البحرين تقريرًا عاجلاً من يوسف بن أحمد كانو، التاجر البحريني الذي عمل أيضًا بدوام...Lowe, Daniel
الوهابيون (قبيلة) and قطر
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Learning object
A Considerable Fortune: The Wealth, and Death, of Sheikh Jāsim bin Muḥammad Āl Thānī'
At the time of Sheikh Jāsim bin Muḥammad Āl Thānī’s death in 1913, his great wealth was revealed to the British in intelligence reports sent by Yūsuf bin Aḥmad Kanoo. On 12 July 1913, Major Arthur Prescott Trevor, the British Political Agent at Bahrain, received an urgent report from Yūsuf...Lowe, Daniel
Qatar and Wahabi (Tribe)
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Blog post
‘Persian Gulf tragedy’ – the death of John Gordon Lorimer
On the morning of Sunday 8 February 1914, John Gordon Lorimer, the officiating British Resident in the Persian Gulf at Bushire, retired to his dressing room to ascertain the exact calibre of his automatic pistol as he wished to order cartridges from Bombay. He was later found lying on the...Lowe, Daniel
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Blog post
‘The Jewish State of Eastern Arabia’
In September 1917, Lord Francis Bertie, British Ambassador to France, received an unusual proposal from Dr M L Rothstein, a Paris-based Russian Jew. Bertie explained to the Foreign Secretary, Arthur James Balfour, that Rothstein proposed the Entente Powers should equip and organise an army ‘for the conquest of the Turkish...Lowe, Daniel
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Blog post
The Death of Queen Victoria: the Politics of Mourning and Memorialisation in the British Persian Gulf
This blog post marks the 195 anniversary of Queen Victoria’s birth on 24 May 1819. On the afternoon of 22 January 1901, Queen Victoria died at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. In the United Kingdom, as well as many thousands of miles away around the Empire, reactions ‘were...Lowe, Daniel
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Blog post
Conference on Digital Islamic Humanities
Two representatives from the British Library attended the recent conference, ‘The Digital Humanities + Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies’, hosted by the Middle Eastern Studies Department of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Organised by Dr Elias Muhanna and held on 24-25 October 2013, this conference sought to bring together...Lowe, Daniel ; Sobers-Khan, Nurs
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Blog post
Book of Affairs of Love
Karnama-i ‘Ishq (Book of affairs of love) by the Hindu poet Rai Anand Ram Mukhlis (d. 1751) is a romance in Persian on the afflictions of a young man’s heart and the challenges he faces for eternal love. The poetical narrative is derived from an existing Hindi literary work, the...Roy, Malini
Mughal India, South Asia, and art
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Blog post
Marianne North's Visions of India
The British Library holds one of the richest archives of prints, drawings and photographs from South Asia. As Visual Arts Curator, exploring the vast collections and learning about the history of the works of art is just part of my daily activities. Although my previous blog posts have focused on...Roy, Malini
South East Asia, South Asia, and art
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Blog post
A farewell to the Mughals
British Library's exhibition Mughal India: Art, Culture and Empire closed on 2 April 2013. The last few days of the exhibition saw a record number of visitors! Since opening in November 2012, we have been surprised by the overwhelming response from the press and social media. We never anticipated being...Roy, Malini
science, Mughal India, and art
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Blog post
Mughal painting by Faizallah recently acquired by the British Library
In our recent exhibition and the accompanying publication Mughal India: Art, Culture and Empire, we featured paintings made in Delhi as well as at the Mughal province of Awadh during the 18th century. In March, we were able to add to our collection a splendid work by the artist Faizallah...Roy, Malini
Mughal India, South Asia, and art
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Blog post
Hume’s Stray Feathers
Allan Octavian Hume (1829-1912), British administrator and one of the founders of the Indian National Congress, recorded an extraordinary story of resilience, the ability of people to cope with disruptions. Hume was a respected ornithologist. In January 1875 he boarded an old gunboat fitted for the Indian Marine Survey to...Déri, Andrea
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Interactive resource
Language, script and symbol in West Africa
West Africa is a place of great diversity – in language, in writing, in the hugely varied means of recording information and passing it on. Marion Wallace and Janet Topp Fargion (British Library) explore the region’s contribution to literacy, and the creativity with which West Africans communicate in word and...Wallace, Marion ; Topp Fargion, Janet
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Learning object
Topography and the historic shelving schemes at the British Library
Throughout the last 400 years librarians and curators have taken different approaches to classify topographical collections. Adrian Edwards, Head of Printed Heritage Collections at the British Library, explores the historic shelving schemes and traces the development of their organisation.Edwards, Adrian S.